Metal Mouth Message Board

I have these litagating modules on my molar brackets, they are on the inside where my tongue is. I can't really talk today because they have stabbed me so much while eating and talking. I put wax on them but the wax does not stay. I get frustrated with them, because i can't position my tongue with out stabbing it!!Someone tell me my tongue is gonna get used to it.

Yes! It took me a couple of days to get used to talking and eating with them. After that it will feel like they were always there.

Thank god. It really makes eating uncomfortable at the moment. Then again when i chew, my jaw starts hurting. I tried a salt water rinse last night trying to get my mouth in better shape. It did help my lips, just not my tongue yet

I don't have those but I have some serious hooks on the outside of my bottom molar bands that stab my cheeks. I assume these are where rubber bands would hook. Since I don't know when or if I will have rubber bands, I wish they didn't have to be there the whole time. No doubt I'll adjust.

It's not clear to me where the rubber bands would attach on top. And it's probable that I will only need bands on my left side, since my bite on my right is ok and but my left is off toward center. So the right hooks may be gratuitous.

I"m trying to hard to get into the spirit of this and find it all an adventure. I know 4 adults at work, at least 2 older than me, who wear braces and I always thought they looked kind of cute and cool. I hope I come to feel that way about me!

Hugs,

Elle

Yes, i tried the salt water rinses and i can say they made my lips feel way better. Wax helps with the cleats, but i think i'm going to ask about putting a ligature on them. My right side tends to bother me the most. The other side is fine. I think the right is sharper at least that is the way it feels.I have had like a tiny bit of movement on my front teeth. They overlapped just a bit and i've noticed that the overlap is slowly going away. I also have to admit that I have become frustrated with my braces when i get tired and feel like i have to take them out or something, even though i can't. Is it normal to have alot of saliva? I notice myself drooling when i'm using my proxabrush or when i'm falling asleep.

I had the same problem when I got braced last January!!! My tongue was tore up and my cheek kept getting caught in the cleats!!! I would be in the middle of a conversation when I'd stop talking (eyes wide and near tears!!) My friends got used to it b/c I was convinced it was just a part of having braces. On my next appointment, I mentioned it to my ortho and he pressed the cleats in and voila...I was all better! I wish I had known that wasn't normal! So please go get it fixed!!! You'll feel SOOOOO much better!

I have those small "cleats" too, but its strange I read that you all have so much discomfort of them, I don't even realize them really. No probs at all. And they are quiet big, but very close to the band, like on the picture in the post above. More annoying are the 2 Tubes and Hook (with ball at least) down and the 3 (!) Tubes and Hook on upper molars. what all those tubes are needed for? 1 is quite big, its for headgear, but the other 2 are much smaller, one is rectangular. Not even the archwire goes through one of them. Are they used for lip bumpers? Or when someone needs 2 archwires on a jaw? (already seen some of those)

I too have the cleats on my upper molars. My tongue got caught on them when I first got braces on. It was also really hard to eat as I tried to move my tongue to move my food around to eat and my tongue would get caught on them then. Eventually, my tongue got used to them. Now and then the cleat hooks get pulled away slightly from the bands for some reason. When this happens, my tongue gets really sore and I have to ask the OD to push them back flush against the bands. Perhaps you could ask your OD if they are pushed all the way flush?

I also have those round knobs on my bottom molars. No idea what they are called, but they can be a pain too. They're not being used right now but are supposed to be after surgery. The OD put ligatures around them so my tongue doesn't get irritated. But, my hygienist hates them because they get full of tartar as my tongue is always up against them.

Cary

I think i'm going to call tomorrow and ask, i have to keep wax on them for now, but when i eat the wax gets chewed with my food and then i'm stuck with the stabbing again. Its so strange that the left side doesnt bother me, but the right side eats my tongue!

I think mine are lingual buttons, not cleats. They are round.