Metal Mouth Message Board

I have had my braces for about 24 hours now! I ended up going with the "Inspire Ice" and do NOT like them at all. They are very bulky and with my slight overbite the inside of my lower lip is already cut up and raw and it is hard for me to close my mouth or talk.

The discomfort is pretty intense and it's very hard to eat. I had mashed potatoes and tapioca pudding for dinner last night and this morning sipped some coffee through a straw which was...interesting! I'm also taking Ibuprofen. Thank goodness I took the day off of work...I have a headache and can't stop grinding my teeth

Tomorrow I will re-visit my Ortho to have these brackets replaced with the Damon brackets. I knew I should have listened to my first instinct but thank goodness my Ortho is willing to do this for me even after installing the Inspire brackets. The Damon brackets are much smaller and I think will be much more comfortable and compatible with my mouth and lips.

I'm just going to suck it up and go with metal like I should have in the first place! What is the point of clear brackets if they look like little lumps of clay on your teeth? : (

Awwww Sorry to see/hear about your braces. But for the meantime you can put Orthodontic Wax on the areas where the brackets are irritating and cutting you up the most. Wax was my bestfriend for the first week of braces. Well, hope everything works out for the best on your next appointment.

Good choice, fellow bracer! Although even the current brakets will eventually feel better, Damons are pretty small. Metal is good, too since it usually produces more efficient movement and breaks less.

Personally, I do not understand what is the point of having the clear/ceramic braces. They are called "invisible", but let's be honest, people still see that you wear braces! And why hide it anyways? It's not everyone else's business but yours. I wear my metal braces proudly, and wish everybody else did!

ArchWired28 wrote:Good choice, fellow bracer! Although even the current brakets will eventually feel better, Damons are pretty small. Metal is good, too since it usually produces more efficient movement and breaks less.

Personally, I do not understand what is the point of having the clear/ceramic braces. They are called "invisible", but let's be honest, people still see that you wear braces! And why hide it anyways? It's not everyone else's business but yours. I wear my metal braces proudly, and wish everybody else did!

Thank you ArchWired28!! Vanity got the best of me for a minute, but I do think metal is the way to go. Can't wait to get these lumps off of my choppers!

ArchWired28 wrote:Personally, I do not understand what is the point of having the clear/ceramic braces. They are called "invisible", but let's be honest, people still see that you wear braces! And why hide it anyways? It's not everyone else's business but yours. I wear my metal braces proudly, and wish everybody else did!

I have metal on the bottom, but really love my top ceramics. I have regular lig. brackets on both top and bottoms, but the top ceramic ones seem more smoother to me than my bottom metal ones. The bottom ones are pointy and the hooks for elastics were evil especially in the beginning. The top ceramics were much easier to get used to and I actually could ignore them, whereas my bottom ones I can never ignore. :/

Anyways, just giving an argument on why ceramics are nice.. (I didn't pay any extra for them). Plus, people don't notice them and I'm OK with that.

I think you should wait at least a month before deciding you don't like them. Your mouth needs time to adjust to them, one night is not enough.

[quotePersonally, I do not understand what is the point of having the clear/ceramic braces. They are called "invisible", but let's be honest, people still see that you wear braces! And why hide it anyways? It's not everyone else's business but yours. I wear my metal braces proudly, and wish everybody else did!
][/quote]

Wow, talk about a judgemental statement! I wear ceramic braces and wear them proudly. It is all a personal choice for everyone to decide which they prefer to wear. I chose to get ceramic because I feel like metal is a more youthful look. I hope that everyone chooses whichever they are comfortable wearing.

Well, I was a bit taken aback by some of the comments here, too. It's everyone's personal preference as to which brackets they choose, but there's really no need to put anyone down for their choice. I wear both my metal AND ceramic braces proudly! And I am a bit offended because I specifically replied to your thread earlier and posted a pic of my braces, which you said looked great. Now I have "lumps of clay" on my teeth...?

I thought I'd posted earlier, but I guess the site ate my post. I had said that Damons will also rub your mouth raw, as will most any other type of bracket. I hadn't had my Damons on for more than 20 minutes before I could feel them rubbing. The hooks on my ceramics have never given me any problems; however, the Damon hooks give me grief every time they add one (I'm up to 4 now). I agree with ashesgap; you should probably wait more than a day to get used to them.

That said, of course it's your prerogative as to which you choose, and your orthodontist is very nice to agree to replace them at no additional charge.

You will find that it takes time to get used to any type of brackets. I wore a spring retainer for awhile, and even that caused an ulcer on my lip where the wire loop, which was smooth and not pokey, somehow rubbed it raw.

For the record, I have metal Damons, and I've never had to use wax, but my lips are roughened up from them.

I agree with a previous poster, you should take more time to get used to them. All brackets take a while to get used to. But you need to be comfortable because they will be with you for a while.

Now, do we really need to have the "which is better: ceramic or metal" debate again?

It is a matter of preference. I have ceramic on top and metal on the bottom. I didn't get the point of ceramic on top (with metal bottoms) and actually asked why my ortho suggested this option, he said all of his adult patients love the ceramic/metal set up. I am so happy I took his advice.

I know my braces are noticable, it isn't a matter of trying to hide them. If people wanted to hide their braces, why bother in the first place? My teeth are small, and the metal brackets competely hide my teeth. So, please do not make assumptions on why people have ceramic braces unless you ask why they do.

If I said "people only have metal brackets because they can't afford ceramic ones", would that offend you?

And there is a difference between my statement and yours. I used the word "if."

Cathy- I love your teeth!

I like the way the ceramic braces look on people. There is the additional pain in the butt, from what I understand, of having to avoid certain staining foods. I didn't have a choice--got metal per ortho. And I think my Damon's are super comfortable and always have been. Ya, they are pretty noticeable, but only to me, I guess...nobody else ever even seems to see them--and I want the attention!! I want to talk about them----oh well...dang.....

I also have small teeth, so maybe I should have opted for ceramic? My ortho gave me that choice (with no addl charge), but he made himself very clear that he prefers to work with metal. So I did.

I apologize if I have offended anyone. I did not mean to. I do agree that metal braces tend to give a person "youthful look", and I am loving it!

Now, if only they invented the clear/invisible wires, that would have been great!

I have seen white wires but not clear wires.

musicluver wrote:I would like some INVISIBLE wires!! I'm almost a year into it; clear on top and metal on the bottom and those top ones are driving me crazy! They really do cut up your lip! I have to wear wax every day. Today is another adjustment, so hopefully he's going to start moving the uppers back so they will stop cutting me up. What gets me is how people say, "you'll get use to them..." One year and they're still bothering the crap out of me?? Is that just because we're adults and our teeth move slower?

I find that when my teeth move, that's usually when I need wax for a couple of days. Most of the time though, the braces are just there... and annoy the heck out of me when eating. I think any brackets, whether they're ceramic or metal will cut and rub your mouth ...I've even heard Invisalign can irritate your mouth.