Metal Mouth Message Board

Hello everyone

I have got metal bottom and due to go back next week to have my tops done, I booked to have ceramic on the top but now wondering if that's the right choice

I read ceramic brackets are bigger and the ligs can stain with coffee or red wine etc
Now I am thinking should I just stick with metal on both ? If I am to have a metal wire you can see them anyway right ?

Any opinions or experience shared for pro and cons would be great fully received

Definitely metal. I've always thought ceramic look weird, though.

I have metal on both arches and have no problem if people can see I have braces. I could have got ceramic but was cool to go with all metal

spudly wrote:If I am to have a metal wire you can see them anyway right ?

I am sure I've seen some people with ceramic brackets with a white wire, but the color can chip off? I'm not sure, hopefully someone can confirm.

Hi spudly (cute name!)

I have metal on the bottom and ceramic on top.. yes, the ligs do stain very quickly with red wine, anything tomato based and curry... and the brackets are slightly bigger but overall, I'm happy with ceramic on top. I couldn't have coped with seeing so much metal - but it's really a personal thing.

Good luck on your journey to a new smile!

I chose ceramic but that is my preference-I personally would have struggled to do this if I'd had metal. I'm fortunate I have a tooth coloured archwire which hasn't chipped and ligs which have held up to tea (I know the curry is a no no but I have just accepts that!)

I went clear on my upper ten front. I have self-ligating braces though so I don't need to worry about the ligs and staining.

I got braces a month ago and I got the clear ones on top, metal on bottom. I wish I'd have just gotten the metal ones on top too. The clear ones stick out further, so my top lip gets stuck on it after I relax my smile. So then I have to hold my lip out real far to get it to go down OVER my braces.
Not only do they stick out further, but they look strange. They make my teeth look screwed up worse. So instead of looking like I just have braces, it looks like I have REALLY weird teeth. Because they're not really clear, they are tooth colored so now imagine now my teeth look lumpy.
I wish I'd have listened to my orthodontist.
Regular braces are so common they don't even "register" in people's minds. But these things take a second look as people try to figure out "what's wrong here with this girls mouth".
I"m going in for my first adjustment thursday and I'm asking about the cost of switching the tops to metal like my lowers. The lowers I dont' even notice are there, they're so much flatter to the tooth.
Good for you for doing your research , i wsh I would have!

HI Everyone

Thank you all for your replies
lots to think about,,,,, I wish now I had asked for a bracket when I went for my lower ones and then I could have examined them over the last 4 weeks !
I think that the ceramic was also more expencive ...

My ortho kind of assumed I would have ceramic so we didnt discuss it much at all during the appointment. the ony thing we talked about in any detail was the colour of the wire on the top - should it be white or silver.

will let you know which way I go ! but there are pro's and cons to both

I'd go with ceramic!

Positives:
• People can't tell you have braces on from distance of a few meters, if you have a white wire also like me.
• Less self conscious
• Feel free to smile in photos as you can barely see them, especially when a flash goes off.

Negatives:
• When people do notice close up, they stare at you because they can't work out if they are braces or something else
• Stains... the ceramic brackets do not stain.. the ligatures and any clear powerchains stain with tea/curry etc, coffee doesn't seem to affect them too badly. Drinking through a straw helps a lot!
• They are slightly bigger than metal, this hasn't caused me any issues but some people say they scratch more?
• A bit more expensive.

Hmm i'm not sure about ceramic-wearers but I personally chose metal because I thought ceramic looks weird close-up. I have seen people with ceramic braces and at first glance I thought they have really lumpy, bulging bug-teeth (no offense) until I realized they are actually on ceramic braces.
But its cool though, if you can really keep it super clean. I'm on metal braces and meh, it sucks haha. Some people think metal braces are cute.. uh.. not for people like me though. I'm too old for 'cute' (going 20 this year) and I just thought metal braces wear down my confidence a LOT I can't even bother to go shopping anymore

I debated for a long time before finally choosing metal brackets. For me, it mostly came down to cost---the ceramics were about $300 more expensive and I couldn't justify it. Plus, I drink a lot of black coffee and I was worried about the ligatures staining.

Personally, the appearance of the metal braces doesn't bother me one bit. It's not like the ceramics would have been invisible, after all. And I love that I can choose colorful ligatures for the brackets. Wouldn't have wanted to do that with ceramics!

I have ceramics upper and lower with metal wires. People don't notice. If I don't say anything it usually takes two or three days for people that I'm spending time with to notice. Size is not a problem and staining doesn't seem to be a problem, even with clear ligs and power chains. I think the staining issue is overblown unless you're a curry fanatic. Coffee, tea, red wine, and tomato sauce do not seem to be problems. You see that many people get ceramics then dress them up with colored ligs and power chains. It's just a matter of your preference for the look you want.

plugnickel69 wrote:I think the staining issue is overblown unless you're a curry fanatic. Coffee, tea, red wine, and tomato sauce do not seem to be problems.

Maybe you have a different type of bands to some of us who do get stains, mine definitely go a nasty yellow from drinking tea.
Admittedly it takes a few days to get this yellow but I have to use a straw to keep them looking white/clear.

If I had a chicken korma my bands would become yellow the same night.

It may very well depend upon the manufacturer of the ligs. I've used smoke and clear; neither stained appreciably. I remember accepting an offer to go to lunch in an Indian restaurant the day after getting my braces, and then realized maybe I had made a dumb mistake. So I ate carefully at the buffet, stayed away from the anything overly red or yellow, tried to chew on my back teeth and was greatly relieved to find that I couldn't see any staining.

Hi i'm in the same boat too, i'd go for ceramic they look nearly invisible from a distance :)