Metal Mouth Message Board

I had my top teeth "braced" Dec. 18. I got my bottom arch braced yesterday, april 17. When i was in the chair, i told my doc that my top canine tooth was hitting a bracket on the bottom. He put a bit of plastic/rubber something on the top of the bottom bracket and said, "that will stop when the tooth moves." My doc is not much of a talker even if I ask questions. any ideas on how long this will take? will it hurt my top tooth meantime? can it make my bottom bracket fall off? I've not had a prob with brackets coming off. ideas?

I had the same problem with my upper teeth hitting my lower brackets when my lowers were placed (4 months after my uppers). For the first month of having my lower braces, I was especially careful when eating or biting anything. I only broke one lower bracket when I bit a dill pickle. Your bite will probably change fairly quickly and you'll have less problems with your teeth hitting.

Chris

my bottom arch went on first and my ortho told me that he was putting a hard substance in my right and left top molors towards the back to prevent my bite (because i have an over bite) from breaking the bottom front brackets off. He said mine would stay there until it wore itself down, which he said would take a little while. But i does prevent me from closing my bite all the way down and chewing properly on food. (sometimes it makes me druel (sp) a little too!) It only bothers me when i chew, other than that i doesn't hurt at all. But i have to say that i can't wait for it to be gone!!! Hope that helps you!!

Very similar experience as yours. It feels totally awkward and weird at first, but it does get better once your bite adjusts. It only took a few weeks for me.

My deep overbite caused my top teeth to hit my bottom brackets. After a month of braces, my teeth had moved enough to where this wasn't happening anymore. My advice is to just put up with it and keep in mind that the awkwardness will disappear soon anyway.

I have a cross bite where my lateral incisors go behind the bottom teeth. I had the rubber thing put on one of the brackets (my left incisor) as the bottom tooth was hitting the bracket as well. It threw my bite off, alot. I knocked that bracket off one night in my sleep apparently from clenching. My ortho put it back on but this time he put it up a bit higher than before so my bottom tooth wouldn't be hitting it. It has helped alot. But my ortho did say it was likely going to cause some problems until the teeth straighten out and arrive at thier desired position.

I would suggest doing your best to be careful about how you chew. Yes, it is a pain in the rear but its still not the end of the world if you end up knocking it off. If that happens, maybe your ortho can reposition it as mine did. Good luck!

It is very common for upper teeth to hit the lower. This will lessen as the lower teeth line up. Tubing or special ligatures can be used to protect the brackets in the meantime.

Dr Chen

So I was reading this post as it is currently an issue for me. I called my Ortho and they told me to come in. I just got back and they put these little bumper attachments to my bottom brackets. WOW! what a difference!!! Now my upper arch rests on a cushion. No teeth hitting! I would suggest to anyone that has this issue that they contact their Orthodontist to see if this will work for their case.

THANKS FOR THE POST!!!!!!

The rubber bumpers do provide a nice cushion; however, you can still knock a bracket off even if you do have one. Glad that it seems to have cured the problem for you though NotBob1.

i appreciate everyone's input. i had the "bumpers" added to but my bite is all out of whack. I am drooling food too this too shall pass ...

ThinkPink wrote:my bottom arch went on first and my ortho told me that he was putting a hard substance in my right and left top molors towards the back to prevent my bite (because i have an over bite) from breaking the bottom front brackets off. He said mine would stay there until it wore itself down, which he said would take a little while. But i does prevent me from closing my bite all the way down and chewing properly on food. (sometimes it makes me druel (sp) a little too!) It only bothers me when i chew, other than that i doesn't hurt at all. But i have to say that i can't wait for it to be gone!!! Hope that helps you!!

I have the exact same thing, do yours give foods such as meat a sort of weird crunchy texture?

HAGAN
yes they do!!! I thought i was just weird!! nice to know that someone else has the same thing!! are yours blue-ish in color? I looked at mine after i got them and they are blue things in my teeth! odd color if you ask me!!! but i find myself having to chew a little more because my teeth don't touch back there!!! it's taking some getting used to but i'm almost there!!! How about you? Are you getting used to it? How long do you have to keep yours in?

I have an upper retainer to prevent me to konock lower brackets off.
I dont have upper braces yet. The retainer works well, but I do not wear at work when I have to give talks or speak with an stranger.

At the beginning I could not take the retainer away, but now I can be without it and not break brackets even though my upper teeth still crashes with the lowers if I try to bite down.

I'm having lower brackets put on in July and my ortho told me I would have to have a bite plate to stop me knocking the bottom brackets off. I'm not looking forward to that much as I heard it's not to comfortable. Anyone had a bite plate? and is it removable or 'stuck' on?

ThinkPink
Mine are also blue, i found it very weird the first few days and still do with some foods. I got mine put on 3 weeks ago and they seem to have wore down a bit already. I just found the weird sort of crunch feeling very strange.