Metal Mouth Message Board

So, I was supposed to get my palatal expander today and the Ortho assis. informs me the molar bands she put on at the time of the mold for the expander moved! The mold she took was no good. So she took another mold today BEFORE changing the molar bands again. The Ortho used some "term" to the assis. for a new wire and the coil springs between the brackets.

Has anyone else had these coil springs???

These things are a total treat..........NOT! They are supposed to create space for my two canine teeth and my two central incisors for my lateral incisors to move forward. I have so much pressure on my upper teeth now I feel like my head is gonna explode!

If someone could shed some light on these things and when to expect relief from them, I would greatly appreciate it!

By the by, they put a rush on the expander fabrication and I go in on Tue the 16th for it, great!

I had two coil springs to make room for my canines to move forward. I don't really remember much about them because they were at the very beginning of my treatment. I do remember them not being much fun though. They are similar to pc's and elastics, in that they are a pain but eventually it will subside. I believe I only had them on for the span of one adjustment, so hopefully they won't be on too long for you as well. I remember they did work fast. Good luck.

Thanks Megan!

If you don't have to wear them too long, you're very lucky. I wore one for at least 6 months to open up a space for my impacted canine. It was the most annoying/painful part of my treatment. How long you wear it probably depends on how much space they need to make. I wore mine so long because they had to push my teeth way over to make room for my canine to swing down 90 degrees into place.

Yup, those little suckers really are a "treat" as you put it. the most enjoyable thing about them is the way they can snag and destroy a piece of floss from a good ten paces away. I had one to make space for one of my premolars at the beginning of my treatment andas I recall I had it for about 4 or 5 months, and I now have one again (at 21 months in) between my canine and lateral incisor (apparently my laterals are too small or something), which I've already had for 2 months and will have at least another 9 weeks until my next adjustment.
Good luck, maybe you'll have more luck with your little toothbrush/floss shredder.

I have these at the moment because a bracket came off the archwire and I never got around to going to the ortho about it
Its on to make space for my bottem left front tooth so very visable

Ugh, springs! I have a wayward right lateral incisor that was basically in the roof of my mouth. I had a spring there to open a space for it to move forward, and whoa, the pain! First, they put the spring in, all was good. Then, during the next adjustment, I guess they 'activated' it, which basically meant that they turned my mouth into purgatory. The spring moved my top central incisors so far to the left that my upper midline was actually to the left of my nose. Luckily they braced that renegade lateral two adjustments ago with a piggyback wire, and fully braced it this last adjustment to the rest of my teeth. It has finally joined the flock! Although the spring hurts like hell and tends to shred the inside of the lip (oh man, gotta love delicate lip skin sliding between the coils of the spring as it opens, it amounts to something akin to a deli slicer), the movement was nothing short of amazing!

Snaggle Tooth,

That is an awesome description of the joys of having a spring You pretty much exactly described what I had going on too, except it was a canine instead of an incisor, but yea, it's amazing how much movement you can get. And sooo much fun to have to drag your midline back over again. Unfortunately, the deli slicer analogy is spot on.....

The term "deli slicer" is dead on target. When I first got the coil on 4 weeks ago, I thought this would be a breeze. But as it opens - yikes!! The wider it opens the sharper it gets. It is working its magic, though, and opening a space for my rogue bottom tooth where but a few months ago there wasn't even enough space for a skimpy piece of floss. But my bottom lip is shredding in the process. My next adjustment isn't for another 4 weeks, so I have at least that long to go. I hope my lip can hang on....

This thread is so relevant for me right now!

I was lulled into a false sense of security for the first 4 months - everything was ticking along nicely - no pain just a little discomfort after each adjustment. Then I got a double-spring on my lower arch to make space for a wayward canine. The spring shredded my lower lip and caused an ulcer. My lip swelled up so much that I looked like I had been punched in the mouth. My speech became slurred and I started spitting everytime I spoke.

Anyway, I had an ortho visit this morning and I actually wanted to kiss her when she said she thought we might now have enough space to take out the spring and move the canine forward. Only downside was the excruciating pain when she released the spring and closed the self-ligating brackets on my front teeth over the new archwire! Oh but it was worth it - just having brackets and an archwire feels like heaven in my mouth right now.

I have a spring on my lowers to make room for a tooth that is tucked behind the rest. Its been almost 3 months and cannot really notice any movement yet.

I had a coil spring on each side to create space in preparation for surgery.