Metal Mouth Message Board

Just wondering if anyone else had their brackets put on first (along with spacers), then the wires and molar bands some time later? It doesn't seem that common, from the posts I've read. I don't know if my ortho office was just trying to save time...why not wait to put the brackets on along with everything else?

The brackets alone looked really funny and tore up my mouth a lot. Then again, it did give me a two-week intro, of sorts...two weeks to get used to the added weight, brushing, and self-consciousness before having the whole thing in place.

Did anyone else have things done in this order???

Hello and good morning! I myself didn't have this done because I didn't have spacers, but my orthodontist has done that to other patients of his. Good luck, and congrats on the smile!

Thats how my orthodontist did it. I didn't really like it cause I kept getting asked when I was getting my wire, and why I didn't have a wire yet. Was annoying.

Exactly...people don't say anything when they notice the wire, "Okay, she has braces". But I don't think they knew what to think when they just noticed the funny little, angular bumps glued to my teeth. I just saw some pictures taken at my friend's birthday party, that weekend...the ceramic seemed to reflect the light, so my teeth were noticably bumpy with no wire to explain why.

The worse part was that it was two weeks of discomfort that I couldn't even justify as helping to change the position of my teeth!

Well, if it makes you feel any better, I've had my molars and second bicuspids, top & bottom banded for the past week with nothing on the front teeth! I too am going through the pain of these foreign metal objects jamming into my cheeks with nothing to show for it. They'll put my front brackets and wires on Tuesday morning. It's kinda weird how my ortho did it. I was under the impression that when I was told it would take two appointments that they'd do the top one week and the bottom the next, or vice versa. So I've felt kinda silly walking around with the glint of silver poking out of the corners of my mouth every time I smile. But I just figure, I'm not the one who has the degree in othodontics, so I'll trust that Dr. Georgelis knows what he's doing and that he has good reasons!

Yeah, weird! I wonder what the orthos' reasonings are behind each the different orders of placemen. I'll ask in my next appointment.

Rmwolf83, So you didn't need spacers? They put the molar bands on right away? I hate them even more than the brackets and wires, I think. They're ripping my tongue to shreds. Anyway, congrats...we started at about the same time--do you have a pic up? I want to keep track of the folks who started with me. Best of luck!

Cassie I did need spacers....eight of them, yuck! They were probably the worst pain I've ever felt! There were six on top and only two on the bottom. They put the spacers in on 7/11, then I went back on 7/18 and they took out the spacers and banded my back teeth. Now, I go back tomorrow to "finish up" as my ortho's assistant says. I do have pics, I started a blog that I plan on keeping updated throughout this journey! It's at http://rachelsbraces.blogspot.com. Do you have any pics? It'll be fun to see how we each progress! Good Luck!

Rachel

I had 8 spacers on top, don't have bottom braces yet, can only wonder how many I'll have there. Thankfully I didn't have much pain and the spacers didn't bother me much. It's now thats bugging me, as my molars are constantly aching on one side or the other, I just want to be able to CHEW something.

I had my ceramic brackets put on my social 6, skip one on each side for the expander, then a metal bracket, skip another one for the expander again, then molar bands. Then I came back a week later for SIXTEEN spacers. Then I had to wait 2 more weeks for my expanders to come in and that's when I got my wire, finally. It was really weird having no wire to explain the brackets and 3 weeks seemed like forever to wait, but I'm glad my ortho did it that way so at least *some* of my mouth got toughened up before the pain started with the expander and wire. Otherwise I think I might have been much more miserable having everything in at once.

I got my top brackets and all of my spacers the day I decided to get braces and signed the paperwork. I was supposed to come back in two weeks for the wires and the other brackets/bands, but I had to have four teeth removed and it took longer to get them removed than originally expected. So I had just brackets and spacers for about 3-4 weeks, if I remember correctly.