Metal Mouth Message Board

My first day and I've already got tongue irritation from the inside of the molar bands. Each band has two prickly things sticking out. They said these are necessary to help them take the bands off. I expected irritation and discomfort in my cheeks but on my tongue? Grrrr....

Ouch!

Has this happened to anyone else? How long before I become numb to it? LOL

I have two bands, and I ran into the same trouble. I didn't know they were "cleats", but I knew that one of them hurt and the other one didn't. When I looked closely, I saw that on one band the cleats were pressed close to my tooth, but on the other one they stuck out. I went back and the technician pressed them down, and I haven't had any trouble since. (Other than the couple of days it took to get used to a new thing in my mouth.) Wax really helped a lot during the time it was bothering me.

I remember now... she did call them "lugs".

Thanks for the advice!

Yes those are a real pain at first! I have two of them on my bottom molars. I did use globs of wax for temporary relief. After a few months I realized that the cleats do no have to be so opened up! When they first put the bands on the ortho opened them up a lot.Then at my next adjustment I mentioned my nightmare with the cleats and all the pain inmy tongue! He simply pushed them down enough to where I could still insert the elastics but not completely closed. I felt relief in an instant.


Gennel

omg.....that's the same as I'm going thru ...my band has cut into my tongue on bottom right and inside of mouth on top right...I thought I just had to wear the inside til it like calloused up so to say...I'm so glad u posted this...I'm calling for HELP in the morning...lol

please post if u got it fixed & like what happened

I decided to wait it out and my tongue is already adjusting (I got my braces on Tuesday and today is Friday).

mine calmed a bit too but it's still irritated. Seems like it may just need to roughen up a bit.

I had that problem on all of mine. I had a thread about it.

1) make them hammer those bad boys down
2) try Rincinol
3) wax
4) try to get an rx for Kenalog orabase. I put that stuff right over the cleat before bed and it helped heal my tongue overnight.
5) oddly enough, someone joked with me about drinking alcoholic beverages and the morning after a night out they suddenly didn't bother me anymore. I'm not advocating alcohol, esp. since I don't know your age or situation, though.
6) salt water

I hate cleats!!!! LOL

what is rincinol?

i keep hearing about rinsing with salt water.....why does that help?

I forgot to post an update. I had to make a special visit to the ortho because a wire was sticking out in the back so I mentioned it.

The assistant put glue on each one for me. She said she does that for many patients as it's one of the more popular complaints. It still doesn't feel great, but it's much more tolerable.