Metal Mouth Message Board

I'm 25 years old and its my first day in top and bottom metal braces. Pics will be up soon. Any advice on managing and speeding up the process will be appreciated.

Congratulations on getting your braces and good luck on your journey.

Congratulations! I pretty much follow instructions from the ortho and the hygeinist and things seem to be going well. I have become obsessive with oral hygiene as well, several posts here on that topic. A dentist on my team at work says that good oral hygeine avoids the creation of any inflammation, which according to him slows teeth movement due to reduced blood flow. I need to get more detail on the physiology of that theory at our next meeting.

djspeece wrote:Congratulations! I pretty much follow instructions from the ortho and the hygeinist and things seem to be going well. I have become obsessive with oral hygiene as well, several posts here on that topic. A dentist on my team at work says that good oral hygeine avoids the creation of any inflammation, which according to him slows teeth movement due to reduced blood flow. I need to get more detail on the physiology of that theory at our next meeting.

I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on TV but wouldn't inflammation presumably caused by infected gums from inadequate hygiene actually increase blood flow as the bod sought to fight it off?

isthistaken wrote:

djspeece wrote:Congratulations! I pretty much follow instructions from the ortho and the hygeinist and things seem to be going well. I have become obsessive with oral hygiene as well, several posts here on that topic. A dentist on my team at work says that good oral hygeine avoids the creation of any inflammation, which according to him slows teeth movement due to reduced blood flow. I need to get more detail on the physiology of that theory at our next meeting.

I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on TV but wouldn't inflammation presumably caused by infected gums from inadequate hygiene actually increase blood flow as the bod sought to fight it off?

That was my initial reaction as well, but this guy likes to talk and I didn't want him in my office the rest of the afternoon. I could see it possibly if a localized inflammation shunted blood away from other parts of the jaw, but I'm a nurse not a dentist so what do I know.

Next thing you know they will be saying dental hygiene prevents global warming. It's the cure-all du jour.

Congrats! For the next few days obviously avoid hard to chew foods, and remember dental wax :) One of the most useful things to have are those little dental picks something like the dentek scrub brushes. Its a pain to carry a toothbrush everywhere but these are small and good for getting stuff out of your brackets when you're out to eat, and they come in large packs so it's not a big deal if they get lost or left behind.

I agree about the wax. Use it generously to avoid irritation from any bracket. My problems have been the brackets on the teeth in front of and behind extraction sites and the brackets on my front lower teeth....got my braces 7/29. So, I wax up before I go to work, I unwax to eat and wax back up for the afternoon after brushing. Lunch hour is only going to be for eating and teeth during my sentence. No time for anything else. Hope you have a good first week.