Metal Mouth Message Board

Would really appreciate advice on this. I got ceramic braces (and I think they are self-ligating) a week ago. All has been fine until today I had a soup which I think might have contained turmeric. The brackets are now bright yellow, and I can't get rid of the colour. I brushed straight away after eating (as soon as I noticed) and have brushed and mouthwashed regularly since but it doesn't seem to be helping. Am in a massive panic as I can't go around with yellow brackets for 18 months!!! All advice very welcome, thank you.

My first thought would be to rinse with a dilute hydrogen peroxide solution, probably one third peroxide to two thirds water or as your ortho might recommend.

Are you sure they're self-ligating? Brackets themselves don't stain. If you have regular brackets with ligatures holding the wire in, the ligatures can stain. If that's the case, it might be as easy as your ortho changing them out for new ones (which happens at your adjustments). If they are, in fact, self-ligating, you might be seeing staining of the glue. In that case, check with your ortho or dentist first, but you'll probably end up having to do some sort of rinse like djspeece said.

Thanks guys - it sounds ridiculous to say I don't know if my braces are self-ligating or not! I am pretty sure they're self ligating and yes I guess it could be staining of the bonding which holds the brackets to the teeth. I've tried bicarb of soda and think it is helping. Will investigate the rinse. Thank you x

People have composite resin on their teeth to fill in cavities, and it doesn't turn bright yellow :/ I bet it's ligs or something else temporary.

mmkay wrote:People have composite resin on their teeth to fill in cavities, and it doesn't turn bright yellow :/ I bet it's ligs or something else temporary.

I agree and I'm assuming it's ligs. I just know some people have claimed that their bonding turns yellow, which is not something I have experienced. I don't know what else would have stained if he/she has self-ligating brackets.

Hi everyone, just to let you know, you were right it was the elastics that have stained and my dentist will swap them out at my next adjustment. Relief! X

Ps thank you for the advice.

If you do eat a lot of food with turmeric it might be worth asking your ortho for metal ties instead of elastics. I have metal ties and ceramic brackets and had absolutely no staining for the first 18 months. Then I got power chains and they stain horribly!

I have ceramic braces as well, they're white and they don't stain... However, whenever my ortho puts chains (it's transparent) :



they get stained really fast and look bright yellow, due to some of the food I eat and I also drink a lot of coffee... I usually have to wait until my next appointment to have them changed.

CuriousGuest wrote:I have ceramic braces as well, they're white and they don't stain... However, whenever my ortho puts chains (it's transparent) :



they get stained really fast and look bright yellow, due to some of the food I eat and I also drink a lot of coffee... I usually have to wait until my next appointment to have them changed.

CuriousGuest, your teeth look amazing!