Fixing Popped Archwire

[brendap27]

Hello,

A couple of times since I got my braces, my bottom archwire has popped out of the bracket on my last molar where it goes through the little tube. Instead of going to my ortho's office which is a 45 minute drive for me, I just used a pair of needlenosed pliars to put it back.

Is there something wrong with doing this? It just seemed crazy to me to drive all of the way over to their office when I can do it myself.

[sdawdy]

I had that happen on numerous occasions. I was told by my OD to examine the wire and if it was not bent then I could put it back in...but if it was bent then I would need to come in. I would give your OD a call and see what they think

[brendap27]

I looked at the wire and it wasn't bent at all when I first noticed that it was out. It's my first wire so its very flexible. I did bend it a bit myself when I was trying to get it back in place, but I've noticed that it does seem to straighten out to its original shape eventually. I'm sure my ortho won't be very happy with me.

[drrick]

SHould be fine.

The early most flexible wires are the ones most likely to come out and they hae shape memory so even if you have to bend them to get them back in they usually spring back to their original shape.

[brendap27]

Thanks Dr. Rick.

[Huon]

Your archwire may have slipped around so that it is poking out of the back of the bracket tube one side and coming out of the tube on the other.
To prevent it from coming out, it may be necessary to slide it back, so that it has the same length protruding on each side.
This happened to me a number of times and I found that a thumbnail against the protruding end of the wire would slide it around into the correct position. I was, however, dealing with more rigid wires than yours.
Huon