Metal Mouth Message Board

I've had self-ligating ceramic brackets on my upper jaw for just over 6 weeks. Two days ago I had my first adjustment. When the ortho was opening them two broke! I was really shocked! So I've had the broken brackets removed - which was really painful - and the two broken brackets replaced by normal clear ceramic brackets. To say the truth the normal ceramic brackets are more comfortable than the others which were larger....but I'm really dreading having brackets breaking and being replaced every time I go for an adjustment. Has anyone had a similar experience? Are these brackets so unreliable?

Wow - I am so sorry that happened to you. When I changed my upper metal brackets to ceramic, I was warned by my ortho that they are more fragile than the metals, but the way he put it, he was warning ME to be more careful with them, and didn't mention anything about him having problems with them. And believe me... putting my latest heavy wire in them was no easy feat.

If it happens again, perhaps you can ask him if he can just replace the rest of the SL ceramics with regular ceramics. Yeah, the staining of the ligs can be a pain sometimes, but I'd much rather deal with that than brackets breaking and being replaced (and I agree with you... it's not a fun procedure, especially the sanding off of the bonding. )

-Cathy

I have 6 ceramic brackets and I have never had a problem with them. I did have one bracket come loose but that was a metal bracket.

I have had SL ceramics on my upper and lower for the past 6 months and I have had no issues. stuff luck!

Thanks to all for answering! The orthodontist did warn me to be extremely careful with the self ligating ceramics, which I was but he never mentioned they might break during adjustments. I'm quite disappointed! This time he made metal ties around the normal ceramic brackets which are practically invisible - I'm going to India next week so I freaked out when he told me to avoid curries so as not to stain the ligatures. In addition I'm vegetarian so when I eat out I usually have to opt for the only vegetarian item on the menu with no choice whatsoever to avoid staining foods.

I've had metal lowers for 10months and I have never had a problem with them.....they're so much more practical!

I have self ligating ceramics on top (In-Ovation C) and thankfully haven't experienced that problem. If I had it to do all over again, I'd probably just go with metal on top too. They don't bother me anymore, but my upper brackets are sooooo much larger than my lower ones and have more "pokey" surfaces to them. I think my lowers and the two furthest back on each side are Mini Ovation.

The uppers absolutely annoyed me the first few weeks. The lowers, not at all.