Ok. I am 40 years old and just got braces a month ago. I am having some problems, and, also worrying a lot because of how my ceramic or clear braces look. My 11 year old son got them too. I thought HE would be the one with all the probs but no...It's his momma! lol. Seriously, I am worried.
This weekend, 2 of my brackets broke on bottom front teeth. Here is what all I am concerned about. I wold really appreciate anyone with experience or knowledge to reply and tell me if this is normal or should I be concerned.
Firstly, When I got the braces, it was an 18 year old dental assistant who put them on. An older lady put my sons on, his are metal. They look perfect and no problems at all. The girl who put mine on, was going to put in my spacers. I said, "um no, I'm here to have braces put on today. Got spacers last week." Ok, that was the sign of first problem. But, excited to get them, I looked over it. Then, she was going to do metal, after I had paid for ceramic. She says, "oh, you're getting ceramic?" Duh! Ok. Then, she gets it all ready, seems to be doing good with the cleaning, etc. Puts them on. Ortho comes in room once, tells her to do it all he doesn't mind. I figure she knows what shes doing. She then, does everything and tries to get the brackets into my molars. Then, leaves, comes back and says, "good news, you're not getting the brackets on your molars today." And, I thought ok. That doesn't sound good to me. I have two gaps on top and one on bottom that needs to come together. Plus they're not straight up like they should be. So, when she's finished, she hands me a mirrow and , ewwwwwwwwwwww, they are like really ugly. I may be 40, but, I look 30 and now i look ugly! lol. I ask her, why are the wires so crooked, and she says, because your teeth arent' straight. But, my teeth aren't that crooked. But, thats not what really bothers me. Its the brackets. They are sitting way to the bottom of my front teeth, and way to the top of my bottom teeth! It looks so funny. Not middle like my sons and pictures on the net of braces. AND, she ask if anything feels like its hitting, and I tell her, well yes, and show her where and she does NOTHING. Guess what? those are the brackets that broke. And, I've ate nothing but smush over the last month. Nothing hard. My teeth are sore every morning when I wake up too. And, now that they broke, i look in the mirror and can see where my top teeth are hitting the bottom brackets that broke. If she would of put the brackets further to the middle this wouldn't of happened. Any help? I don't even know what questions to ask. Just if you have any help on any of this, please tell me if the brackets were set normally or if this experience is typical of an ortho appointment. I don't want to spend, 4,000.00 dollars on a bad ortho and bad treatment.
Thank you so much for any help.
please help me, is this normal? problems from a 40 yo
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EDDIEisMINE
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blindboarder2008
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first of all welcome to AW;)
Second of all I'm really sorry to hear you are having all of these problems with your braces. From what I gather it may be a good idea to acually sit down with the orthodontist and express your concerns so that he or she knows what is going on. I would explain exactly what happened and see what he says about this.
From what I gather about bracets placement they have to use the x rays to make sure they place it right (something to do with the roots of the nerves) but not exactly sure how they worded it so if someone knows that they could chime in and explain this better. I do know for sure though that they are constantly looking at x rays of your teeth while you are getting your bracets place to make sure they put the brackets in the right spot.
Sorry to hear about still being on the much food diet, it might be becauses the bracets wre positioned in the wrongs spots in certain places. Did your ortho look at your teeth before you left the office at all, or just that one time? Most people (from what i've seen on here) are able to eat more solider food after a few weeks, sometimes it takes about a months but from what I gather that a pretty low population.
once again, sorry to hear you are having alot of trouble with your braces, hopefully you can get things all straightened out, keep us updated
Second of all I'm really sorry to hear you are having all of these problems with your braces. From what I gather it may be a good idea to acually sit down with the orthodontist and express your concerns so that he or she knows what is going on. I would explain exactly what happened and see what he says about this.
From what I gather about bracets placement they have to use the x rays to make sure they place it right (something to do with the roots of the nerves) but not exactly sure how they worded it so if someone knows that they could chime in and explain this better. I do know for sure though that they are constantly looking at x rays of your teeth while you are getting your bracets place to make sure they put the brackets in the right spot.
Sorry to hear about still being on the much food diet, it might be becauses the bracets wre positioned in the wrongs spots in certain places. Did your ortho look at your teeth before you left the office at all, or just that one time? Most people (from what i've seen on here) are able to eat more solider food after a few weeks, sometimes it takes about a months but from what I gather that a pretty low population.
once again, sorry to hear you are having alot of trouble with your braces, hopefully you can get things all straightened out, keep us updated
Braced: March 19th 2008
Impacted wisdom teeth extraction surgery: June 20th 2008 1pm (13 hours of fasting)
Jaw surgery (upper and lower)Lefort 1 with Madable Advancement: June 2nd 2009 @8am!!!! 1 surgery down 2 surgeries to go!!
debrace day: jan 18th 2010!!!! *has 2 fixed retainers and an essix retainer for night time now!
Impacted wisdom teeth extraction surgery: June 20th 2008 1pm (13 hours of fasting)
Jaw surgery (upper and lower)Lefort 1 with Madable Advancement: June 2nd 2009 @8am!!!! 1 surgery down 2 surgeries to go!!
debrace day: jan 18th 2010!!!! *has 2 fixed retainers and an essix retainer for night time now!
Hiya,
Sorry you're having a hard time.
Obviously I can't really comment on the competency of your orthodontist or the assistants there but I think I would be a bit worried if I was you.
My ortho put my brackets on himself and spent a long time positioning them so that they were in the right place. Most of the brackets I have seen are generally central on the teeth so the fact that yours are high and low on your teeth seems a little bit weird.
I had the same problem as you with one of my brackets hitting another but luckily my tooth moved quite quickly and the problem went away.
Your wires will be crooked when you first get braces so that's pretty normal, the pain is also fairly normal but I found I was eating pretty normally by the two week mark. It is uncomfortable to chew at the start but you have to do this to help them settle.
I suggest you speak to the ortho, after all you are paying them a lot of money!!
Rach
Sorry you're having a hard time.
Obviously I can't really comment on the competency of your orthodontist or the assistants there but I think I would be a bit worried if I was you.
My ortho put my brackets on himself and spent a long time positioning them so that they were in the right place. Most of the brackets I have seen are generally central on the teeth so the fact that yours are high and low on your teeth seems a little bit weird.
I had the same problem as you with one of my brackets hitting another but luckily my tooth moved quite quickly and the problem went away.
Your wires will be crooked when you first get braces so that's pretty normal, the pain is also fairly normal but I found I was eating pretty normally by the two week mark. It is uncomfortable to chew at the start but you have to do this to help them settle.
I suggest you speak to the ortho, after all you are paying them a lot of money!!
Rach
Hi Julie,
Sorry you're having a hard time with your braces.
I had a few problems with brackets coming off when I first had my braces installed. I went back twice and now they're all on. I don't think this is too abnormal (although the ortho was suprised). My guy is a well respected London orthodontist, and I guess I have to trust him.
The wires looking crooked is also normal. The photos you see of models wearing braces are totally unrealistic, as they have perfect teeth to start with and clearly don't need any correcting. My wires look pretty ugly and go up and down with my teeth, which accentuates the irregularities and makes them look worse.
But, I'm sorry to say, having your brace put on by a 18 year old dental assisant sounds wrong to me. Like the poster above, mine were put on by the ortho himself, and the assistant just passed him the tools when he asked for them.
In the UK before you can become an orthodontist you have to do a lot of training (I think it's something like: train to be a dentist, get a few years experience, train for a few more years then start your orthodontic training). It's a specialist skill, and I don't see how someone as young as 18 could really be trained to put braces on.
I'm pretty sure normally the brackets should be at the same height for each tooth (it is in my case).
Maybe there is a regulatory body in whatever country you are in which you could ask for advice.
Really hope things improve for you, it sounds like you're having a tough time.
Susan
Sorry you're having a hard time with your braces.
I had a few problems with brackets coming off when I first had my braces installed. I went back twice and now they're all on. I don't think this is too abnormal (although the ortho was suprised). My guy is a well respected London orthodontist, and I guess I have to trust him.
The wires looking crooked is also normal. The photos you see of models wearing braces are totally unrealistic, as they have perfect teeth to start with and clearly don't need any correcting. My wires look pretty ugly and go up and down with my teeth, which accentuates the irregularities and makes them look worse.
But, I'm sorry to say, having your brace put on by a 18 year old dental assisant sounds wrong to me. Like the poster above, mine were put on by the ortho himself, and the assistant just passed him the tools when he asked for them.
In the UK before you can become an orthodontist you have to do a lot of training (I think it's something like: train to be a dentist, get a few years experience, train for a few more years then start your orthodontic training). It's a specialist skill, and I don't see how someone as young as 18 could really be trained to put braces on.
I'm pretty sure normally the brackets should be at the same height for each tooth (it is in my case).
Maybe there is a regulatory body in whatever country you are in which you could ask for advice.
Really hope things improve for you, it sounds like you're having a tough time.
Susan
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EDDIEisMINE
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Tue May 26, 2009 7:25 pm
thank you to all who replied and for the welcome. I feel somewhat better about the wires. I am still not sure about the brackets but as I told you, today I went in and a different assistant took the other wires off, used the light clean my teeth, then reapplied the wires and broken brackets. She said she didn't know why the brackets were too low or high to ask the ortho. She also didn't know why none on molars. The ortho would not give me any reason as to why they didn't put the brackets on my molars other than, we'll know when your teeth are ready for them. Hopefully it will be soon.. Oh, they also put some kind of stuff in my molars to build them up so that my upper teeth wouldnt hit the brackets again that broke.
Thanks again and anyone else with any advice, it is really appreciated.
Great to know there is a support board where I can go when I need advice from other people going through this.
Julie
Thanks again and anyone else with any advice, it is really appreciated.
Great to know there is a support board where I can go when I need advice from other people going through this.
Julie
Most people don't have the wire going into the molars in the beginning of treatment, even if they have the molar brackets. This is because the initial wire is so thin that it would constantly come out of the molar tube. So it's not uncommon for the orthodontist to wait to put the molar brackets on until they have a larger diameter wire to go into it. I got the molar brackets at the beginning, but did not have the wire activated into it until my 1st adjustment, which was at 10 weeks.
My situation sounds similar to yours. However, my experience has been different.
I had an assistant apply my brackets. They were applied using the indirect bonding process. My ortho had previously set my brackets in a tray based on my molds. They were preset so the assistant only placed the tray in my mouth and held it there for about a minute. The ortho came and checked the brackets before they completely bonded to make sure it was properly done. I felt completely comfortable with this (though my assistant was not 18 and seemed completely competent).
I too didnt get my molars braced. However, I was informed that at my next appointment I will be getting spacers and then the following week molar bands. This is to give my teeth some time to move and make space. My ortho does this with adults to make them a bit more comfortable. Some of us are wimps compared to the kids.
I didn't loose any brackets either but I know I could if I hadnt adjusted to the things quickly. I have an overbite and if I totally relaxed my teeth, I could bite down on the lower brackets. For some reason, my mouth wont let me! I'm guessing thats why I didn't have to get the molar buildups.
Lastly, my brackets aren't all even either. On my straighter teeth they are but on the others they seem to be placed where they can do the most work with the wires to pull those teeth into alignment.
Hope this helps. I'm sure its scary to question the competence of your ortho. Just ask lots of questions and hopefully your mind with be put at ease. Good luck!
I had an assistant apply my brackets. They were applied using the indirect bonding process. My ortho had previously set my brackets in a tray based on my molds. They were preset so the assistant only placed the tray in my mouth and held it there for about a minute. The ortho came and checked the brackets before they completely bonded to make sure it was properly done. I felt completely comfortable with this (though my assistant was not 18 and seemed completely competent).
I too didnt get my molars braced. However, I was informed that at my next appointment I will be getting spacers and then the following week molar bands. This is to give my teeth some time to move and make space. My ortho does this with adults to make them a bit more comfortable. Some of us are wimps compared to the kids.
I didn't loose any brackets either but I know I could if I hadnt adjusted to the things quickly. I have an overbite and if I totally relaxed my teeth, I could bite down on the lower brackets. For some reason, my mouth wont let me! I'm guessing thats why I didn't have to get the molar buildups.
Lastly, my brackets aren't all even either. On my straighter teeth they are but on the others they seem to be placed where they can do the most work with the wires to pull those teeth into alignment.
Hope this helps. I'm sure its scary to question the competence of your ortho. Just ask lots of questions and hopefully your mind with be put at ease. Good luck!
I'm just shy of your age! Let me start by saying congrats and your crazy for doing this, just kiddin. I had a full metal jacket with molar bands on the first day. As stated earlier, my brackets vary slightly in placement from tooth to tooth, but again only slightly. My arch wire varies greatly from tooth to tooth just because my teeth need to move up or down accordingly. The Ortho assistant placed the brackets on my teeth, but the ortho did the final adjustment before they dried them with the gun. I hope that helps!
Everyone says they are back to eating normally after a couple of weeks, I however can't. My teeth feel like they are in a constant state of flux. The pain seems to jump from tooth to tooth then back again.
Suggestions:
Use wax for any poking or raw spots, try to wean yourself off of it over time. Your mouth will get used to the braces.
Use warm, salt water rinses for any sores on the cheeks, tongue ect. Usually after 2-3 rinses for 2-3 days did the trick for me.
Invest in some Oralbase, I think it's by Colgate. Great stuff for pain relief on the tongue or cheeks.
Be patient, change will come!
Be proud, who cares what other people think!
Be positive, at times, for me, these things really suck, but I asked for em!
GOOD LUCK!
JOHN
Everyone says they are back to eating normally after a couple of weeks, I however can't. My teeth feel like they are in a constant state of flux. The pain seems to jump from tooth to tooth then back again.
Suggestions:
Use wax for any poking or raw spots, try to wean yourself off of it over time. Your mouth will get used to the braces.
Use warm, salt water rinses for any sores on the cheeks, tongue ect. Usually after 2-3 rinses for 2-3 days did the trick for me.
Invest in some Oralbase, I think it's by Colgate. Great stuff for pain relief on the tongue or cheeks.
Be patient, change will come!
Be proud, who cares what other people think!
Be positive, at times, for me, these things really suck, but I asked for em!
GOOD LUCK!
JOHN
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EDDIEisMINE
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Tue May 26, 2009 7:25 pm
John,
Thank you. Its true. I asked for mine too! Thats what keeps me going.
Thanks for all the pointers from you, and, everyone else! They all help.
The build up isn't quite so bad today. I must be getting used to it. It still bothers me but its better than before I suppose.
Does anyone know how to prevent staining on the clear brackets?
My teeth were fairly white, but, now they look yellow and so do the brackets.
Also, has anyone used a water pik? If so, do they work or are they good?
I had some alloderm grafts in Dec 08 and don't want to mess up my gums.
Maybe I should post this in a new thread?
Thanks for everyones help!!!!
Thank you. Its true. I asked for mine too! Thats what keeps me going.
Thanks for all the pointers from you, and, everyone else! They all help.
The build up isn't quite so bad today. I must be getting used to it. It still bothers me but its better than before I suppose.
Does anyone know how to prevent staining on the clear brackets?
My teeth were fairly white, but, now they look yellow and so do the brackets.
Also, has anyone used a water pik? If so, do they work or are they good?
I had some alloderm grafts in Dec 08 and don't want to mess up my gums.
Maybe I should post this in a new thread?
Thanks for everyones help!!!!
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I love my teeth
- Posts: 410
- Joined: Wed May 20, 2009 5:16 pm
- Location: Michigan, USA!
I LOVE my waterpik, but I think it's a personal preferrence, it seems people on here like it or don't??
Not sure what type of grafts you had, but I had a "free gum graft" on my bottom center 6 teeth, In 2 separate surgeries, one on March 27 and one on April 17--braces went on May 14, in regards to the waterpik, I am too afraid to go to hard on the grafted areas, so I turn it down when I get to those areas. I see the perio next week for a quick recheck and I will ask him if they are ready for more pressure or not?? Hope this helps!!
Not sure what type of grafts you had, but I had a "free gum graft" on my bottom center 6 teeth, In 2 separate surgeries, one on March 27 and one on April 17--braces went on May 14, in regards to the waterpik, I am too afraid to go to hard on the grafted areas, so I turn it down when I get to those areas. I see the perio next week for a quick recheck and I will ask him if they are ready for more pressure or not?? Hope this helps!!
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EDDIEisMINE
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Tue May 26, 2009 7:25 pm
Firstly, I hope my avatar isn't too big. Someone tell me if it is!
Secondly, I have tried baking soda but was afraid to use peroxide because the assistant told me not to use peroxide that is in mouthwash because it would look discolored when I get my braces off. Will it? I am scared to use it if it will. Thanks though. I bet it wouldn't hurt to use it once or twice.
That is a good idea about turning the water down at the graft sites. The grafts I got were for receeding teeth, where they use bone from a deceased person who donates their tissue. They applied it to the graft site areas as they would when they use your own tissue from the roof of your mouth. I will sure take that advice and not use it so hard on those areas!
Thanks!
Secondly, I have tried baking soda but was afraid to use peroxide because the assistant told me not to use peroxide that is in mouthwash because it would look discolored when I get my braces off. Will it? I am scared to use it if it will. Thanks though. I bet it wouldn't hurt to use it once or twice.
That is a good idea about turning the water down at the graft sites. The grafts I got were for receeding teeth, where they use bone from a deceased person who donates their tissue. They applied it to the graft site areas as they would when they use your own tissue from the roof of your mouth. I will sure take that advice and not use it so hard on those areas!
Thanks!
Your avatar is just fine, by the way your very cute with a beautiful smile! I could see how the toothpaste concoction would whiten everything around the brackets and not under them, so you may want to hold off. Just a thought, as white as my teeth are, I'm planning for a professional whitening after these archaic devices are removed from my chicklets!
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EDDIEisMINE
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Tue May 26, 2009 7:25 pm
ty. I guess I wasn't supposed to have a picture of my face, even though I see some people do. I don't get it. It has a place to add your website and upload an avatar but then they tell me I cannot do it, lol. Anyway, I NEVER put my REAL name on here anyhow.
Thanks anyway for all the great advice and compliment too!
Thanks anyway for all the great advice and compliment too!