Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi everyone,

Last Thursday I had an operation to attach a gold chain to my left canine that won't come down! My right canine also used to be impacted, but a year ago I had an exposure operation that caused the tooth to just move down on it's own.

The chain is in the middle of the roof of my mouth, and until a few days ago was sewn into places with some stitches. These stitches are dissolvable and so the chain has now fallen down and is dangling in the middle of my mouth. It's surprisingly long and I keep accidentally biting on it when eating which pulls at the roof of my mouth which is really painful. It's also impeding my speech and giving me a bit of a lisp, plus people can see it when I'm talking which is embarrassing.

I went to my orthodontist this morning and he said that I have to wait 3 months (!) before he can start the process of getting braces to attach the chain to.

My question is, what am I supposed to do with the chain for 3 months? I'm starting university soon and it's really embarrassing for me. Would it be a good idea for me to buy some dental glue and stick it to the roof of my mouth each day? Anyone here had a similar problem?

Thanks!

Wow that would be difficult. I wonder if applying some orthodontic wax to the end of the chain and jamming it between two of your upper teeth might do the trick. You'd probably have to experiment a bit to see which two teeth would enable you to eliminate slack in the chain without comting off every time you swallow.

I'd think your ortho should be able to attach it to your archwire - even if it's not pulling - just to get it out of the way. After my exposure surgery, the surgeon attached the chain to the archwire with something that looked like a black twist tie). There was a lot of slack so there was no pulling.

Separately, curious as to why your ortho wants to wait 3 months before activating?

Good luck.

[quote="Siobhan"]I'd think your ortho should be able to attach it to your archwire - even if it's not pulling - just to get it out of the way. After my exposure surgery, the surgeon attached the chain to the archwire with something that looked like a black twist tie). There was a lot of slack so there was no pulling.

Separately, curious as to why your ortho wants to wait 3 months before activating?

Good luck.[/quote]

I don't have an archwire or any kind of brace in my mouth yet :( I've been really disappointed with my ortho as this has been going on for around 3 years now with x rays and operations, with months and months in between. I even had to have a tooth completely re-exposed because it had healed up due to waiting too long! I really don't know why he wants me to wait so long but it's really upsetting. Do you think I could find a dental glue from a pharmacy, like the ones that are sold to stick dentures in people's mouths or something, and use it to glue to the roof of my mouth? It looks really unsightly whenever I talk to have it hanging down in my mouth. :(

[quote="djspeece"]Wow that would be difficult. I wonder if applying some orthodontic wax to the end of the chain and jamming it between two of your upper teeth might do the trick. You'd probably have to experiment a bit to see which two teeth would enable you to eliminate slack in the chain without comting off every time you swallow.[/quote]

Where do you think I'd be able to buy orthodontic wax? Would it be at a pharmacy or would I have to contact the orthodontist directly?

Keptin, sorry to hear you're going through this. You can find orthodontic wax online (there are links hre at Archwired) or in some pharmacies. Your regular dentist may be able to help rig something up but I would push your orthodontist on it again.

What about denture glue? Do you think that could work too? I'll try ringing up the orthodontist tomorrow and see what they think. Definitely can't wait 3 months with it hanging down like this D:

Keptin wrote:

djspeece wrote:Wow that would be difficult. I wonder if applying some orthodontic wax to the end of the chain and jamming it between two of your upper teeth might do the trick. You'd probably have to experiment a bit to see which two teeth would enable you to eliminate slack in the chain without comting off every time you swallow.

Where do you think I'd be able to buy orthodontic wax? Would it be at a pharmacy or would I have to contact the orthodontist directly?

Yes, any pharmacy should have it in the same general area where they sell toothpaste, etc. Not very expensive at all.

You may want to ask why you have to wait 3 years to get braces on. There are exposures where no chain is attached and the tooth is allowed to erupt, but the point of having a gold chain and button on the tooth is usually so it can be mobilized to move into place now. Of course, you'll need to have some kind of appliance or braces to get that movement going. Hope that helps.

wow your ortho sounds frustrating...is there no one else around? I'd try the wax before the glue...but definitely ask your ortho first. Good luck with the impacted tooth, mine was exposed in February and mine is still no where even close to showing. There is movement, just has a very long way to go.

Update!

Went to the orthodontist and he attached the chain to my tooth with a kind of brace glue.

Next morning it had fallen down again -___-

Rang them up again and they said I can come in this afternoon to remove the chain.

But now I'm just worried that they're not going to be able to pull the tooth forward, because they're asking me to wait 3 months, this has happened before and it just ended up healing over again, leading to another operation.

Keptin wrote:Update!

Went to the orthodontist and he attached the chain to my tooth with a kind of brace glue.

Next morning it had fallen down again -___-

Rang them up again and they said I can come in this afternoon to remove the chain.

But now I'm just worried that they're not going to be able to pull the tooth forward, because they're asking me to wait 3 months, this has happened before and it just ended up healing over again, leading to another operation.

sounds like you should find yourself a new orthodontist theres no excuse for why they are making you wait or why you are having to have operations multiple times due to having to wait for no reason. I've never heard of anyone having these operations before they have braces put on let alone having to do them multiple times.sounds like some seriously questionable orthodontic practices taking place...

Argh, this happened to me over the weekend! I was soo worried that I would accidentally bite down on it and rip it from the root of the mouth, that I went out searching for a solution. I tried the wax, that didn't work. I was so desperate I even tried looping sewing thread through the chain and reattaching it back to the wire. It held... for maybe 10 minutes.

I then went out and bought a strong elastic type material (from sewing section at my local Kmart store), that was thicker than sewing thread and six days later, it's still holding. Thankfully I see the Ortho tomorrow where he will be activating my exposed tooth, so it all worked out in the end.

Hopefully, this may help someone else in the future.


Melissa :)