Ortho cannot attach wire to ceramic bracket... arggghhhh

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#1 Post by **Crowded Mouth** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 9:34 am

I have had my ceramic brace on since 21/11/05 with ligs. I have one lower jaw tooth that is sitting further than the otheres and because there isnt a lot of space for it to come forward, my wire has never been atttached to it. My ortho keeps putting a spring in between the two surrounding teeth to push them apart to make room for it to come forward. I have been to see my ortho 5 times now and each time he cannot get the bracket on this tooth attached to the wire.... the ligs just pops right off. Today he spent 1 hour trying to attach wire ties to that particular bracket, rather than a lig (three times) but again these just popped off. I left with a spring in place. Also the problem tooth appears to be going further backward due to the movement in the other teeth... its getting worse.. has anyone else experienced this. I got a call from my ortho after my visit and he has suggested taking the ceramic bracket off this particular tooth and putting a metal bracket on.. has anyone else experienced this problem.. thanks

#2 Post by **Cissa** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:47 pm

I'm having that problem but I've got a metal bracket. It's frustrating isn't it? In my case, the wire will hook to the bracket after the spring is removed, but the space is never large enough. I've had the spring applied 4 times now to no avail. It's horrible, I know how you feel.

At my next adjustment I'm going to suggest popping in a few spacers so the spring will actually be able to do its job.

#3 Post by **montesser** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 9:23 pm

I got braced on November 28th, and about 30 minutes after I got home, the entire bracket came off. They say ceramics are more vunerable than the metal ones. For me, it's the tooth next to my front teeth. It's pushed far back and my canine sits very high up. When I was younger, both of my canines came in before my baby teeth fell out so they sat up in the gums. My ortho told me that we would wait and see if the canine came down if the wire would then attach. I go back for my first adjustment next Tuesday, and so far, the canine hasn't come down at all. It has shifted more forward. I'm willing to go with a metal bracket if it would get thing to start moving, then maybe, I can switch to ceramic again after things are aligned better. Just like you, I'm fearing that the tooth has started to move back further while the others are straightening.

#4 Post by **Flora2006** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 11:34 pm

i have a canine in the back...crossbite...and what my ortho did is that instead of trying to put the wire on the bracket (ceramic) he attached what looks like a piece of a wire onto the bracket and on my arch wire...it's hard to explain lol. but yeah, so it's kind of pulling the tooth to its alignment.

#5 Post by **Jodster** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 12:42 pm

I have a similar situation to you Montessor, and I have been braced on top since early september. I currently have a powerchain to close gaps from extractions and to move the canines enough so that the ofending tooth can turn enough to be attached to the wire. I don't have any springs thankfully, and have had 3 adjustment visits thus far. I hope that at my visit next week something will be done to attach it to the wire

Very frustrated as well!!

#6 Post by **dr.j** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 6:08 pm

This happens to me all of the time. I usually place a small mini-bracket or eyelet on the tooth and ligate a elastic thread from the mini to the open coil spring to get it closer to the rest of the arch. The bond a correct bracket when I can.

#7 Post by **braceface1230** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 6:27 pm

This is what my ortho is doing now. My two upper incisors (think that's what they are) are behind my front two teeth. Right now he's working on pulling one of them with the elastic thread up into place. Yesterday I thought he would start doing the same with the other, but for some reason he decided not to do anything to it. Instead, in two weeks he wants to remove the bracket (only on this one) and replace it with what he described as a sort of "hook" type appliance. And then he'll start pulling that one into place. I'm using metal brackets on top and bottom, so I'm not really sure why he wants to use this "hook". Even the assistant kind of questioned it (when the ortho left of course). She also thought he'd just use the elastic thread the same way he did with the other one. Oh well, whatever does the job I guess.

#8 Post by **Crowded Mouth** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 6:31 am

Hi.. I have been back to my ortho and I now have one metal bracket on the wayward tooth and the elastics have now attached no problem. So I have a full set of ceramics brackets and one random metal bracket on the problem front lower tooth haha... such a good look!! haha. All seems ok though now.. and hopefully it wont take too long to move forward, it appears to have a little already and its only been on 3 days..

I know what you mean about the springs.. I have had springs at each visit to make extra room for the crowding and for at least 3 days afterwards the teeth and jaw around where the spring has been placed is agony.. I cant bite anything... have resorted to eating everything with a knife and fork chopping things up and using the back molars to chew... I still havent lost any weight though haha where there is a will to eat you find a way...

#9 Post by **OnMyWay** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 10:57 am

It scares me to hear the difficulties in getting the teeth into the arch wire. I just had a spring placed in order to move the teeth apart and bring the other one forward. My ortho said once the tooth has come forward we'll be "rockin and rollin." I really really hope mine do it fairly quickly so as to not extend treatment time. Congragulations on getting yours moving!