Metal Mouth Message Board

Yesterday I popped the wire on my last molar...on a portabello mushroom no less. I popped the same wire 8 days prior.

The wire must have slid around a smidge because I'm now getting a sore on the opposite side and I'm having to do the wax thing there too.

Is it typical to have issues with the same wires popping out?

This really is an inconvenience. For 30 seconds to replace the wire, I have to take off 2 hours of work due to driving time to my orthodontist. I guess I'm lucky it isn't even further since it is so hard to find an orthodontist who truly knows how to treat TMJD properly. All the same, I've already had about 10 visits since I got my braces 3 months ago. (Half of those visits had to do with my lower splint though.) That is a lot of work to miss. While my ortho is great at getting me in, with my schedule this week I'm not even sure I will be able to make time for a visit. That leaves me with poking on both sides for the next week or more. To make matters worse, we have red air quality here and my asthma is awful. The constant asthma coughing makes the wire poking even worse. Overall, I'm not looking forward to this next week.

I feel your pain.

My entire treatment time I have had a wire that pops out. Mine is on my bottom, left wisdom tooth. In my case though, I am missing the molar in front of that tooth so I have a huge space between two wired teeth. As I chew, over time, the wire will pop right out. It happened yesterday but I go back next Monday so I am just going to wait.

The wire on my right, lower wisdom tooth popped out last week. I think I am okay though because these teeth are right up against the bone so the only thing happening is the darn wire poking when I chew. That is not pleasant at all.

Like you, it isn't worth my time to take 2 hours of out of my work day and use my personal time to go get it fixed.

Good luck!

like both of the previous posts, i too have a wire that pops out of the bracket, at least 4-5 times per week. Because there is such a large space between the two brackets, the wire tends to pop out when i eat something that sticks to the wire. My ortho showed me how to put the wire back into the bracket. I need a pair of tweezers, a magnifying mirror, and a very good light. It really is very easy to grab the wire with the tweezers and simply insert the wire into the bracket. The first few times the wire popped out, I went to see the ortho. Now i am able to fix it on my own. It is very inconvenient when the wire pops out, so i feel your pain. Perhaps ask the ortho to show you how to insert the wire. Another trick is to simply puts tons of wax over the bracket and wire. This usually helps the wire to stay in place. I use this trick when i plan to go out to a restaurant and eat. Good luck!

I've had this problem for the past two days. Yesterday my wire came out of my lower right bracket and it happened today. It wouldn't be such a pain for me but I have a spring on it that I'm afraid of swallowing! I guess I'm lucky though because Ive figured out how to get my fingers in there and put it back in.

Thanks for your replies. Glad to hear I'm not alone.

I gave in and took time off work to get the wire fixed. When it popped out of the right molar, it must have shifted a mm or 2 on the left and the inside of my cheek was turning into hamburger. It was a really difficult spot to get the wax to stay because my mouth is so tight between that molar and the cheek. Even my ortho has some difficulty getting back there as well.

Early on in my treatment the wire popped out of a molar band bracket and a ligature came off of the molar infront. I carefully put it all back together in about ten minutes. Didn't tell my ortho and hasn't happened since so all's good.

I once had a popped wire on my upper left molar. It popped out as I was chewing and got me scared at first. However, I was able to pop it back in and it did not happen ever since.

TMJJill
maybe ask your ortho to show you how to pop it back in? If this is such an inconvenience for you...

Can you pop wires into self litigating wires? I see the tool they use to open them and it doesn't look like anything special.

I haven't been able to figure out how to pop open the "doors" on my brackets yet to put the wire back in place. Either I haven't found a correct "tool" or I don't have the right angle or something. My mouth is really small and tight by that back molar so I have to work a bit more on accessing that area. I actually wear elastics on that bracket as well so I have to access that area daily.

I was able to make it to my orthodontist at the tail end of the day Monday and have the wire put back. I had to. The inside of my mouth was turning to "hamburger" despite using lots of wax. I have a hard time getting the wax to stay in that particular position.

Anyway, I was in a meeting today and started coughing (bad asthma flare) and suddenly felt a snap. That same wire popped out yet again. Due to my work committments and the fact my ortho is closed on Fridays, I can't get back in until Monday evening to get it fixed. This is the 3rd time in 1 1/2 weeks for that same wire to pop out of the bracket. Prior to that I hadn't had any problems. I'm not due for a new wire until mid January either.

It sounds to me as if they cut the wire too short. If it keeps popping out and you have SL brackets, I would guess the wire is way too short. Are you doing SureSmile? If not, they should have your current size wire available for replacement. I would ask for a new replacement wire. 3 times in 1 1/2 weeks is really bad. Maybe they can tie a ligature around the bracket for extra hold.

Good Luck!

Snowglobe32 wrote:Can you pop wires into self litigating wires? I see the tool they use to open them and it doesn't look like anything special.

It is not very hard to open them, at least not for me. I can open them with my finger only. By the way, some of my brackets used to open when I brush, so I just closed them back. They don't do that anymore though.

Snowglobe32 wrote: Maybe they can tie a ligature around the bracket for extra hold.

An assistant tried to do that with mine when I complained they open while brushing. However, she was able to only do 6 front teeth. The rest, including 2nd premolars and molars, would not stay. I am guessing the SL bracket is way to small for that. So this does not seem to be a possibility, although there's always a chance that my assistant's skills were not that great. I get a different one pretty much every time and it is hard to tell which one is best.

I have a couple brackets in front that I've figured out how to pop open on my own. Most of them are just too tight for me to open without the tool the orthodontist uses. Thankfully I didn't have too much irritation from the loose wire this time.


I finally found time to get my wire put back into place today. I didn't have a formal appointment today. When I got there they asked me if it was a broken bracket or pokey? I wasn't aware that "pokey" was an official dental description.

Anyway, the tech popped open all my brackets and shifted my wire completely a bit to the right--apparently it had shifted. He then closed everything up. He didn't think the wire was too short. The tech then tugged on the wires to my back molars. He also had me push at them with my tongue, chew some crunchy food, brush with forceful movements and do some extra tugging to see if the wire would come loose. He didn't want me having it pop back out again soon as I won't be able to go back to have anything fixed for a couple weeks. Hopefully we are good for a few weeks. I go back January 12th for my next follow-up and I get a thicker wire then. Hopefully that will help prevent this from happening again. Time will tell.

Happy Holidays!

Pop #4....

I couldn't believe it. 4 times in less than 2 weeks. 15 hours with the fix and while I was coughing the wire popped back out of the bracket yet again. I took off work immediately. This time, I saw the assistant who is the senior and most experienced there. She usually isn't there in the late afternoons which is when I typically go after work. She took one look and said the wire was too short. I told her I had asked specifically about that the 2 times before. She replied that I have the right to ask them to adjust the wire and to not let anyone but her do any cutting on my wire. I guess in the future I'll have to ask for her specifically and take off work earlier so I can go while she is working. This time the dentist came in to apologize. He also gave me some essential oils to help me with my asthma. I think it was part of his way of making it up to me. It is also kind of hard to be too upset when your dentist is dressed in a santa outfit too....

I'm now the proud owner of a new and heavier wire. I was due for my first wire change in a couple weeks and was ready, but I now get to celebrate the holidays with sore teeth. At least I won't have the "pokies" over the holidays though and I'm a next step forward in my treatment.

poor TMJjill .. you have had a rough time .. I was feeling sorry for myself yesterday as my lips were dry and the edge caught on a back bracket in the morning and ripped the skin on the corner of my smile ouch ! and up into inside my cheek area and I had blood in my mouth and on my teeth all day at work yesterday. But I just read this thread and I have nothing to complain about . Glad to hear that it has finally been sorted and you found a good tech to FIX things for you .
I guess our mantra in these times has to be .. its worth it ..its worth it...its worth it .