Metal Mouth Message Board

I have a monster gag reflex and impressions have been the worst part of having braces for me. My ortho gave me a tip for dealing with them and not gagging right after having my top impression done (meaning it was too late to actually try this technique). Try resting your tongue lightly on the fingers of the person taking the impressions (not too much or they might get "bogued out").

If you get a chance to try this please let me know if it works for you. Luckily my next impressions won't be for a year but I'll try it then (and try not to bogue out the assistant doing the impressions.)

Another thing you can do is ask if instead of leaning back in the chair once they're in, if you can tilt forward. It keeps saliva from draining back in your mouth or something and it makes it feel a little bit better.

I just settled for talking a lot of trash about how monstrous my gag reflex is. I frigging hate anything that even gets close to triggering it and I'm more than a little worried about retainers.

ask if you can take them standing up, I found that works a lot better than sitting down with head back.

The gag reflex is a big problem for me too. I'm glad my orthodontist does digital impressions instead of sticking the tray fill with gunk in my mouth.

I just got impressions this morning! And I too have a really high gag reflex. It only stays in for like 20 seconds and I just breathed out my nose. I also gave her a head's up beforehand, but I was fine. Good luck!

Lean forward when the tray/gunk is in your mouth , seemed to help when I had mine done. My dentist used her hand to hold the tray in place because I was getting restless a bit (major gag reflex too!) ^^;;;;

Had my impressions done, and breathing though my nose made it very tolerable. I was dreading this part and glad it is over.