Metal Mouth Message Board

I stumbled across this site a few weeks ago, the day I had my braces put on, and I just wanted to say thank you because it's a fantastic resource and comforting to know you are not the only one out there going through this long sometimes uncomfortable journey.

Bit of background; I am in my mid-30s with an anterior open bite. I was never referred for or offered orthodontic treatment as a child, and I only noticed it really being an issue that my teeth didn't meet in my late teens. I explored orthodontics in my early 20s, and was advised I'd need a bilateral osteotomy. I was young and not ready for such a drastic option, and nervous about the notion of losing feeling in my jaw and that the jaw might retract to it's original position anyway. Unfortunately the few teeth I can bite on have become progressively weaker, grinding at night makes it worse, and I periodically suffer from headaches related to the muscle strain associated with all of this.

However, my problems got worse two years ago and I decided I didn't want to wait another decade and still be struggling with this. I am still concerned about losing feeling in my jaw but less worried about the situation reversing itself, don't ask me why.

So I now have metal braces on my upper and lower teeth, and have now been advised as of this week I will need all 4 wisdom teeth removed prior to my osteotomy, as they will not perform this for a year post wisdom teeth removal. Oh, and I'm 6m pregnant with my third, so if I delay the extractions until after birth, I'll be setting the entire treatment plan back at least a year if not longer...

A lot of things to be getting on with, and I believe I'm getting elastics at my first adjustment in a few weeks. Does anyone has any advice for me or perhaps has been in what I feel is my unique situation?

I can see you are a woman who welcomes challenges! Congrats on your pregnancy and braces, and overall plan. I do hope you have some strong support! If you search on "pregnancy" in the search box near the upper right corner (right under where your user name appears) you find a number of posts related to pregnancy and braces. Best of luck to you!

Thanks Dan! I was supposed to get the braces fitted almost a year ago so it hasn't exactly all gone to plan thus far, am hoping things are bit smoother from now on

Can't wait to see pics.

Hi abc, welcome! Thanks for posting your story, as is it in some ways similar to mine, at least in terms of balancing teeth and expanding my family. I've been doing fertility treatments during my Invisalign treatment since I didn't know when I would be ready for surgery. Now I've found out I'm ready for surgery so I had to decide whether I wanted to put the fertility stuff on hold or whether I wanted to have my bite stuck really wonky and keep trying to get pregnant. I chose the surgery and so I'm waiting to get pregnant until I've healed up. But it was a tough decision to have to make.

My advice to you would be to talk to your orthodontist about if you can get your braces off once your teeth get where they need to be for surgery. Then you can get them put back on once you've had the baby and healed from the wisdom teeth extraction. Also, a year of a healing seems like a long time to me -- could you maybe get a second opinion about that?

Hi Lala

My ortho told me not to put my life on hold when we created the treatment plan because we knew things wouldn't happen straight away and whilst the timing isn't amazing now, hopefully most of my ortho appointments and surgery will take place when I'm not actually at work which should make things easier?

I hope you can get your fertility treatment started soon - when did you have your surgery?

I don't know about the healing time, just that it'll be the same surgeon removing the wisdom teeth who will do the osteotomy, so it must be their standard practice... I just want the next few weeks over and done with, hopefully without too much pain/discomfort as I've read ibuprofen is the best pain relief post-extraction and that isn't permitted in the third trimester :(

Hi abc,

I actually haven't had my surgery yet. It's scheduled for early April, though I'm afraid my insurance may not cooperate, in which case the date would get pushed back. Hopefully not though because it does put off the fertility treatments.

Has it been hard having braces and being pregnant? I've heard that even lying back in a dental chair when you're farther along can be very uncomfortable. Are you getting your extractions done after the baby is born or can you go ahead and do it? Is that something they can do without anesthesia?

Luckily I haven't had any major issue in the chair, but shall see if that is the same after my wisdom teeth extraction tomorrow! I don't think you're ever in the chair for more than 30 minutes, I think the longest appointment is the braces themselves being put on? I'm a newbie so happy to stand corrected.

Extraction being done under local, so no different to a filling I guess...