Metal Mouth Message Board

at my appointment yesterday i was surprised with elastics.. the assistant put them on for me and that was it. i asked if i needed to take them out while eating (duh) and she said yes and to make sure to put new ones on. now that im going thru the board, i see that some people have been told to wear them for x amount of hours. my ortho didnt give me any instructions, just HERE YA GO see ya next month..

i work at a call center. im on the phone for 8 straight hours. i have been in agony. i had to take them out. so i plan on just wearing them at nite and hopefully i can get used to them.

argh. i guess my question is, should my ortho have given me a set amount of time to wear them? she did tell me that the more i wear them, the sooner i get them off.

also, i dont even think i have an overbite.
ive had braces for 17 months, and i have one tooth on the bottom that is still not even attached to the archwire because there isnt enough space for it.

shouldnt my ortho be more concerned about making space for that bottom tooth, before giving me elastics?

i really really really wish i could change orthos but ive already paid for it.

You should wear them as much as possible if thats what your ortho said about "the more you wear them, the sooner they'll come off." Cause its very true. As for them hurting/bothering you, Dont take them out, because if you take them out everytime they are a bother or they're hurting, you'll never get used to them. They will hurt and bother you at first, but wear them all the time, except for when your eating. you'll get used to talking with them, just wear them and tough it out, and then sooner or later, you'll be comfortable in them.

I have been wearing elastics since last February. The ortho told me what Brooke said, "the more you wear them, the faster your braces will come off." My sister didn't wear hers often enough and they have estimated that her braces will be on for an extra 4 months! I guess she was really bad at not wearing them. Like Brooke said, just wear them though the pain. I am a teacher and I have to lecture with them on and after appts with the ortho. Just take some ibuprophen (or the pain reliever of your choosing). I get to where if I don't wear them, my teeth start to feel sensitive. I guess I reversed the process. HA!

Elastics are like a wagon that you pull up a hill. You can drag the wagon p a few miles every night and during the day it will roll back and possibly net you very little. Cheesey analogy I know.

Most of the time we like to have all of the teeth well aligned on a wire before elastic therapy b/c if elastics are worn well this tooth - the one not hooked on- could be left behind. I'd ask at your next visit what the deal is with this tooth. In lieu of this unbracketed tooth issue, maybe go with nite wear during this tx interval if you are not sure what to do. Questions should be welcome- call your ortho's office with your questions and maybe he/she will respond! good Luck

Dr.J

I think that is a pretty good analogy. I have been known to come up with some cheesy ones while explaining things around here!

Randall

Thanx for all the responses! And great analogy.
I'm just a little stressed out because its my first day of wearing these darn things and like i said, i work in a call center, so im on the phone NON-STOP for 8 hours. my mouth was killing me after about 2 hours and i took them out. i had too or else i couldnt do my job.

here are some pics i decided to post.

like i said, ive had braces on for 16 months (i miscounted in my earlier post ) on top and 14 months on bottom.

my bottom teeth were WAY more crowded than the top. when the bottoms were put on, i had 2 teeth that were left off of the wire.

gosh, i cant remember when the doc decided i needed coils, but it was a good 2 months of coils, then that didnt work, so they doubled the coils and while she was putting the coils/springs in, she knocked the bracket off of my canine. so i had to wait until next appointment to get the bracket glued on, and then they replaced the coils, only to have the same bracket come loose a few weeks after it was replaced.

blah. to make a long story short.. i have 1 of the 2 teeth now attached to the wire, and i suddenly now have elastics and powerchains on the bottom 5 of my teeth..



so heres some pics i just took with my camera phone, sorry theyre not that clear!

i think this was july-ish


i just took these today




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is it odd that my ortho has me in elastics and my teeth are not all completely straight or on the wire yet?

see my pics above