Metal Mouth Message Board

Does anyone else ever get the sore, where the bottom of one of your brackets on the bottom row, near the front, with the little pointy hook for elastics digs into your gum? (I have them on my cuspids, but the bottom of the brackets on the incisors further irritate it once the little pointy thing has done its work)

I'm just curious, besides wax does anyone else have any quick healing tips? It's so bad right now it stings when I'm eating cause it keeps digging in (thats without wax).

Or does anyone else have any awful sore stories? I've never had the ones in the back.

I have them both top and bottom, on the inside of my lips from the hooks. I'm waxed, but the sores are also where my teeth hit togehter. I've had some luck with warm salt water rinses, followed by this really nasty stuff called Kanka, it's made by Blistex and is a bit tricky to get on, you have to dry the area, and it comes with a little want to apply it with, but you have to hold your lips open until it dries. It makes a little white film, can be messy, but it's got an anaesthetic in it too so it stops it from hurting, and the film protects it so it'll heal better.

Also, Oral-B makes this stuff you swish around, but I don't know if it's any better than salt water or peroxide rinses.

Even though I am braced for 1 week today, I can speak for the KANKA med. You both have read how my inner cheeks have been raw and I have used this product as did my son when he had braces.

It really works as it numbs and provides a protective film over the irritated spot. I use it before I take the wax off especially before the last brushing and flossing at night. It gets me through it w/o much discomfort. It is golden yellow in color and I fear that it might stain clear brackets, so beware. It can be purchased in drug stores & I believe it costs between $6 & $8.

I to use Kanka!!!!! definetly an amazing product for soars and definetly helps to take discomforts away!!! warm salt water is also great to use and its nice because you can use that as many times as you need it. helps control discomforts plus you have the added bonus of it cleaning your mouth!!!!! just don't swallow some of it. I accidently did that once an it tasted absolutely horrible!!!! Another good product to use is oil of oregono drops (15 drops in a bit of water). You can use it as you would use the warm salt water mix as well. beware though you might start smelling like pizza possibly!!! I used this product after my second week post op wisdom teeth extraction surgery as i couldn't get any more of the prescribed mouth wash from the Dental surgeon. Unfortunately i managed to somehow get a bit of an infection on my left side in one of the extraction spots (there quite sure it was curtiosy of my old dentist mistake with the root canelle tooth) but the oil of oregno and the warm water salt mix helped to clear up the infection!!!

I get really bad canker sores - i got them even before I got braces.

Two products that I have found work really well -

Zilactin is similar to Kanka, but I find that it works even better. It dries to a thin film, which protects the sore and stops the pain for a while.

The other product that works really well is Canker Cover. These are small, pill sized tablets. You place the tablet over the sore and hold it for about 30 seconds. The tablet adheres to the sore and completely seals it in. The cover has an anesthetic in it, which numbs the sore and the cover lets the sore heal under it. The cover lasts for about 6 - 8 hours.

Canker Cover works really well for me (best product that I have found), but there are two downsides - (1) it is expensive - about $10 for six tablets. The box says that 1 or 2 tablet of treatment heals most sores. I find that ~ 3 work for me.

The biggest problem with Canker Cover is that the tablet swells to be pretty big, and that can make talking difficult. For that reason, I typically will use Canker Cover at night, combined with Zilactin during the day. The combination has worked rather well for me.

there is NO good place for mouth sores!

I think the worst place to get your mouth cut open by your braces has to be the very back. The bracket on the very back molar in my top row is literally stabbing into my salivary gland. No joke, the technician even said so when I asked what the hell that was back there and why it hurt so much and can't you do anything about that? (the answer to that last part was no, btw) It doesn't always stab, but while I'm chewing, if I move my jaw the wrong way (which I always do, somehow), STABBITY! Hurts like a beeotch.