Metal Mouth Message Board

I'm just wondering what you guys think? I know most of us have been told NOT to chew gum while in braces. I always thought the reason was because it can get stuck in the brackets or something in the gum could loosen a bracket???

But listen to this: I only chew sugarfree gum.One appt I had with the ortho I walked in chewing my sugarfree gum as I've done a few times...
One of the assistants saw me and said " You know what chewing gum does to the archwire? I answered .... I know that chewing gum can get stuck in the braces and stuff but I chew all the way in the back molars and only sugarfree gum. The assistant told me that chewing gum ,regardless if it was sugarfree or not would "De-activate" the archwire and the wire would not work ... I forgot her exact words but I gave her a look like she was talking crap
Can anyone with a bit more knowledge about chewing gum and archwires explain if this is true or not. I'm going to Google this now

Gennel

My orthodontist's office told me that chewing gum is perfectly okay as long as it is sugar free and does not have a hard outer coating. [/b]

The thick steel wires are not "active" anyway. It's only the thinner NiTi wires that are heat-activated. She might have meant that chewing gum can cause the wire to wander round to one side but even then, that wouldn't deactivate it, you'd just get a pokey end.

Sounds like she was talking crap. My ortho's site says that sugar free gum is OK as long as you are careful.

I honestly was told you can have anything but its all in the way you eat it. I can't see how gun can deactivate a wire. I can see if you are in a heat activated wires and constantly sucking on ice 24/7 LOL

My ortho's office TOLD me to chew LOTS of gum but to make sure that it was sugarfree. They told me chewing gum encourages blood flow which in turn promotes root growth and saliva that keeps your mouth from getting too dry.

I've been told by my ortho's assistant that chewing gum is OK as long as you're careful.

Wouldn't it get all tangled around the wires?

Things in my braces drive me nuts as it is....can't imagine what gum would do to me....

I tried gum, it was very uneventful! I would steer clear of it. Although, (try at your own risk), gummy bears are really good though. And, sour worms!

HA!

Just one of my favorites!

I chew gum all the time.. It doesn't do anything.
In fact I've probably broken every rule on the NO-NO list, but never broke wires bands or brackets and I've always had good feed back from my ortho. yay!

But yeah I probably wouldnt chew gum with hard coatings with thin wires.... Or whitening gum.

Sugar-free gum such as Orbit or Trident doesn't stick to braces. So there's no risk of tangling, plus it's good for encouraging saliva flow which helps keep your teeth free of plaque.

Chewing gum is something I'm not allowed to do because of my TMJ. I also have elastics, so chewing gum is pretty much impossible!

One of my ortho assistants told me to chew gum at one point to help work out some of the inital soreness, then she remembered that it was my TMJ that landed me there in the first place. She told me it was okay with the thicker wires though and that it had to be sugar free.

I experienced TMJ in the past and my staff told me not to chew gum and cut everything in to small piece to avoid my jaw spreading too far opened. And right now since my two top teeth are almost biting off my bottom brackets I'd want to avoid anything that wears out my teeth. If I don't have these two problem I'd chew gum b/c it doesn't stick on my bracket or metal wires/power chains.

When I got my braces on a little over a month ago I was told I could chew gum only if it was SF. I tried chewing gum for the first time this weekend and it hurt. Right when I closed my teeth on the little peice of gum it was painful.

I dont see how you guys do it...lol

my ortho, who is board certified, debunked all the myths. You can chew gum (sugarless, ADA aproved like trident or orbit) you can eat popcorn (careful, no unpoped kernals and clean well), yes take Ibuprofen, etc etc.