Metal Mouth Message Board

I usually remove my elastics before I eat and keep them out until I brush which could be quite a while bcuz when I eat I snack first and eventually eat my meal an hour or so later. So I don't end up putting my elastics back in for quite some time. I'm concerned that the time I spend not wearing my elastics is causing the teeth to shift back and forth so not making progress. So I'm wondering if I should try to attempt to eat with my elastics on? My ortho's instructions were to remove them when I eat and brush but wear them otherwise. Also, I am wearing extra heavy elastics.

I used to snack with my elastics in all the time.

I eat with my elastics in all the time. I think the main drawback is that they tend to break while i'm eating... otherwise they don't really get in my way.. but then again I only have one on one side. If you have them on both, especially the powerful ones, you might have a hard time.

I eat with my elastics if I dont have any more where I am, but Most of the time I remove them and put in new one's. If you forget, just put the elastics near you so you wont forget to put them new ones in.

I have elastic bags everywhere! It's getting kind of ridiculous but I find that the stronger the elastic, the easier they break. So annoying! Almost more annoying than having to wear them.

yoginbraces wrote: I'm concerned that the time I spend not wearing my elastics is causing the teeth to shift back and forth so not making progress. So I'm wondering if I should try to attempt to eat with my elastics on? My ortho's instructions were to remove them when I eat and brush but wear them otherwise. Also, I am wearing extra heavy elastics.

It depends on a few things. How many elastics on each side? Where are they positioned?

I think the main concern here is that you are not wearing your elastics continously. My ortho told me that it takes 9 hours (once you start wearing the elastics) to get them to work and only one hour of non-wear to reverse the progress you have made.

Have you tried eating with the elastics on? I find that I can do it as long as I am snacking on stuff I can break into small pieces, for example, a banana, crackers, cheese. For meals, I take them out. If I am at work, I do not always brush after snacking, just swish with water. Then I put new elastics on.

My suggestion to you is to try to eat with them, it isn't always comfortable though. After you are done eating, if you can't brush, just swish with water and put new ones on.

Good luck!

I always ate with elastics in. Just be sure to change them after you eat!

I always eat with elastics and seldom take them off except brushing teeth. Every night I replace the elastics with new ones before I go to bed.

I take mine off when eating and replace them afterward. Occasionally I forget and it's a couple hours until I get them back on, but I don't think it's a problem. My daughter chews gum and would take her elastics out for hours every day, but when she went to her next appointment the ortho was very impressed with how well she wore them and how much progress she made, so I'm not too worried about it.

I always try to eat with mine on, if they come off I put them back on straight afterwards. The more you wear them the faster things more and the sooner the ortho lets you stop wearing them!

By more I meant move

I eat with mine on all the time, and normally end up eating them. Gross. I am really bad at remembering to replace them once they are out. My ortho finally told me to double them up at night but no longer than 6-8 hours.

The 3/16" heavys almost aways break while eating or chewing gum and then they are among all of the lovely. The 1/4" heavys seem to be able to take the abuse for at least a while. Only had them for a short, but that was my recollection.

I tried to for the most part eat with them on. Sometimes they would break or I would accidentally swallow them, but I heard you're teeth move faster with them on. I think as long as you don't eat for too long without elastics it should be fine (like over 1 hr)

It depends on the configuration, for me snacking with them on was ok, but for meals I would take them out and replace afterwards! Anyway, if you feel comfortable eating with them, I guess it's jst fine.