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Metal Spacers?

Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 3:50 pm
by KatieBug
Anyone ever had these painful things? I started with rubber and moved to metal spacers and they are very painful! Let me know if you have a similar experience

Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 4:13 pm
by mariahfromchicago
That stinks. :( Lucky me I didn't need the metal type. Hope the fitting for the herbst will work.
- mariah

Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 5:47 pm
by kittymeow84
Yeh one of eight of my spacers was metal.

The ortho used it because my filling made it impossible to get a rubber one in there. Horrid little things. I covered mine in wax but got used to it after a few days. Didn't help that it tended to jiggle and while eating I would often freak out that I had swallowed it.

Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 5:54 pm
by gabi
I've had a mix of metal and rubber. The metal ones wiggle a bit, but I don't think they are as uncomfortable as the rubber ones.

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 12:06 pm
by peach
I also had a mix of metal and rubber spacers. They had to use the metal ones for my teeth that were so close that the rubber ones wouldn't fit. They didn't really bother me.

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 4:30 pm
by TEXLADY
I had a mix - rubber and metal because 3 of my teeth that need the molar bands were crowned and the contacts were tight. SO they put metal in those for 4 days and then I went back and the metal opened up enough space to remove them and "shove" the rubber ones in. Wore spacers for a total of two weeks. When I went to be braced the rubbers ones that got put in where the metal had been were in so tight they really had to dig them out.

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 4:49 pm
by jennielee81
all 3 of my kids had metal. They didn't mind them.

The ortho said he uses them because they are less painful...I have to say that none of my 3 kids had much pain from their spacers. Makes me wonder how bad it would have been for you to have rubber??

I didn't have spacers so I don't have a comparison...

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 2:21 am
by Chypre
All 8 of mine were metal. They hurt like *insert profane descriptive of choice* too! ;)

I think what bothered me most was that they moved. Metallic teeter totters between my molars were something I'd rather have lived without, but my contacts were just too tight for the softees.

They really were the worst part of my experience though. (Although I'm dreading the debanding session... I've had several brackets repositioned and I swear that my teeth were being shattered along with the cement!)