Metal Mouth Message Board

Now that I'm learning all the ins and outs about braces, I've learned about heat activated wire. I think I may have it as my braces feel a bit tighter after I drink a hot beverage. I know this probably sounds stupid, but would it help speed things up a little if I drank more tea during the day?

Thanks!

Erin

paws this happens to me too. whenver i eat ice cream or drink something cold my braces feel tighter.

Wow, that's so interesting! At my age (46), I need all the help I can get as people CONSTANTLY tell me, "You know, it takes longer when you have braces as an adult because your teeth don't move as quickly as a kid's."

Thanks so much for the research, KK!

Erin

Paws, I wouldn't worry about your teeth moving slower. I'm 53 and mine have moved as fast as my daughter's...she's 27. We are going through this together. In fact my impacted canine moved all the way from the center of my palatte into its final position in about 6 months. Fast enough for me!

Im not sure... I hope so though!! I found out the other day when they changed wires that the one I had been wearing was heat activated, and around the time I'd gotten that on, I had started to drink coffee lol! So yay! Hopefully your theory is true, even though I dont think I have one anymore!

Hey Pam, that's very encouraging! Thank you!

Erin

Interesting stuff. I recall that when I had my first glass of (chilled) white wine with braces, there was this sensation going on in my mouth, like a sudden grip on my teeth. Very weird.

Ok...I think some of you are getting confused here. Just so happens that I got one of these lovely size 16 Copper NiTi wires yesterday. They are heat activated and become flexible with cold temperatures

So....my ortho said that if the pain gets too uncomfortable to drink something cold, that it will allow the wire to loosen up a bit and exert less force for awhile. He said if it feels ok and I'm up to it, I can speed things along a bit by drinking hot beverages and tightening them up. I can tell you that this wire, hurts like Heck today! All of my upper teeth are killing me. I dranks some cold water last night when they were really hurting and swished some ice water around in my mouth. Both my son and I have these wires and could really feel the wires become more flexible with the cold water. I drank a cup of hot coffee this morning and they got much tighter and more uncomfortable. So....I hope that clears up some of the info on the heat activated wires. Basically hot means pain, cold means no pain! LOL....

Brandy

If your wires aren't heat activated they should tighten in the cold because that makes metal contract.

I have noticed more pressure on my teeth when I drink coffee too.

Interesting what you say about the copper Niti wire, brandy. I got a 17X17 one on top this morning which was tied in quite tightly, so will see how I'm travelling in the next 24-48 hours.

It was a bit tender when eating lunch, but that's possibly because I also got a heavier wire on the bottom, as well as some nice box elastics....

Yeah, like my ortho said, a lot was going on today.

I noticed tightening with my first (light) wire when I would drink coffee. Very cool! It was definitely thermal activated as he took it out of a fridge to put it in my mouth! My second one is much heavier though and I'm thinking it must be a normal wire; I can't feel any difference with hot liquids. Does anyone know whether the gauge of the wire would make a difference on how you feel the thermal part working?