Metal Mouth Message Board

I posted before about a canker sore.I got braces on bottom on may 29.I have a big canker sore near where molar is rubbing.I used wax but its a pain.It just falls off.It seems like canker sore heals then when wax falls off terrible pain and then the sore looks bad again.I rinse with salt water constantly.Is ther anything ortho can put over that bracket? I dont have much wax left and i dont go back until the end of july.

Sorry to hear that you're in pain with a canker. If you are using silicone wax you have to make sure that the bracket is dry before you apply the wax otherwise it won't stick. Rub the bracket with your finger or a towel to dry it then place a blob of wax. In an emergency you can use some sugar free chewing gum if you haven't got any wax. I would suggest you stock up on wax. You can buy it online if you can't get it from a pharmacy or your orthodontist. The owner of this site, Lynn, sells all sorts of goodies http://www.dentakit.com/

Also don't forget you can re-use wax. When I first got my brace I was putting a new piece of wax on each time I cleaned my teeth which was rather uneccessary, just take the wax off, clean your teeth and put it back on. This way you won't go through massive amounts.

Make sure you stay well hydrated too.

Hope your canker heals soon, keep trying with the wax.

Regards
Joney

I echo what joney says. When I had "bracket rub", wax was my friend. I also found that bigger blobs stuck on better than smaller ones.

How will this ever heal if the bracket and end wire keep poking it? Will my mouth ever get tough enough to stand this? The sore looks like the middle of it the skin is missing.I dont know how to better describe it.Sorry.Also the wire isnt long enough to clip any.It ends in a bad spot . the left side is ok but the right side where it hurts,its the 4th tooth from the back so it is more so in the front because the space next to it is where i had a tooth pulled so the had to end the wire where they did.

I had a similar problem in the site near my extraction gap. If the wire isn't long enough to clip then it may be the position of the bracket that is irritating. Only thing I could do was put wax on it. However as my teeth moved the bracket position wasn't so irritating. If there is enough wire to clip then the ortodontist can clip it and the relief is instant.

I'm lucky that I haven't had a canker but my youngest daughter (who also has a brace) suffers from them really badly. Our ortho gave her a tube called "brace relief" and she applies this and says it helps. Unfortunately she won't listen to me when I suggest she uses wax (stubborn teenager).

Your mouth will toughen up but in the meantime try to keep the canker from being irritated with liberal wax so it has time to heal.

Joney beat me to it!

I'd certainly see if the wire can be clipped. What my ortho does - which may also help if the wire is too short - is grind down the end so that it's not sharp.

i have the tube of brace relief also.That just burns be so bad then it numbs it but not for long.Does that actually help heal it?

Sorry but I'm not sure how the brace relief works. I think that the main thing is to try to stop the irritation form the wire or bracket as this will give the area time to heal. I'm not sure if there are products that help with the healing process, hopefully somebody else might know.

I use a medication called Kenalog. It needs a doctors RX, but it works wonders for me. A little goes a long way. If you can get ahold of some, put on a blob of wax on the bracket and this stuff on the sore - it heals in 2 or 3 days. Also, avoid any foods which can cause irritation (oranges, cantaloupe, spicy...) and if you are like me and like boiling hot coffee or tea, take it down a few degrees. I also agree with the others - a trip to the orthos office sounds in order to check that wire (if you have self ligating brackets you might have a popped open door that is rubbing the wrong way).

I'm not sure where to buy them, but a friend of mine who was recently debanded gave me these things called "cankermelts" They are little round, flat things that you position over the canker sore, and they soothe and help heal, plus they create a barrier that makes it hard for the bracket/wire to cause more irritation... the only drawback is that after a few hours (or overnight, if you sleep in them), they tend to get gooey and stick in your brackets, and it makes the canker a little sore to get it off. Overall, I liked them though.

If this canker sore ever heals,wont it come back because of the bracket constantly rubbing against it or will my mouth toughen up by then? My lower lip is itchy and burning at the same time also??

Meryaten - kenalog contains a steroid. I do not claim to know how it works. I am anti-steroid anything, but I can say that it works well and such a small amount is needed that even I use it.

I noticed no one mentioned peroxide rinses... I have always been very prone to getting sores in my mouth... any sort of irritation caused a sore... rinse with peroxide out of the bottle a few times a day and it helps heal it real quick.

I used to get canker sores all the time. There is something they have put in tooth paste that really triggers it since I have been braced. Especially the whitening tooth paste. I think it is sodium laurel sulphate. I switched to just plain arm and hammer baking soda tooth paste and I never get them. But if I use the triple whitening kind I can feel under my tongue start to swell and then the canker sores start to appear. My husband is finding the same thing and he isn't even braced. Just something to watch for because now I never get them.

While your mouth will indeed toughen up and be able to handle the brackets no problem, you don't have to put up with a poking wire. Your ortho can polish it smooth in no time flat.

It's hard to believe now, but you will get to a point where you don't even notice you have braces on!