Metal Mouth Message Board

I am getting braces ( NOT Damon) on march 4. That is 10 days away! I hear that spacers go in 14 days before, but I don't have any, and my molars are pretty squished.

You only need spacers if you're getting molar bands. It's possible you'll be getting brackets instead, or you might just get bands later in treatment.

I do not have molar bands, only brackets on all teeth, so don't need the spacers.

This question comes up quite regularly. Spacers are usually used to prep the teeth that are going to be banded (usually molars, sometimes premolars if other appliances such as expanders, etc are to be used). It seems that many orthos tend to use brackets on the molars as opposed to bands. My ortho used bands on both my second and first molars when I first had braces, and my current dentist has used them pre-banding appliances also. Just going by the posts though, I seem to be in the minority. More people here seem to have brackets than bands; whether that's a reflection of demographics (I'm in Australia; many people here seem to be in the US, UK or other parts of Europe) or just a general move away from the brutality of bands (ok, they're not really that bad), I'm not sure. Just be thankful you have none. I currently have 8 as part of my ortho treatment Counting the spacers I had for braces, expander, etc so far I've had 25 My current 8 get replaced every month, I'm wondering if I'm going to end up with some kind of world record, maybe I should contact the good people at Guinness Book of Records

chichi wrote:You only need spacers if you're getting molar bands. It's possible you'll be getting brackets instead, or you might just get bands later in treatment.

My ortho always bands the molars.
I know this because there is only one ortho in my city, and everyone who has braces in my city has molar bands.

I had 8 spacers placed 2 weeks before braces (and braces were 3 1/2 weeks ago). Spacers were horrible. I have bands on 7 molars, but it should have been all 8. However, even with spacers (and extractions), one back molar was too tipped to get the band on. There was talk of a spring going on at some point there (not sure what that means), so I will find out at my first adjustment in late March. I'm in the US, my Ortho has been in practice for 25 years. I'm told he bands rather than brackets the molars as he gets better movement/adjustment of the molars themselves this way, thus preventing movement years down the road. My Ortho assistant had brackets the first time on her molars, and later had movement of her teeth. When she started working with this Ortho, he did braces again for her with bands. They say better results, but each Ortho is different.

Brackets have some trouble bonding with composite filling material (the acid etchant primer doesn't phase it, and the cement doesn't integrate with it like it does enamel; I don't know about amalgam fillings or porcelain crowns) so many orthos will band molars with fillings on the outer surface or crowns to prevent having to deal with bonding failure.

metalat40 wrote:I had 8 spacers placed 2 weeks before braces (and braces were 3 1/2 weeks ago). Spacers were horrible. I have bands on 7 molars, but it should have been all 8. However, even with spacers (and extractions), one back molar was too tipped to get the band on. There was talk of a spring going on at some point there (not sure what that means), so I will find out at my first adjustment in late March. I'm in the US, my Ortho has been in practice for 25 years. I'm told he bands rather than brackets the molars as he gets better movement/adjustment of the molars themselves this way, thus preventing movement years down the road. My Ortho assistant had brackets the first time on her molars, and later had movement of her teeth. When she started working with this Ortho, he did braces again for her with bands. They say better results, but each Ortho is different.

A spring will make room for the tooth. (Some of my friends have springs)

sirwired wrote:Brackets have some trouble bonding with composite filling material (the acid etchant primer doesn't phase it, and the cement doesn't integrate with it like it does enamel; I don't know about amalgam fillings or porcelain crowns) so many orthos will band molars with fillings on the outer surface or crowns to prevent having to deal with bonding failure.

I can tell you from experience that porcelain crowns do NOT play well with the bonding material. I lost mine last night, after only 6 days.