Metal Mouth Message Board

Boy was I ever naive!! My friends told me horror stories about them growing up with braces and how bad it hurt every month to have the wire cranked tighter and me in my own silly world though Gee I have self litigating braces no cranking just simply open the doors and slide in a new thicker wire no problemo.. WRONG I felt like they were going to pull my rear teeth out when sliding the new wire in. They are fine now with only mild tenderness (an hour later). the ortho said it wouldn't be as bad next time just felt like this because I was going from thin round wire to thicker squared wire so it's a tight fit. Just the same I don't know I'll be so chipper going into my next adjustment. I'll just have to keep telling myself no pain no gain .

Oh and they wrapped wires around my top social 6 brackets too (he called it ligating). Like there wasn't enough metal in my mouth already. Said it was to prevent spacing from coming later in treatment and seeing as I don't want spacing I'll deal with this surprise too

Oh, man the dreaded square wire! I hate when they thread it through the tubes on the molar bands (I have regular metal molar bands on 4 teeth). It feels like they are pushing a cable through the eye of a needle! I'm hoping this gets easier as the teeth straighten. Hang in there.

Wow ! You have square wires on your first adjustment! I don't think I got those for a 3-4 adjustments! Can't remember exactly as I haven't kept a journal. I think it was at least 4 though.

Anyway, I never felt pain when I had square wires put in. Only the soreness afterwards. I guess everyone's experience is different. I have some pretty crooked molars too!

Yeah I just got a rectangle wire put in after 6 months and the difference was definitely noticable.. It was painful for 3 days but im all kosher now! Its a WAYYY stronger wire-I love it!

I had my first Damon adjustment on Monday. I was very surprised to hear my ortho say they were going to put in a rectangular wire on top - I kept thinking this would come several adjustments down the track. I think he said it was a 14/25 gauge?

The best bit of this experience was when they tried to put a replacement lower archwire on. I had a small tooth that needed rotation, and it had been so cooperative over the first 8 weeks that my ortho removed the powerchain and squeezed the wire in. Boy did that hurt like hell! I gripped the arms of the chair for about 5 seconds then smashed the tool tray with my arms and jumped out of the chair ... we all laughed afterwards, then I had to try again

Oh well, it's all coming along really well and I'm still very happy. In another 8 weeks, I think he might even start to close my diasthema between my front teeth. Strangely enough, I'm starting to feel a little sad about closing the gap, I don't think I'll recognise myself without it!

Oh yeah, one more thing. He put a reverse curve in the top archwire, in an attempt to level out my front teeth. Gotta love modern orthodontics!