Metal Mouth Message Board

So last tooth of my bottom teeth's bracket came of. I've never had broken brackets and it just happened out of the blue when I was eating chips and something hard in it broke the bracket. I'm freaking out because I wear rubberbands on 4 our of my teeth and that tooth is one of them. I have an overbite and I've heard that if you don't wear your rubberbands back in an hour, your bite will go back to normal :( I do wear another rubberbands on my caninies, but I don't think that will help much! I can't call my ortho because he's only here on tue and friday. What should I do now? I can't double up my rubberbands because I know that's just going to make my bite worse or uneven

Hopefully you can go in first thing Friday. How far along are you in treatment? I'd be more concerned with that tooth falling out of alignment and forcing you down to a more flexible arch wire and increasing your "sentence" than worrying about your bite. If I were you I wouldn't wear any rubber bands (so you don't put uneven pressure on your jaw) and get in there first thing Friday.

Yes, there will be some relapse, but Friday should be okay. If you couldn't get in for two weeks, that would be bad, but a couple of days won't set you back months or anything... Just make sure the office knows you'll need a new bracket, as that takes longer than just a typical adjustment.

Calm down!

Usually, orthos can squeeze you in but it's not a major relapse if you don't go in right away. And for future reference, call your orthos office right away for advisement on what to do and not do in the interim. Most ortho offices have their voicemail forwarded for emergencies.

Newbite, I've had brace for a 1 year and 8 months and still have 1 and half to go.

Thanks guy! The first thing I did today was called my ortho's office and they scheduled my appointment for next week on the 8th( so four days left). I'll ask them If still keep wearing my rubberbands, they haven't said anything about it though. The lady did ask me if I wore rubberbands on that tooth so I guess they want me to take early since the place is usually very busy.

Hopefully no setbacks... anyway the way braces are bonded is to ensure they can be removed easily...and if too much force is applied they will break free from a tooth instead of breaking the tooth.

so, moral of the story, eat softer foods, and be glad your bracket popped off instead of cracking a tooth!

as long as you chew slower in the future with harder foods (should stick to soft foods but we can't help it can we haha), the brackets should stay in place
i actually have a loose bracket right now too and i'll be going in to get it fixed in a few days! crossing fingers for no setbacks for us