Metal Mouth Message Board

Pretty simple question I think. I'm wondering when you had to choose what brackets to go with, like ceramics or metal or damons or whatever. Was it at a consult/records appt, or did they wait till the actual day of bracketing? My ortho only basically showed me a pic in his slideshow of a metal bracket and said thats what'd be glued to my teeth-it was kind of a 'what it is' type thing-obviosly trying to explain to the less well informed what everything is. I was originally cool with getting all metal all the way around, but since I got my new girlfriend, and I'm starting to get chilly feet I think I might actually prefer clear up top. At least my new girl seems cool with the idea of braces, when I mentioned it she started talking about how she had to have an RPE and all that goodness, and how her peg laterals were fixed(one was yanked and replaced wit a phoney, other was bonded-they look wonderful)

I was given the options of full metal, or ceramics on top at my initial consultation, and only had to choose on the day the braces went on.

When I went for my spacers, the assistant asked if I was going metal or ceramic. I decided on ceramic upper and lower. When I went for my banding appointment, they double-checked that I wanted ceramic and said I could switch to metal if I wanted to. So, I guess I could have switched right up until they started cementing them.

If I did it again, I would go with all metal. Stained ligs show pretty bad on the ceramics and (I hope) metal would be easier than ceramic to remove.

Chris

At the consultation appointment my ortho suggested his preference for metal on top, but he didn't say I couldn't have clear brackets. He was/is more worried about whether clear brackets would have enough torque. I think the torque he referred to was for moving my left upper teeth back to fill in the gap my pendex has made.

It wan't until my appointment where my pendex was placed that I made my initial payment, which included the extra cost for clear brackets. So it was at that time that they knew how many clear brackets to have ready for me on brace day.

I suggest calling you ortho to see if clear brackets, even just on the social teeth, are possible.

I wanted ceramics on top, but my ortho advised against it. He said I'd get better results and be done faster if I did metal top and bottom. I was hesitant at first, but I listened to him in the end. I'd go with whatever your ortho recommends - he's supposed to be the professional, after all!

My ortho steered me pretty quickly to metal at my first consult. Since I wasn't that concerned about how they looked and didn't want to pay any extra or worry about staining, I just went with metal. When I wore them 30 years ago as a kid, they put bands around ALL your teeth -- so just having the little brackets there even if they were metal seemed like a great improvement!

Do you know why, Stace?

Yeah, I'm always curious when they say one or the other.

I was offered anything but invisalign.

If you're considering ceramics instead of metal because of your girlfriend, maybe you should ask her. Say something like, "so should I get those tooth colored braces or the normal metal ones?" because I'm a girl and I would definetly prefer my boyfriend to have metal. It's kind of a he's not embarassed or trying to hide them kind-of-thing. Plus sometimes from a distance ceramics can look like a bunch of plaque or something which I think is gross. No offense to anyone with them, they're just not my taste.

mackenzie I totally agree! I said to my ortho anything but ceramics. Definately just a personal thing, I have seen people with them looking pretty yucky and people with them looking great- I just think the yucky looking ones have stayed with me more!

The contract was written up for ceramics on top, however the contract stated 500 less for all metal. So when I went to pay I said I would like to op for the all metal. ( A little sneaky am I? )

Half my mouth would have had to be metal anyway for the impacted tooth to be brought down.

- Missing Tooth -

mackenzie, thanks for putting that out. I think I might just ask her and find out what she would prefer, cause honestly I don't care myself-either way is fine.

I agree with juf_84 and mackenzie; no offence to anyone with ceramics/sapphires/etc but I personally prefer the look of metal. My ortho initially suggested ceramics, purely because I was an adult. When I told him I'd rather have metal he was more than happy to comply, since it meant he could push the appointments up to every 6 wks rather than every 8 as I had imposed a strict timeline on treatment. For me it was never really a choice anyway; while I understand the idea of wanting to diminish their impact on your appearance, I figure you can't really hide braces completely so why try. I don't want people to think I'm embarrassed by my braces, I'm proud of myself for taking positive steps towards investing in my dental health, despite what people may think. Each to their own though, I think it's great that there are so many options for people to choose what fits their lifestyle best .

I think I'm biased against ceramics because of how they looked on a girl I went to boarding school with. Talk about plaque-build-up-look . Then again, a girl I work with has sapphires which look quite good.

Personally I like my metal. At least I can drink all the coffee I like without worrying bout staining!

...coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee...

My ortho told me which kinds of braces he deals with at the original consult appointment. I didn't have to decide until yesterday when I was sitting in the chair to get them put on!

I decided to go with the In-Ovation R's (metal) top and bottom. I only got the tops done yesterday and will get the bottoms in a few months.

I had a choice of ceramic or metal. I asked my ortho what he prefers
and he prefers metal only because it usually the treatment time is shorter.
Honestly it didn't matter to me anyway so I chose the metal.
Whatever you choose I'm sure you will be happy.
Happy Bracing!