Metal Mouth Message Board

I have Ceramic brackets on top and metal brackets on the bottom. I'm currently using the color "Pearl"(clear) power chains on both top and bottom. I'm really careful about what I eat and drink and try to brush my teeth right after. Know matter how careful I am, after about 2 weeks I notice the power chains become stained. Currently my appointments are every 4 weeks, but I've been going in after 2 weeks just to get my power chains changed.
My question is how often do you get your ligatures or power chains changed and do you have any tips? Am I the only one who thinks it's impossible to keep the same clear ligatures/power chains till your next scheduled appointment?

Thanks

i cant answer the lig quesstion cuz i have ss metal wire ties... i drink coffeee or did about 5 day sa week once a day but never ate curry and stuff. the brackets arent supposed to stain at all.. but no matter what kinda brackets you have the ligs will stain if they are light in colour or fade if they are dark in colour.. ealstic liggs should be changed every visit since they get loose

Yeah, pearl ligs do start to look dingy after a few weeks....

I like curry and other staining foods far too much to give them up, so I gave up the pearl ligs/powerchains instead and went with colour a few months ago. I chose a pale mauve/lilac colour; it's marginally more visible than pearl, but no amount of curry will dent the colour.

PITA!!!
Just get something with some color that won't stain and don't worry about having to go in every two weeks.
I'm suprised that the ortho does this change every two weeks.

Hi snowgirl,

I have ceramic brackets on my upper and front lower teeth. My guess is that you don't want the ligs to show which is why you chose the Pearl color??? I had clear the last 2 times and my appts. were 7 weeks apart. My ligs did not stain that much (or at least they didn't show). I don't drink alot of coffee/tea, an occasional cup. Usually if I eat something that I think may stain them, I usually drink water between bites to try to avoid the staining. I haven't been daring enough to eat spaghetti sauce or other brightly colored foods since I got my braces and really want to avoid going to the orthodontist's office just to change the ligs, although they told me never to hesitate to call if I need the ligs changed. I really try my best to chew my food with my back teeth which I think has helped in the ligs on the front teeth from not staining so quickly.

I had lig colors named opaque which is a glow in the dark color and they blend very well with the clear brackets. I had the clear brackets and they blend very well with the brackets also, in fact, sometimes it's difficult to see the lig. Sometimes, I have asked them to put colored ligs on the back brackets - nobody can see them but me but I really enjoy the color (it makes it more fun too). One of the assts. did put a colored lig (purple)on a front bracket just to show me what it looked like and it looked great (it kind of glowed which I liked) but I'm still a bit shy about the visibility of the braces (but my shyness is slowly going away). At my appt. today, the asst. suggested glow-in-the-dark blue because she knew I liked color but didn't want them to be too visible on the front teeth and it blended very well and the blue was subtle. She also used the same colored powerchain - the blue is so delicate that you know it's there but it's not bright at all. It was like a powder blue.

I hope this info has helped. Try putting some colored ligs on the back teeth and after awhile you may want to try other colors on the front teeth.

ssfw

Hi Snowgirl,

I had a powerchain (clear) and while I avoid a lot of stainy foods I noticed they got kind of icky after a while. I also go in every 4 weeks for adjustments. Two adjustments ago, my ortho instructed his assistant to use wire ties instead of power chains. I'm not sure if that's the correct term. She tied the wire around the brackets and then twisted the wire all the way to the next bracket and so on. I actully loved them. I ate everything and anything i wanted. Including mustard. No problems I was extatic! On my last adjustment I made a comment to the assistant about how nice they were and how convenient. Well I think it paid off because she put them on again. I'm only power chained on the front upper teeth. The are actually in the process of closing 1st molar extractions and my ortho's plan of attack is to move the canines back first and then the other 4. Could that be an option for you? You may want to bring that up to your ortho.

hey rainyday2, i had tie wires on all of my brackets for at least the first 6 months. then they changed me to clips, which were much whiter than my clear top brackets, so i requested the clear ligs. now i have all ligs on top except for the front 2 teeth, which they left tie wires on. i asked why they left the tie wires there and the assistant explained to me that tie wires and ligs each move the teeth differently. it's been a while, so i don't remember exactly how each moves them though.

Thanks for all the suggestions on this. I did previously ask about the wire ties and was told it would not work for me.
I think I will try some color only on the bottom to see how it looks for now.
I feel I don't want to use color on top since I paid extra for the ceramic and its not noticable. I can't win!!!

Someone on here had suggested "smoke" colored. I've never tried it, but may be worth checking into.

I just had my clear...well yellow ligs changed to smoke. I've only had mine for a week and they looked awful.

The smoke look pretty grey but once they are on they look clear.

Here's how mine look:


Hope that helps.

I only have mine changed every adjustment -- so, every 5 to 6 weeks.

It helps that I don't eat mustard or curry, smoke, or drink coffee or tea, though.

I wear periwinkle colored ligs and they dont stain at all IMO. However I do brush after almost every meal or anytime I drink a coke...

I have smoke on now, on my power chains. After 2 wks now, I haven't had any major color change.

Hi Sbebs,
So are you saying the ligs in the photo is the color "smoke" ?
cause they look verrrrrrrry clear! And look like they would stain in a day.
I've had the light grey( like smoke color) on the bottom before but it didn't look light that! It was visible light grey!

Yes they are smoke. I did a close up pic because that is the only way you can actually tell any color difference. And before they put them on they look quite dark. I was shocked how "clear" they look once they are on. My clear ligs stained in less than a week, but the smoke have been awesome so far. No color change at all.
I am a big fan.

I totally understand how you feel about putting color on your clear brackets. I didn't want to put color on them since that defeats the purpose of them blending in.

Heres a comparison of the clear and smoke ligs closeup so you can see there is an actual difference.

Smoke Day 1



Clear Day 1



The clear actually look cloudy compared to the smoke.
Hope that helps!