Metal Mouth Message Board

I went to get my braces adjustment Friday and I was taken by surprise when my othrodonist said he needed to saw my teeth?? (or something like that). The next thing you know..he comes over to me with a mini saw thing and saws some room between my teeth to create more space (my teeth are overcrowded on the bottom). Did anyone else go through that?

That sounds insane! Are you sure it didn't cause irreversible damage? What about your enamel? I wouldn't let my ortho do that...

But I guess he knows what he's doing. It's just that I've never heard of that before...

I hope it didn't cause any damages! I'm not feeling anything weird, so I think I'm okay. I went home and checked my teeth, but I think creating the spaces helped align my teeth better.

But when he said he was going to saw my teeth, I turned white. I guess he noticed because he was telling me how much it wouldn't hurt. But when he was sanding my teeth after sawing it..and got near the gums..it hurts!

I'm glad you don't have to get it done shinyam! =)

It is not that uncommon. Sometimes the ortho needs to do that between teeth so they will come together better. My ortho filed a little off one of my molars to create just enough space to fit the molar band on. Don't be alarmed it is done to a lot of people during treatment.

This is called interproximal reduction. The idea of it made me nervous too, but I read one article that said that contrary to what one would think, there is less of a chance of cavities, and better oral health following IPR. My ortho has said IPR will be part of my treatment (as did all four of the orthos I consulted with before picking one). It doesn't sound fun though and I'm not looking forward to it, but I've read they are removal very tiny amounts of enamel.

I had this too - and it is not only necessary for many people, but amazingly effective:

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wow - cool!

My ortho ground my teeth with a little disc, not only to even the tops up and get rid of all the chips but also in between my front two teeth to make them fit together better. Doesn't hurt, and the results are great.

Hey Jenn I had something similar done - called "slenderizing". My ortho is doing this at each adjustment to make room for a lower to move into place. He puts it in between each tooth on the bottom and "saws" back and forth taking off a little bit each time. I also have a spring that will hopefully make room, too! Good Luck!

Yes, I've had this done too...

It's sort of scary, and doesn't feel that great. Visually, I did not see any benefits from it, but I'm sure something happened. My ortho stripped my upper teeth during a few adjustments, but hasn't recently.

The tool they use is strange... it kind of reminds me of a nail file!

sorry. double post.

When I got my bottom braces my ortho came over and "drilled" on my bottom molars! He commented to the assistant on how funny one of my teeth was. I have no idea why but I guess it was either because of my bite or to put molar bands on. He never really explains anything to me!

-Hannah




Top braces: 4/28/04
Bottom braces: 11/16/05

Thanks for sharing your pictures weird_wired!!! Wow, they made such a big difference. Your teeth are looking great!

For everyone else that had it done previously...is this a one time thing or do they repeat the procedure a couple of times?

I had to have it done on my bottom teeth because the tops of my bottom teeth were wider than the bottoms. This resulted in a lot of crowding, but with spaces lower down. It's kind of hard to explain-- the teeth just didn't fit together. After the slenderizing (that's what my ortho called it) they are starting to fit together much more nicely.

Jenn17780 wrote:For everyone else that had it done previously...is this a one time thing or do they repeat the procedure a couple of times?

I had it done over a series of adjustments. Maybe to see how well it's working between appointments... and I don't think that it would be good to take off too much enamel at once!