Metal Mouth Message Board

I just got my bottoms braced on wednesday , yayyyyyy!!! not lol
The top was no where near as painful as the bottom. It was like having the WORST toothache but in 6 teeth at the same time. The molar bands were put on and that was not a big deal but when I was asked to bite down... OMG my top and bottom teeth were super apart and the ortho took a closer look and noticed right away that the cleats/hooks on the outside of the molar are sticking up and my top molars crash on them. My banded molars are tipped inward facing my tongue so when I would chew I was actually chewing with the side of my molar and not the top of the molar. There is no other way to get these molars upright so now everytime I say certain words my molars sort of tap dance. It makes the sound of tap dancing and really loud!!! So now at night if I yawn and close my mouth it makes that clacky noise and I wake up in pain. It's like a little hammer constantly tapping on my molar. I wish I knew of another way to get these molars uppright! Any suggestions!??
He said I will have problems chewing for a while. I know what that means.
Until my molars are upright which will take months! I've accept the pain and dealing with a cut inside my lower lip because 3 bottom front teeth are not attached to the archwire yet because of crowding. I've surprised myself that I'm just accepting all this but I know it is because I want and need to have my teeth straight for the health ofmy teeth and for me.Because of severe crowding I was at high risk for losing most or all of my teeth in few yrs because it is/was impossible to remove plaque in those spaces. The picture below is with me biting down . As you can see
my teeth do not meet at all and my ortho thought I wasnt closing my mouth ...




Update 8-28-06 He put me on elastics today instead of waiting 6 weeks .

Gennel

Wow! Can't he trim the 'hook' or whatever that pointy thing is? I had hooks removed or bent in the past if they gave me trouble. If not, at this point all you can do is try a big ball of wax on it.

I would have thought that he would have waited to even put the lower brackets on until the top teeth were intruded so that the molar wasn't hitting. Can he remove the band on that lower molar until some teeth have moved? I would be afraid of cracking my upper tooth.

What options did he give? Make alittle "noise" and complain if you have to, because this will probably take awhile to correct. I'd want better options if I were you.

Oh and yes, sometimes the bottoms hurt more than the tops my ortho told me and I experienced too.

Ow! I am unable to close my mouth all the way right now too, because of the positioning of the brackets on the third tooth from the middle (both sides) on the bottom. It is really a pain in the neck. I hope you are able to get some relief soon.

The curved hook is for elastics that he will be putting on in the next appt .
The top molar is actually in position and will not be moving much. He was actually planning on putting a bihelix but decided to try and move these molars upright with the help of elastics.He did press down the hooks/cleats inside so they are not bothering me at all as far as my tongue is concerned . The hook is actually pretty much pressed against my molar but my molar is almost completely laying down on it's side. It really doesnt show up in the picture that much.
My daughter has an adjustment in 2 weeks so I will see him then and ask if there is anything else that can be done...



Gennel

Gennel, that looks incredibly uncomfortable! Isn't there any way he could bracket that molar instead of banding it? I was offered that option when one of my molar bands was crashing against a top tooth, so it is possible.

I'd definitely ask him to do SOMETHING about it if at all possible.

You know what ? I will ask him The only problem I see is that I have a filling on the side of the molar and many times a molar band is a better option. Sometimes a bracket does not stay on if it's glued against a filling I will ask to see if he can use a bucal bracket ??
I just dont really want to sound like I am telling him what to do. I know he knows what he's doing and I guess he figures if I can tolerate this for 3 months then it was easier to try banding.

Gennel

I guess he figures if I can tolerate this for 3 months then it was easier to try banding.

But he's not the one having to put up with it for 3 months, you are!

If it's that bad then I'd definitely be a bit "firm" with him, and tell him you want another option of it's at all possible. After all you're the one paying him I know what you mean about not wanting to be seen as telling him what to do, or getting a label as a difficult patient. But I think medics can often inadvertently lose sight of the fact that their patients have to live day in day out with the problem.

I'm sure you can figure out a way to ask him without seeming to be rude or demanding and I'm sure he wouldn't want you to be suffering unnecessarily for 3 months if there's another way to achieve the same result. It can't hurt to ask![/quote]

*Gives Gennel a hug*

Well then, ice cream for you everyday.

Wow Gennel that does look uncomfortable. You have the same issues as me with regards to crowding. I am so lucky that my molars are all in line though.

As said before I would definately call for maybe an emergency appointment (sometimes the Ortho doesn't like when you ask questions about your treatment when its your child's treatment time)..

Hope you can get it sorted soon..

I called the ortho emergency number and spoke to his assistant. They are closed today but she was willing to go in today with him if I was in too much pain. I told her no, enjoy the weekend and I will talk to him on Monday. She told me to come in Monday morning so he can see if he can do anything else. Even if he puts a bracket on the molar the loop,hook will still be facing up at my top molars and it will hit it when I close my mouth. So I don't think there is an option. Anything that is put on the side of my two 2nd molars on bottom will be glued on the side and my molar sides are facing up I know he will not take it the wrong way.
I told her my concerns were that my top molar is constantly hitting it and the molar is loose. It is more loose than it should be. I know my teeth are loose right now but it is a lot. I'm afraid that the constant crashing will cause it to become too loose and I will end up losing those two top second molars.

I already have an issue with my bottom front tooth. It has a receded gumline and some bone loss. That tooth became loose within 3 hrs of getting braces. I have like a 60-70% chance that I may lose that bottom front tooth.I don't care if my bottom midline is off but they will probably not be able to just close that front tooth gap because there is bone loss there so it won't be able to support a tooth that was moved in there. My option is getting 1 fake bottom tooth and it won't be an implant! If there's not enough bone ,they can't put a screw in anyway and I don't have that kind of $$$
So I have some issues that I have totally accepted because this is my fault for living in so much fear of dentists for so long. Now I hop on dentist chair and am so anxious to get treatments.

Sorry for the long vent,dragging post


Gennel

Gennel

I am keeping my fingers crossed for you that this can be sorted out soon to make life a bit easier for you.

Regards
Laura

gosh that looks painful...hope it gets better

That looks so painful. I feel for you. Sure hope it gets better soon. Sounds like a great excuse for a milkshake.

I went in this morning to see my ortho. I actually felt bad going in today. I told him I did not want to go in just to bother him. I told him that this problem was causing a lot of pain and I knew that this is the ONLY way to do this. I told him that if there was another way to speed these molars moving upright, that I would do it even if it was painful. So he told me that instead of getting elastics in 6 weeks that he would put me on 1/4" medium elastics to get these molars moving faster. He asked to see me in 2 weeks for a progress check. So he opened up the cleats on the inside of the band ,facing my tongue and put elastics from the inside of my bottom molars to the outside of my upper molars. As soon as I swallowed I felt the cleats scrape my tongue like fishing hooks! So everytime I swallowed it was getting cut. I went immediately and got wax and got instant relief from that at least. So far the wax has been on for 6 hrs. I can't feel that the elastics are in my mouth but I can feel the pain on those teeth!!! I can see his expression of sincere sympathy and he assured me that I wasn]t bugging him! lol So I'm taking 2 Tylenol now and taking a much needed nap! We are currently waiting for Hurricane Ernesto that should be here by Wednesday so I've been out all day getting supplies!




Gennel

Wow, yeah i can imagine it hurt really bad!! But, i don't blame you for going back even if you have to feel more pain to speed the moving of those teeth! I have been in top braces going on 3 wks now and i will get my bottom ones next month. I hope i won't be hurting to bad with the bottom ones but, i hear that they are more painful!! Hope you feel better and good luck with the hurricane....i'm from Louisiana and it's a year today since katrina hit so, i know how ya'll feel!!