Metal Mouth Message Board

I am about to get braces and I have to decide on ceramic vs metal.

The cost difference will be $800

For those of you who have had ceramic Id love to hear if you liked it or not.
Ive heard of the staining issues so I am a little worried about that. I only drink Water and milk though.

For those that have metal braces are they super bulky?

Thank You

if you search this forum-there are many threads already exhausing this issue--no need to really rehash here!! search metal vs. ceramic!! good luck!

i have had both the ceramic are nice , an you bearly see them ,but they are bulky , an you can see the metal archwire , an the clear ties stain pretty fast from tea coffee and soda, so the metal are smaller an are very comfortable, an i like them very well , being said to you is that worth 800 to you in the bank or on your teeth it is all up to you , but i like the metal much better

I love my teeth wrote:if you search this forum-there are many threads already exhausing this issue--no need to really rehash here!! search metal vs. ceramic!! good luck!

I actually tried to do that but the search feature on this forum isnt that great. I cant seem to be able to search by titles only.

I see what you mean, I tried it too--but if you search ceramic vs. metal about 1/2 way down the list there is a topic called "clear vs. metal...is one better"

that was one that was commented on very recently, and has about 29 or so responses..........a good place to start.

I had all metal for the first 10months, then last week just changed my front 8 to ceramic---the clear brackets are larger and you can still see the archwire--but for somereason I am less selfconscious of them-I don't know why!! I hated myself in all metal, especially in pics, I am hoping pictures won't be such a big deal now!

To be honest, I thought "everyone" would notice the change, and NOBODY did, not even my kids or my husband.........I was sad

But I changed it for my self, and my own self esteem, I was very, very surprised that not even my girlfriends noticed a difference!!

Yeah I tried that you just gotta skim through the posts but it works.

Do you think Ceramic wont make much of a difference if my top teeth are apart from each other (quite a few gaps)?

All the pictures I see with ceramics are from people who have their teeth touching at least and aligned.

I would go with metal and save $800 bucks. Its only for 2 years right?

yj207 wrote:I would go with metal and save $800 bucks. Its only for 2 years right?

Less than that. 12-18 months.

to me it's a vanity thing----I am a 39yo mother of 2, and I hated looking at myself after 10months of metal-I know that's dumb, I was the only one who cared......especially in pictures--my OD said I had to have metal to start with due to the forces he needed to move my teeth (they were BAD!!) and then he needed to rebond brackets, so I was able to switch to ceramic then---at least I can stand to look at myself in the mirror now haven't seen any pictures of myself in these yet to see if they are more noticable.........if you don't have a vanity issue (like me ) then I would save the $$ and go metal..........if you are going to be unhappy with the metal look, spend the $$ and got for clear.....personal choice, unless the OD is partial to one over the other!!

Yeah I feel like I might be the same. Hard decision to make.

I have another question that you guys can help me choose.

So Ive been to a few Orthos over the last couple years and each one of them have said that I need to get jaw surgery to have perfect teeth.

I am a college student and just cant afford that at all in the states. So if I go through with braces without the jaw surgery my ortho said that I would still have a overbite.

My other option is to go to Mexico. One of the previous orthos i spoke to said that he knows an ortho in mexico that can get me Jaw surgery and braces for about 7k.

Is an overbite worth the extra 3-4k plus traveling to mexico once a month?

I guess I cant edit the last post. I want to add that currently my top teeth are really crooked. So braces alone would help straighten my teeth out.

I have self-litigating ceramics on top and SL metal on the bottom. I don't really notice any difference between the size under my lips. I think the ceramics feel larger width and height-wise, but the depth really feels the same to me, even with all the chains and closing thread I have on top of the wires! I haven't seen a lot of pictures of me with my mouth open, but I really appreciate them being more discreet. My five year old niece, after an entire weekend hanging out with me, finally said: "I just noticed you got braces!" My four year old niece said: "Why are your teeth icky?" Lol, when I explained they were called braces and showed her, she amended and said my teeth were pretty. So I guess it's a matter of perspective.

I guess it depends on your money situation. If you're scraping to pay for them, the metal isn't going to be like a neon sign on your teeth. If you have a big budget for it, go for the ceramic.

I would get several other consults before going to mexico... mexico is dangerous right now especially with the drug war. I think another ortho could try to get your bite as optimal as they can without surgery, I mean every dr approaches treatment differently.

I have metal and to be honest I notice them more than other people, most people think I look really young and don't really comment on them. I had the option of going for ceramics without paying extra but I still went with metal b/c they were less bulky and a few people who had ceramics told me they break sometimes and I want these things done as fast as possible so I thought metal would be the best route. I know there are other types of clear brackets that don't break or stain and not bulky but if money wasn't the issue I would go for those. Still these are temporary things in your mouth, $800 is a lot of money to give up for looks. I would buy tons of clothes, shoes, or bags with that money. At least they will stay with me as long as I can keep them. Good luck on your decision!

I went with the Radiance brand clear sapphire brackets. It will cost me an additional $800 over my dental insurance co-pay. I decided to get them despite the cost for a more discrete look.

You need to weigh the cost / return benefit of spending the extra money for the clear bands. For me, it is worth the extra money.

Good luck...

Like the others have said, it's largely a matter of personal preference.

I am getting braced in June and I'm going for full metal as it's an extra $750 per arch to get ceramic and as I'll only be in the braces for 12-14 months, it's not worth the extra cost for me. I'm actually kind of looking forward to the metal!

As for the surgery, it depends on what outcome you want. I was told that I could have surgery to pull my jaw forward if I wanted to but it'd only be to get absolutely perfection and upper and lower braces would pretty much fix my bite completely anyway. Therefore to me, surgery isn't worth it.