Metal Mouth Message Board

I'm nervous about the braces removal process. I've heard that it can be somewhat painful with pulling the brackets off and buffing down the adhesive. I have sensitive teeth, and I've had some slight discomfort during my regular dentist cleanings where they had to use the "drill" to remove some of the glue I had. I'm not entirely worried about that per se.

My biggest concern is I have one tooth with some erosion near the gumline (or where my gum line used to be). It would cause me regular issues with hot or cold foods, sometimes when smiling too wide and exposing the eroded part to the air. I could touch my finger to it, and it would hurt. When going to my dentist cleanings, I've had to ask them to buff around the erosion when they applied tooth paste because it would be painful for a few days if they buffed over it.

Since getting braces, I have had no problems with this tooth and I suspect it may be because the adhesive ended up over the eroded portion. I'm very concerned about the ortho trying to remove the adhesive from this tooth. If he tries to completely get rid of all of it, he may erode the tooth more , which would be terrible. I'd much prefer he leave the adhesive over it and just buff it smooth in line with the rest of the tooth? But I don't know if he'd go for that.

I'm really concerned if he tries to get all the adhesive out, I may have to be numbed. And then I may actually need a root canal because I can only imagine how painful that tooth would be if eroded further. I definitely plan to mention it when I go in to get the braces removed in a few weeks, but I'm wondering if anyone else has had this issue? What did your ortho do?

I had Damon brackets, and they were removed without any trouble at all -- I think there is a special tool that a top-notch ortho uses that just pops them off. From what I read here, I suspect that in some cases the ortho doesn't have this tool and instead resorts to the need for excessive force. But it my case, he had them off in a couple of minutes. It was sort of anticlimactic, frankly .

I too have some sensitive teeth due to a receding gumline but fortunately there was no adhesive on those areas. Definitely tell your ortho about your sensitivity. However, he may only be willing to use topical anesthetic -- the stuff they rub on your gums before they inject a "numbing" agent -- because they don't have a lot of experience with injecting anesthesia. My ortho at one point offered me Propel therapy, which I had in two rounds. The first round was quite painful, and so for the second he asked my general dentist to properly numb me up. I appreciated that he just didn't go in and try something he hadn't done since dental school!
At any rate, do make sure he is aware. I had a little issue with the air hitting those areas, but frankly at that point I was willing to hang upside down if it meant the braces were coming off!
And for what it's worth, my general dentist applied some "bonding" agent over my sensitive areas on the tooth at the gumline. It didn't completely end the sensitivity, but I think my tooth is better protected in the face of a slightly receding gumline. Best of luck to you and congratulations for making it to the end!