Metal Mouth Message Board

I just wanted to quickly ask how long it takes before spacers become painful enough to make it hard to eat. I have an appointment for Wednesday and was planning on going out to supper with my Dad afterwards but don't know if that will be something I'll feel like doing or not. So just how long does it take for the real pain to start: hours? days? minutes?

Hi genxsis,

Good luck on beginning your ortho treatment this week or have you begun awhile ago?

I had 4 spacers placed in my upper arch on 1/3/06. To be honest with you I haven't had any ongoing pain, have not had to take any Advil but on 1/5/06 I did have a slight ache while chewing (not ongoing pain). I ache more on the left side when I chew so I'm mainly chewing on the right side and it became easier to chew on 1/7/06. I do suggest that you carry some Advil with you in case you feel you need it.

Of course, when reading other posts on this website, everyone has a different story which is common because we're all different.

I think you should keep your scheduled dinner with your Dad and share some information regarding your ortho treatment with him - I'm sure your Dad will enjoy hearing about it because it's always great to hear that a person is doing something to better themselves.

Keep in mind the spacers will only be in for a short period of time, right? Mine will only be in for a week.

Keep us posted and good luck.

ssfw
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Well, mine began hurting about 3-4 hours after I got them in... from there it just got worse and worse, hehe, im sure that helps you feel better

Good Luck!

Mine were fine until I woke up the next morning.

SSFW---Thank you! It's nice to know that it may not be as bad as I've heard from others. They are scheduled to be in for 1 week, just like yours.

Brooke and Mackenzie---Well, at least I'll be safe for the day, or at least for the first few hours!

Mine started to hurt within hours, but it got worse at night. By two in the am I thought I was going to jump out of my skin.

I recieved 8 spacers today (4 top, 4 bottom) to make room for my molar bands, I believe that's what they're called, this morning at 11:30. It's now 6pm and I still don't have any pain. I took a nap and thought I was going to wake up hurting, but so far no pain. *knock on wood*

I did however have a dream that one of my spacers fell out after I got home from my appt. and took a nap, lol.

go to dinner--just carry advil or tylenol with you and chew carefully. i didn't have pain as much as intense irritation. some people have no pain, so go have fun because that's most important. good luck!

You might want to start taking ibuprofen the night before your appt. Sort of preload your system. We do that before adjustments and it seems to help. If you don't need to continue, you're okay. I hope spacers go well for you and it doesn't bother you much and you can enjoy a wonderful dinner. I guess I'm saying that I hope spacers really go a lot better for you than they did for me.

Hi genxsis,

I still say don't cancel your dinner date with your Dad. If you don't already do this, always carry some Advil (or whatever pain reliever you use) - (Advil works quite quickly for me) with you so that if you are having a painful time due to your ortho treatment, you can take something right then, but, first, try to see if the irritation goes away by itself or if you can handle it without Advil. Keep in mind there's nothing wrong with having to take something due to pain during ortho treatment.

As you have read, everybody has different reactions to the spacers - we're all different and everybody's teeth are aligned differently. It's interesting, I had very little problem with the spacers, still Advil-free and hope it continues throughout the ortho treatment, and placing a couple of the spacers for me were not easy because a few of my teeth were very tight.

Just see what happens but enjoy dinner with your Dad and share your excitement about your upcoming ortho treatment.

Good luck.

ssfw

I got 1 spacer today. I haven't had any trouble so far. I got it put in at 12:00 NOON. 1 is all I needed on top. I had a tooth extracted on the left and right side when I was a teen. The space on the left side was big enough but on the right side my teeth have shifted some so I needed one on the right side.

My spacers felt uncomfortable pretty much immediately. Like most people, I couldn't wait for them to be removed!

Update: Just ate dinner, my upper right and lower left spacers are starting to hurt a bit. =/ 7 days won't come a day too soon! Plus, this "no brushing/flossing the area around t he spacers" business is very frustrating. It's hard to isolate areas when you're brushing!! =/

Tomorrow is my big day. I'll let you know how it all goes. I can't believe I'm really going through with this! But now that I've gotten 4 teeth extracted in preparation for it, it's kind of hard not to do it now!

Thank you all for your support!

Mine (spacers) never really hurt, they felt a bit uncomfortable because I felt like I had food stuck between my teeth. That lasted one day though. Other than that I had no pain What hurt so bad for me was getting my lower molars banded--ouch.