Metal Mouth Message Board

I had an adjustment today and I noticed that my ortho accidentally put my top wire in upside down-I knew this because he had bent the wire to push one tooth a certain way and after the adjustment the bend was pushing on the opposite tooth. I have the Damon brackets, and in a moment of frustration and discomfort I just took my tweezers and started snapping the doors open, took out the wire, took the opportunity to brush and floss, and put the wire back in the right way.
I was really stressed about it because I really had no opportunity to get back to the ortho office to get it fixed for at least two weeks.


I am not advocating doing this, I was just surprised at how easy it was.

Wow that's kinda cool. You would only be able to do that with self-ligating brackets though.

You should let your ortho know what happened when you go in to see him next. He'll probably tell you off, but if he was in the wrong too hopefully it wont be too much of a scolding!

Tell him as soon as possible!!! Patients aren't suppose to do anything like that! You must call tomorrow, to explain what you did. Maybe he didn't put it in upside down, you need to call to find out!

I'm with ilovemacs. You could have undone what was deliberately intended by your ortho and set your treatment back.

Naw, I am positive he put it in upside down, I have only one tooth that is out of alignment, which has had the little bend pushing on it for several months. when he reinserted the same wire, the bend was on the opposite side of my mouth kind of in between teeth in an awkward place.

I won't do that again, mostly because of the ghastly smell that comes out whenever they remove the wires. even though they had just cleaned the wire 10 minutes prior, I smelled it again. I was wondering if anyone else notices it. It's a different smell than tooth funk, more metallic and totally disgusting...anyway.

So this is a public service announcement to double-check your orthodontist's work. And have a flexible schedule that will allow you to drop in to get problems fixed.

So this is a public service announcement to double-check your orthodontist's work.

Yes, you should double-check, but make sure you double-check while you're still at the office. That way, your ortho or assistant can make the necessary adjustments. [/quote]