Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi! Just got my braces 2 days ago. Not near as bad as I expected, so I am defintely breathing a sigh of relief! I do have a bite plate because a fear of me knocking my braces off because of bite problems. My question is does the bite plate have any other purpose than keeping me from knocking them off? Does the plate help move my teeth? I have not been able to chew anything because with the plate my back teeth absolutely will not touch. I want to do the right thing & leave it in but if the only purpose is to protect the braces I would like to leave it out some for relief of eating at times. Of course being careful with only soft foods, now I can only eat food that does not have to be chewed. Please help!

When I had my bite plate, I always took it out when eating and bracing my teeth. If you're a grinder one reason to have it is to prevent grinding problems. It may also help your ortho level out your bite.

Mike

Otho told me that I had to wear it when eating, sleeping and as much as I could other wise. I don't have a problem wearing it but it is impossible to chew with it in. The reason I am wearing the bite plate is because my bite is off, Otho does not want me bumping the braces and knocking them off.

Bite planes can help the teeth move more quickly, open deep bites more quickly and help keep you from knocking off lower brackets. I prefer fixed bite planes personally as many of the removables seem to lose some of those additional advantages.

You might want to call your doc to see if in your particular case you can take it out from time to time.