Metal Mouth Message Board

I'm scheduled to get braces top and bottom next month and I'm trying to decide if ceramic is the way to go. I'd like ceramic for work purposes, but I'm worried about durability, effectiveness, staining and size.

Ortho office says there is absolutely no difference between the two, but my research indicates otherwise and the ceramics they showed me on the model are clearly larger than the mini-metals. The pics I found online are all samples fitted on perfectly straight teeth, which gives a false impression of their appearance since most of us will have misaligned brackets and wires until our teeth start to straighten out.

Thanks!

There are a couple of people with ceramics in the Our Braces Stories thread. Andromeda is one that comes to mind, I'm sorry I can't think of the others at the moment....

I have clear brackets on the front 4 teeth, they use wire ties on them so no staining and they are not big at all. I don't know what brand they are though. The rest of the brackets on top are damon's.

See my story.
Rach

I have ICE brackets on the top (Metal on bottom) Pics are in my blog linked below.

They are slightly bulkier than the metals and staining is an issue only on the ligs (small elastic bands they usually put around brackets which come in various colors). Clear ligs usually end up staining at least a little, pretty unavoidably. Mustard, coffee, curry, soda, etc. are big culprits. I wouldn't worry too much about that though, they are changed every 4-6 weeks (Usually). The actual clear brackets do not stain. Only the ligs. There are colors out there such as "pearl" that are still white/clear that do not stain as noticeably as the standard clear.

I've heard that they can slow down treatment slightly but unless your ortho says otherwise, I would not worry. I doubt that it is a sigfnificant slow down.

Hope that helps somewhat!
Good Luck!

When I went in to get braced I was nervous about the whole thing and didn't want anyone to know I had them so I went ahead and got ceramic on top and metal on the bottom. About six months into the deal I basically said screw it and ended up getting colored ligatures on top. The way I see it I'm only going to have braces for so long so why not have fun? I've had bright colors on top and bottom since then. Nobody has ever said anything about the colored ligatures or anything and I'm a secretary/college student. But yes, the ceramic brackets are larger than the metal brackets and I think they make teeth look even dirtier (stained, etc) and the clear ligatures stain pretty easily. Plus I have never had naturally bright teeth so maybe it's just me. Some people look VERY nice with ceramic braces. I personally would definitely go metal on top and bottom...maybe I'm just a dork

amanda2040 wrote:When I went in to get braced I was nervous about the whole thing and didn't want anyone to know I had them so I went ahead and got ceramic on top and metal on the bottom. About six months into the deal I basically said screw it and ended up getting colored ligatures on top. The way I see it I'm only going to have braces for so long so why not have fun? I've had bright colors on top and bottom since then. Nobody has ever said anything about the colored ligatures or anything and I'm a secretary/college student. But yes, the ceramic brackets are larger than the metal brackets and I think they make teeth look even dirtier (stained, etc) and the clear ligatures stain pretty easily. Plus I have never had naturally bright teeth so maybe it's just me. Some people look VERY nice with ceramic braces. I personally would definitely go metal on top and bottom...maybe I'm just a dork

I get braces next tuesday and im also a secretary/college student and ive been debating on what to get..but you just encouraged me to get the metal brackets..thanks

Thank you everyone for your input!

Amandad09: My uppers look sort of similar to your before pics. I didn't qualify for an expander, but I will need 4 extractions. I also have significant crowding in my lowers so I will be braced for about 2 years. How long will yours be on? I can definitely see your progress

I travel a fair amount so opted for metal - less prone to failure and quicker acting. I figured, the last thing I need is to be stuck in some European country where I don't speak the language looking to get a bracket replaced. I'll admit silver stands out at first but after a month or two you probably won't care - and believe me nobody else will either.

Lori wrote:I'm scheduled to get braces top and bottom next month and I'm trying to decide if ceramic is the way to go. I'd like ceramic for work purposes, but I'm worried about durability, effectiveness, staining and size.

Ortho office says there is absolutely no difference between the two, but my research indicates otherwise and the ceramics they showed me on the model are clearly larger than the mini-metals. The pics I found online are all samples fitted on perfectly straight teeth, which gives a false impression of their appearance since most of us will have misaligned brackets and wires until our teeth start to straighten out.

Thanks!

I'd go with metal. They look fine and they don't look as nasty when food gets stuck in them as ceramics do.

Hi Lori,

I had ceramics on my upper social 8 and had no problems what so ever. You can go to my www below and I have pics throughout my story. The ceramics were slightly bigger. I had metals 28 years ago. I work in sales and wanted my braces to be on the somewhat discret side.

Good luck with your decision.

B

I have ceramics on the top and metal on the lowers. You can see pictures on the link to my blog below.

The ceramics are a little bit bigger than the metal ones, but after a few weeks I couldn't really tell the difference.

Hi Lori,

I'm getting clear on top. I'm around people all the time and I thought clear would be less noticeable.

When I get the lowers on - they will be metal.

Hi Lori!
I have ceramic. They're definitely bigger than metal (I only have ceramic on my front 6/social six - the ones in the back are metal since no one sees them). I don't use clear rubber bands, because they stain practically overnight.. once I had to go back to get something done and they changed my bands -- this was two days after getting them - and they were already yellower. So, I end up wearing gray/silver bands, or colors.

If I could do it agian, I MIGHT get metal. Not sure. But I don't have a problemw ith my ceramic ones, either.

With clear bands:


With silver bands:

Hi - I love my clear for the top. I have metal on bottom. My type have no rubber bands. I only have two bands, top side teeth, to close my gaps (power chains).