This is the place to post general questions and comments about all areas of orthodontic treatment. Before you post a question, use the forum's SEARCH tool to see if your question has already been answered!
New Members: YOU MUST MAKE A POST WITHIN 24 HOURS OF REGISTERING OR YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DELETED. In other words, don't sign up unless you plan to actively participate in the message board immediately. This is necessary to keep out spammers and lurkers with bad intentions. Of course, you can read most forums on the board without registering.
DO NOT POST FULL-FACE PHOTOS or personal contact information on this website. We have had problems with people re-posting members' photos on fetish websites. Please only post photos of your teeth, not your whole face. Keep your email and your personal information private. Thank you.
Hi. I've had upper braces for almost 3 months. I have one bracket on my lower back molars as well. About a month into treatment, I started wearing elastics at night. At this point, I'm wearing a "V" on my back molars on both sides to help erupt my lower back molars. I'm also wearing one on both sides from my lower back molar to my front canines. Those are helping me hold my lower jaw forward when I sleep due to some TMJD issues. I'm wearing medium lions for the "V" and gorilla's for the back to front.
I wake up every morning with all of the teeth the elastics are hooked to. It's been 2 months now and if anything the pain has gotten worse. Do the elastics ever get any easier to get used to? I'm thankful I don't need them 24/7 yet. Just overnight (8 hrs max per my dentist) is more than enough for me.
On the positive side , my dentist says with the eruption of my molar and the quick movement of my upper arch, I'm ahead of schedule to receive my lower braces. They were originally planned for about 8 months and now I may be able get them at the 4 or 5 month mark.
Braces as Phase II treatment for TMJD.
Lower mandibular repositioning splint 26 months.
Lower braces on 10.75 months into Phase II treatment.
Duration in braces: 2 years, 2 weeks, 5 days
Removal of Braces: September 18, 2013 TMJD treatment now complete!
When wearing elastics, if you aren't wearing them at all times (meaning just at night) then the pain will continue. When I was wearing them my ortho explained how important it was to wear as instructed (all day except when eating) or else the teeth would continue to hurt because they aren't getting used to the pressure from non-stop wear. If you just wear them at night, you are sort of in stop and go mode. They feel the pain when on but as soon as you take them off, the pain subsides. Then you do it all over again so the teeth can't adjust.
It took about 3-5 days of non stop wear for my teeth to not hurt anymore and I have worn elastics off and on for many months. Maybe someone who only wore them at night or for limited hours a day will have better advice for you.
Since you are only wearing them at night maybe try a heating pad on your face. Heating pads work wonders for all sorts of ortho issues.
I've been wearing elastics since February or March of this year. The first 5-6 weeks my ortho instructed me to wear them at night only. The next 5-6 weeks he instructed me to wear them 24/7. Next appointment after that he told me to go back to wearing them at night only, which I am still doing religiously. My teeth are a little sore when I wake up in the morning, but the soreness dissipates an hour or two after I remove the elastics. I agree w/ Snowglobe that they tend to hurt less when worn 24/7, but I figure my ortho has a reason for telling me to wear them at night only so that's what I'm doing.
My ortho told me to work my way up to 24/7 but I find I clench worse with the elastics on and wake up every few hours in pain till around 4am when i get mad and take them off and go back to sleep. I seem to have developed a little problem though. my elastics go from back molar to canine, and one of my back molars is crowned and I've discovered this tooth is getting loose throughout the day with my elastics on, has anyone had this happen.
I'm going in to see him in a few days but I'm kinda freakin out a little, i'm on the second crown on that tooth and there is very little tooth to put a crown on now as it is I'd hate to loose it after all this.
Thanks for your responses. I go for my second follow-up appointment later this week. I'll be asking my dentist about this further.
Right now, my dentist has been pretty adamant about just wearing the elastics 8 hours a day. The molar to canine ones are just to hold my lower jaw forward when I'm sleeping and are not intended to move my jaw forward much. I think he is being extra cautious with me on this.
I have noticed a huge increase in my bruxism with the elastics. I tend to bite my tongue a lot at night while sleeping. It really hurts and frequently wakes me up. I can't wait until my bite adjusts enough that my bruxism decreases some.
Braces as Phase II treatment for TMJD.
Lower mandibular repositioning splint 26 months.
Lower braces on 10.75 months into Phase II treatment.
Duration in braces: 2 years, 2 weeks, 5 days
Removal of Braces: September 18, 2013 TMJD treatment now complete!
I hear you. I never felt pain like I did when I first got my elastics. It was excruciating (especially in the am) for like 3 days then died down. Now it's fine. Hang in there!
I had my 2nd follow-up appointment today. I found out I'll be the lucky recipient of a 3rd set of nighttime elastics in 6 weeks.... something to look forward to for sure. Kind of ironc considering I'll only have 2 sets of brackets on my lowers at the time.
Braces as Phase II treatment for TMJD.
Lower mandibular repositioning splint 26 months.
Lower braces on 10.75 months into Phase II treatment.
Duration in braces: 2 years, 2 weeks, 5 days
Removal of Braces: September 18, 2013 TMJD treatment now complete!
purplepetunia wrote: I figure my ortho has a reason for telling me to wear them at night...
I believe he does. I have read that elastics exert different forces at night and during the day. I do not remember the details very clearly, but at night when we sleep and the jaw is relaxed the force is mostly up-down, while during the day when we eat and move the jaw the force is in all directions. Something along those lines. So it is important to follow the directions.
Had full mouth metal braces for 21 months. Debonded April 2013. Now wearing clear plastic retainers every other night.
I have no formal dental or orthodontic education. Hence, all opinions expressed by me on this forum are those of an "informed consumer" and by no means intended as an expert advice.
Hmm, maybe I'm weird..but I've never had pain with my elastics. At least not yet. I'm not a fan of wearing them, but no real issue. I do tend to clench my jaw more with them and that does bug me.
I'm only at medium strength though ... maybe it'll be a different story with the stronger ones.
I really do think that when I'm sleeping at night that since I'm bruxing so much I'm also subconsciously fighting with the elastics some which contributes to my pain.
I'm a bit worried about adding my third set of elastics because one of them will be pulling on a tooth with a crown. Does anyone out there have elastics on a crowned tooth? Do you have any problems with that?
Braces as Phase II treatment for TMJD.
Lower mandibular repositioning splint 26 months.
Lower braces on 10.75 months into Phase II treatment.
Duration in braces: 2 years, 2 weeks, 5 days
Removal of Braces: September 18, 2013 TMJD treatment now complete!
my elastics are currently attached to a crowned back molar. I had a scare a week ago that the crown had come loose from the pressure but the ortho said it wasn't loose.
The tooth itself gets wiggly as the day goes on with the elastics and the margins of the crown irritate the gumline when that happens.
My elastics experience hasn't been pleasant as i experience a lot of muscle spasms in my jaw due to force of the elastics but the ortho was happy with the progress the elastics were making and to do the best I can with them, he said not to push it too much because we don't want to cause other problems. Hopefully your expereince will be better than mine.
pjacjac wrote: i experience a lot of muscle spasms in my jaw due to force of the elastics
I've had issues with muscle spasms for a few years due to TMJ issues. I found that physical therapy and trigger point releases really help with the spasms. If all else fails, I have some muscle relaxers on hand. Have you asked your ortho if he/she does the trigger point releases? Mine will do them for me. I also have a good PT who is trained to do orofacial releases. I also found that my neck gets really tense with the facial spasms. Might help to have that worked on as well.
Good luck.
Braces as Phase II treatment for TMJD.
Lower mandibular repositioning splint 26 months.
Lower braces on 10.75 months into Phase II treatment.
Duration in braces: 2 years, 2 weeks, 5 days
Removal of Braces: September 18, 2013 TMJD treatment now complete!
I'm now over seven months into my treatment with braces. I've had the nighttime elastics for the majority of the time. I'm still having pain with my nighttime elastics that takes several hours to go away each morning.
I'm curious it any of you are wearing your elastics just at night. It really hurts when I take the elastics off in the morning and I always dread the process. Does the pain ever get any better?
I still have quite a ways to go with the elastics before I can move on from this configuration.
Braces as Phase II treatment for TMJD.
Lower mandibular repositioning splint 26 months.
Lower braces on 10.75 months into Phase II treatment.
Duration in braces: 2 years, 2 weeks, 5 days
Removal of Braces: September 18, 2013 TMJD treatment now complete!
, my dentist says with the eruption of my molar and the quick movement of my upper arch, I'm ahead of schedule to receive my lower braces. They were originally planned for about 8 months and now I may be able get them at the 4 or 5 month mark.
