Metal Mouth Message Board

Posted: **Sat Jan 06, 2007 11:08 am**

Looks like I'm going to be getting my top teeth braced 6 months or so sooner than I thought (see my blog for details) but now of course I am going to have to decide.......metal or ceramic?
My ortho is offering me ceramics at no extra cost and has said "surely you don't want metal at your age" - I'm 41 - but I've always been determined to make the braces experience as fun as possible and to be honest I am not all that keen on the appearance of the ceramic brackets, and I don't feel I want to make them less visible, so IMO there's no reason to go for ceramics.

However.........I have discovered that my ortho's supplier also does the Wildsmiles brackets and I am toying with the idea of asking him if I can have those. I've been playing with Paint Shop Pro today and have come up with 2 pics showing what traditional metal vs Wildsmiles would look like on my teeth.

What do you all think? Am I just being tooooooo childish by considering the idea of star brackets? Should I be adult and sensible and accept his offer of ceramics, or choose the middle ground and just have traditional metal? I haven't mentioned Wildsmiles to him yet but will do on Wednesday when I go for my next adjustment. I guess he might say that for some reason they are unsuitable for me (other than that I'm too old for such frivolousness)

Here's the pics

Posted: **Sat Jan 06, 2007 11:23 am**

I like the way you have the coloured chains on your ceramics Karen, and I think it looks great. But despite me dropping many hints, my ortho has so far said he isn't prepared to stock coloured powerchains as there wouldn't be enough demand for them. You can see from the pics how discoloured the clear chains get after just a couple of curries, and it looks vile!

I would be prepared to pay for coloured chains myself but DG's assistant said to me that one time they ordered some blue chain for somebody, and the coloured chains stocked by Orthocare UK are a different brand to the clear ones that he normally uses, and that they didn't seem as good. So ceramic brackets and coloured chains don't seem to be an option for me, although of course I could have coloured ligs.

But if there is no clinical reason why I can't have stars, and I say that I will pay for them myself, I guess he can't really say no, can he?

Here is the link for the star brackets

http://www.orthocare.co.uk/acatalog/Wil ... ckets.html

Posted: **Sat Jan 06, 2007 12:54 pm**

I really love the stars Lisa, you should definitely find out if they would be okay with your treatment!

Posted: **Sat Jan 06, 2007 1:52 pm**

I'll have a go Denise - I can use a pic of the flower brackets and paste them on, but I'm not sure about doing the coloured ligs. I'll see what I can come up with though.

Posted: **Sat Jan 06, 2007 2:10 pm**

Wow, I really like the stars!!!

If it were me....I would choose the stars. Why not be really SPECIAL.

I could see the kids at the middle school where I work being all "up in my brackets"

if I had something kool like that.

Your ortho would put those on at no extra cost? That's fantastic!!

Posted: **Sat Jan 06, 2007 2:35 pm**

Jennielee, he said that ceramics would be no extra cost but I am not sure about these. But if he says I can have them, I will pay for them myself if need be, should I decide to go for them. The trade price is Â£56 and I know his suppliers stock them, so hopefully I would be able to get them at trade cost.

Denise, here's the flower brackets with pink ligs. I had to cut and paste the ligs from another photo of my brackets so it's been a bit fiddly, but hopefully you get the idea of how it would look.

Posted: **Sat Jan 06, 2007 2:42 pm**

Definitely the stars. As long as they don't have sharp edges that might cut into your mouth?

Posted: **Sat Jan 06, 2007 4:12 pm**

They are only available in .022 Roth prescription. I'm not sure exactly what that means and I'm not sure if that's what is already being used on me. So I guess that might be a clinical "against".

The flowers are a bit too cute for me. I'm not that "girly"

but the stars would be cool I think.

Anyway, I'll report back on Wednesday with the verdict.

Posted: **Sat Jan 06, 2007 6:51 pm**

I love the stars. Oh the things you can do with those! You can have a 4th of July smile, with red, white and blue stars....how cool would that be? At Christmas time you could pretend they are Christmas trees and have your own little Christmas tree farm in your mouth by choosing all green

But then I do tend to get tacky LOL

Posted: **Sat Jan 06, 2007 9:35 pm**

If I had the option I would have totally gone for wildsmiles brackets. I would have gone for the hearts because I love hearts but the stars just look REALLY cool. I say go for it, if you can. I like the metal more than ceramic. At first I wished I could have gotten ceramic and they wouldn't have been more expensive but I have since change my thoughts and actually like the metal more.

Manglemouth... I don't think Lisa would celebrate the 4th of July since she is in the UK, but our flag is certainly the same colors as the British flag. And speaking of the 4th of July I can't wait to get red, white, and blue. OK, enough for tangents.

GO FOR IT LISA!

Posted: **Sun Jan 07, 2007 2:22 am**

Just my opinion.

I have seen the catalogues of the big bracket brands, like 3M or AO and so on.
I see what enormous effort they do to create brackets that work well. Their
design department must look a bit like an area where they do rocket science.
I mean their brackets are very high tech. Material-wise and functional-wise. I
think these wildsmiles just look like toys to me. I wouldn't trust them for one bit
when they would be on my teeth. They just don't look serious to me. Maybe they
work well for children who do not need much correction, like only some lining up or
making straight. But I don't think they are any good to create a good bite.

But like I said, just my opinion. I might be just too serious about this.

Posted: **Sun Jan 07, 2007 2:29 am**

I guess wearing those brackets one should be very outgoing-happy-firendly. I can't really imagine some grey mouse wearing them

Also if your occupation is a priest, politician, shrink, professor, police or other with some authority of some kind one should not have them.

Posted: **Sun Jan 07, 2007 3:11 am**

Platinum, I'm not especially outgoing, but I do enjoy giving people something to smile about

I work part time as a chef in a unit for mentally ill offenders, so I am not in contact with the general public in a professional capacity. I agree with you that if I were in a position of authority then I would probably consider it unsuitable.

Clo, if my orthodontist refused to use these brackets because of doubts regarding their clinical performance then of course I would accept his judgement based on his experience.

Here's the blurb from the site though (although of course they are not going to say the brackets are a load of cr*p lol) but they were designed by an orthodontist.

WildSmiles Brackets

Our WildSmiles Brackets have been meticulously engineered to provide optimum aesthetic and functional benefits:

Patented design
Accurate prescription
Straight wire style, our version of "Roth"
Centrals: +12Âº torque, +5Âº angulation
Laterals: +8Âº torque, +9Âº angulation
Cuspids: -2Âº torque, +12Âº angulation
Torque in base
80 grade mesh bonding base
Axial Placement Technology
United States manufactured, metal injection molding
Compound contoured surfaces
No sharp corners provide easy bonding clean-up
Cuspids and premolars have hooks
Bracket Identification
Easy to read markings
Tooth number is on mesial gingival tie wing
Maxillary distal gingival tie wing has a "dash"
Axial Placement Technology, vertical stripe line along the tip angle through the center of each bracket
Greater Design Freedom
With MIM, there are virtually no design restrictions or compromising. The part you want is the part you get!

Compared to alternate methods, MIM is versatile and non-restrictive, allowing for much greater design freedom and flexibility. MIM technology is particularly well suited for small, intricate shapes with a finished part weight of 100 grams or less.

Composite parts and parts requiring assembly or multiple steps to finish are excellent candidates for MIM.

The technology allows for molding small, intricate shapes precisely and economically.

High Density Finished Parts for Strength and Exacting Tolerances

MIM achieves densities up to 99.5%. Compared to other methods, MIM produces smoother surface finishes right from the mold cavity. Unlike conventional powder metallurgy, MIM components can be plated and heat-treated, just like wrought alloys.

MIM parts also demonstrate hermitic integrity and can be used in high-vacuum applications.

Compared to press and sinter P/M, MIM produces higher density parts and allows for greater design and flexibility.

Virtually any shape that can be produced by plastic injection molding can be produced in metal using MIM technology.

The mastery of MIM technology has allowed our manufacturing facility to produce over 10 million high quality orthodontic brackets.

Posted: **Wed Jan 10, 2007 8:28 am**

I asked my ortho today about these brackets. He said that if I really really wanted them then I could have them, but because of the complexity of my treatment he would really prefer to work with the apparatus he is familar with, as they are an unknown quantity for him.

So as I said, I will go with his clinical judgement and just have ordinary brackets.

Shame because I think they would have been fun.

Posted: **Wed Jan 10, 2007 8:44 am**

I LOVE the star brackets. I am 31 and if I had the option of the WildSmiles I definately would have taken it!!!!!!

You are right. You should try to make the experience as fun as possible and if you aren't worried about trying to make them less visible then this would just add to the fun.

Enjoy and I hope you can get what you want.

Metal Mouth Message Board

Decisions decisions!

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