Metal Mouth Message Board

I have ceramic braces but my first wire is a very thin metal wire. I am thinking of switching over to white archwires -- but I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with these firsthand? Pro's seem to be they blend in with your teeth better. Any con's? Does the white coating wear off after a while due to brushing??

I'd like to know more about this too as I'm getting ceramic braces in 2 and a half weeks.

I have metal wires with mine. They are honestly not noticable. I still have people who don't even realize I have braces.

A girl at my ortho's office has the white one. I find it more noticable (on her anyway) than I did when she used to have the silver one last time I was there. I think it maybe depends on the colour of your teeth as to how well the white blends in.

My first wire was a white one. It does chip off a little bit as you may be able to see from the photo but not too bad.

My second wire was a metal wire painted white and was glaringly obvious!

I now have a silver wire but its covered with a white powerchain anyway.

I think the white wires are only very thin ones. The square or rectangular ones are silver.

Here is a pic of my teeth about 3 months into treatment with Damon clear brackets and a white wire.

The white coating does tend to wear off and was pretty tatty by the time I had my next adjustment about 4 or 5 weeks after this pic.

I have had silver wires since then and I am perfectly happy with them, but I do think having white wires at first helped me overcome my initial self-consciousness, since my brace was slightly less noticeable.

Good luck with you treatment!

Jem

I got clear uppers with a white archwire back in January. I highly recommend them because they're nearly invisible in photos.

I notice very minor chipping on the white archwire toward the end of the month just before my adjustment. But then they get changed so its not a big deal.

I have a 19-25 (I think) the biggest, but not strongest, wire possible in tooth color. I feel like it is pretty obvious, but it is nearly straight, so I have had nothing but good compliments about how cool the big white line across my teeth looks.
I like the coated wires, as long as they are changed monthly. I was left in the same wire an additional month 2 adjustments ago, and it looked terrible to me by the time it was time to go in again. Not sure if I would go out of my way to get the coated wires if I were to have to make the decision again, though.

I finally got my white archwire. When they put it on, it seems the pliers scraped off some of the white wire coating -- so I'm hoping that doesn't keep happening. I don't have another appt for 2 months now! So we'll see. But here is a picture.

Your teeth are a nice white anyway and I bet the white wire makes it nearly invisible.