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Well it seems like my teeth are on the move, which is a good thing... but as a result, I had about 5mm of archwire poking into the back of my mouth on one side!
I just got some wirecutters and cut off some of the wire that was sticking out of the last bracket... was that a really bad idea?! My next adjustment isn't due until 22 Jan, and it's an hour's drive to the orthodontist... The end is still really sharp, but at least it's only sticking out about 1mm now.
Has anyone else taken matters into their own hands in this way? Any advice for next time?! I've got clear brackets on the top teeth only, to correct overcrowding. I've had them for about 11 weeks now and I had a new archwire and powerchains on the teeth at the side, at my first adjustment a few weeks ago.
Yay!! That's a sign your teeth are on the move!! 5mm of archwire!! Wow!!
I've not done this before as I've never had archwire sticking out yet. My ortho said that I could do it if I needed to. He said that I could use a strong pair of finger/ toe nail clippers. Just clean the well before and after you use them.
My friend clipped hers and her ortho got mad at her. He said he judges how much her teeth have moved by the length of the wire. I guess if you save the clipped off piece that would be okay.
Brackets off 6/5/08
Invisaligns on 7/28/08
(7 Week delay)
21 of 23 U&L (Skipped a tray/On a 10 day rotation)
Class II subdivision right
Moderate upper/lower crowding
Partial anterior crossbite
Normal overbite/overjet
Sentence: 18-20 months
I did it once or twice too. The initial thin wires used can be cut with nail clippers or a little pair of wire cutters. It's better than being constantly stabbed by a sharp wire end.
You can't do it yourself once you get into thicker wires though. I tried but the wire was too hard to cut through.
I wouldn't do it, firstly because cutting it involves putting something in my mouth sharp enough to cut metal, but mostly because my ortho often uses the same archwire at an adjustment rather than changing it, and trimming it might make her unable to. If it's bothering you, I'd use some wax or call and ask them to either snip it for you, or bend it in so it's not so irritating.
I clipped my archwire with nail clippers when I still have the soft wire in. Now that I have stainless steel wires theres no way. You really have to be careful making sure the clipped wire doen't fly away somewhere in your mouth or down your throat.
That's brilliant, thanks for your replies and for all those useful pointers!
I did think to make sure I was leaning forward, so the piece of metal didn't go down my throat However despite rummaging around everywhere on the floor, I couldn't find the bit I'd snipped off - it's completely disappeared!
I will confess to the ortho when I see her next, and find out whether she's happy for me to trim the wire again in future, or not.
when you're cutting the archwire yourself, you risk flatteing the wire using incorrect equipment/wrong technique and making it difficult for your ortho to pull the wires out.
I would really reccomend phoning the ortho to get the wires cut. They usually fit you in on the day, as it's only a few second job you don't really need an appointment for that.
Have you talked to your ortho about getting the wires cut?
edit: I forgot to mention that you could end up swallowing the bit off the archwire.
Thanks, yes you're right that a two-hour round trip would not be very easy, as I'm in full time work. It's bad enough fitting in the six-weekly adjustments...
I did wonder about maybe ringing my normal dentist to see if it was something he would do, but in the end I just thought I'd have a go myself first. Does anyone else go to their regular dentist if their wire needs trimming?
It'll be interesting to find out what the orthodontist says about my archwire-mutilation, when I see her and confess what I've done Irritatingly, it's still very sharp and poking my cheek. But the wax stays on easier now that the end is shorter!
Anyway, probably best not to go hacking it around too much myself in future, all things considered - only in extremis, maybe!
I have not done it yet but my ortho said that I could trim mine. Luckily for me, my ortho is right down the street, so the one time I needed a quick trim, relief was right there.
When I had a bracket pop off, I was told to just trim the wire myself. At this point, though, I'm on my "final" wire, and since I'm not getting a new wire each time (unless it's really needed), I'm not trimming at all. I need the length at adjustments.
I have taken an emory board and just filed down a sharp edge on the end of the wire to a more rounded shape. I wouldn't recommend this by any means...I wouldn't have attempted it were it not that I'm friends with my dentist outside of our professional relationship, so I know she won't kill me if I gadget around and mess something up...oh, and if you don't do it right, you'll just file the sucker down to a sharper point.
Braces Type: Powerprox ("Six Month" Braces), worn 9/27/2007 through 5/12/2008
My dentist: Lakeside Dental in Lake Zurich, IL
I clipped mine once with nail clippers and then the next 2 times, I went into the office and had the ortho's assistent clip it. The ortho came over to do a little mini check once and he said to the assistant and me, "we should issue a pair of distle end cutters to every adult who gets braces, they wouldn't have to waste their time coming in here to have us do it." He said it with a big smile and a wink. To imply that he was not saying this out of annoyance.
Like Lisa 65 said, once the wire size increased, the home trimming came to an end as there wasn't anything I owned that would cut those rectangular wires!
when you're cutting the archwire yourself, you risk flatteing the wire using incorrect equipment/wrong technique and making it difficult for your ortho to pull the wires out.
The assistant used a dull cutter herself once and mangled the end of my wire. She said it wasn't a big deal and she just cut it to get it out when it was time to change out of that wire. I do suppose that if I had been the one responsible for mashing that end, she'd have been upset with me though.
Although I've never yet clipped my archwire, I have cut a wire tie that attached the bracket of my wayward bicuspid (which is still way too far from the archwire to be properly attached) to the archwire. I did this because I managed to pop the bracket off while attempting to eat something I should not have, and there was no way I was going to walk around with a bracket dangling from my archwire. I did go to the ortho's office to get the bracket re-bonded on Christmas eve and the assistant who attended to me didn't appear to be too peed off about it
I tried filing down the end of my archwire with a very rough nail file and ended up breaking off the last bracket. Now I am left with a big ole piece of wire flinging around in my mouth. Does anyone know if not having this bracket attached to the last tooth will impact my treatment or cause adverse movement? In the past when I've had brackets come off on the back teeth the ortho has said that those are less important and I could wait to come in and have them fixed. And if I do need to have the bracket reset, if my entire upper mouth has wire ties on every tooth, will they have to undo each one to move the arch wire enough to glue the bracket back on? Help!
5mm of archwire!! Wow!! 
However despite rummaging around everywhere on the floor, I couldn't find the bit I'd snipped off - it's completely disappeared!
