Metal Mouth Message Board

I've had latex elastics for about 2 months, never had any irritation at all from then up until the past week. One day my cheeks and lips started to become really irritated and red and my lower lip actually became swollen. I took the elastics out for a couple days, let my mouth heal, and put the elastics back in. The following morning I was all red and swollen again.

I called my ortho office and they think I probably developed a latex allergy so they'll give me latex free ones at my next appt. Didn't expect that considering I've never had an alergic reaction to anything ever before.

Has this happened to anyone else? Seems odd that I would be fine for 2 months and then have this suddenly happen.

Are latex free ones just as effective? I hate delays and am already bummed that I've gone almost 1.5weeks without my elastics in.

This happened to me too, almost exactly, it sucked so bad I was in tears. I had to get a cream for my swollen mouth and lips. The non latex elastics worked fine.

-sophie

I found out I was orally allergic to latex when they put my braces on using latex gloves. I have the non-latex rubber bands and they work fine. Good luck. Latex allergies SUCK!!!!

I had a reaction to the elastics as well. Evertime I tried to wear them my tongue and cheeks would swell. They gave me the plastic ones instead. They are not as effective so they told me to double them up. When they get wet they go kind of spongy and they break frequently. Everytime I tried to go back to the latex they seemed so much tighter, but I just couldn't weat them.