Metal Mouth Message Board

What causes some people to have the top and bottom braces to be put on on different days instead of both going on the same day?

In my case, I think it was because the ortho felt I needed time to get used to upper linguals before placing the lower (ceramics). The lowers followed 8 weeks after the uppers were placed. Another possibility is that there might be more to do on top than down below.

Jenn-

In my case, I was originally going to get uppers ONLY, first. Then lowers, 2 months later. They told me it was because of my bite. If I had gotten uppers AND lowers at the same time, my top teeth would knock off the lower brackets. But then, I went with a different Ortho, and had BOTH uppers and lowers put on, the same day...with 'buildups' put on my back teeth. (Buildups are a toothcolored material that was placed on my back (premolar, I think they're called) teeth. (The teeth before the molars). Now, instead of my upper teeth knocking my lower brackets off, my teeth don't come together, due to the buildups! Ta-daaaa! Problem (for me) solved, but I'm finding it's a bit of a pain to eat with buildups. Not bad, just takes some getting used to!
eagle

Thanks everyone, I was just curious as to what causes them to go on at different times.

Jenn

I just have tops right now, but they put the bottom bands on the back molars on at the same time they did the tops. Like Eaglesoaring, my ortho was concerned about my bite knocking into the bottoms. I was a little disappointed at first because my bottom teeth are way worse than the top, but after reading about some of the build up stories and experiencing enough problems trying to eat, I'm glad I didn't go that route.

It's nice to get used to them in stages, though now I know what I'm in for when the put the bottoms on!

Like others that have posted, my ortho was concerned with my bite and needs movement from my top teeth. It may take several months for me to get my bottoms.

For me ortho going to go the top first route, says because if they put both on at once, it risks my lower teeth unravelling faster than my top and creating an underbite.