Question about ceramic braces removal

[thmmom]

I am hopefully nearing the last few months of wearing braces. I have ceramic braces upper and lower. I recently took my 15 year old son into a different ortho office - they are new and are having a sale - to see what the cost would be for him. The ortho mentioned to me at the end of my son's consult that she recommended metal brackets for him and one of the reasons was that removal is so much easier. She said that it takes her about 1 minute to remove metal brackets and about 1 hour to remove ceramic. Anyone have any insight on this? I was never told this when I had mine put on. I'm hoping that this isn't true...

[TinySmiley]

I will hopefully be getting mine off soon; this is a great question, so if anyone knows, please reply.
I do think that ceramic braces are a little more difficult/painful to remove based on the few times they have had to re-bracket some of my brackets. The metal ones, came off quickly, didn't feel a thing. My ceramic ones, she had to put a lot of pressure on it to come off (a bit painful).

[tashay1985]

my ceramics came off VERY easily, no pain whatsoever. They were off in about 5 minutes or so, only difference I've heard of when removing them compared to the metal ones is that they can sometimes crack and break into pieces. That happened with 2 of them and they did not hurt. You can check out my blog for my braces removal story, maybe it will help? good luck!

[chocomorsel]

Ceramics can crack and come off in pieces like the above poster stated. Then you have to spend a lot more time polishing away the remainder of the pieces and the glue which takes a while. The metals pop off in one unified piece and you only have to file away the glue.

That I believe is your answer. I had one ceramic break and filed down and replaced and had two metal bottoms taken off for extractions. I can say though that even the metals hurt when they were coming off so it isn't necessarily painless.

And the removal process is just one day versus wearing metal braces for years. I would certainly think about that. Unless your son doesn't care like most male teenagers.

[Snowglobe32]

I have seen (well, midway through) a patient getting their brackets removed during one of my visits but I couldn't figure out how they were getting them off.

Do they use anything to loosen up the bonding or do they just pull them off?

[chocomorsel]

They use force. Just pull them off. Some people on here say it doesn't hurt, but it hurt for me when they removed two metal ones. Maybe my teeth were still sensitive and by the end of treatment they won't be. Just wishful thinking though.

Gotta be on some pain meds and have some alcohol for my debanding date.

[Robot Teeth]

I believe there is a special plier-like device for removal that clamps down around the base of the bracket so as to place a certain directional leverage on the glue that should make it jump right off. They don't just grab them with pliers and pull them off.

And ceramic can shatter, while metal can't. So if the ceramic shatters and some is left on the tooth, they may or may not be able to use the tool again to snap the rest off. They might have to just file the rest down.

I'm still not sure exactly how strong my brackets are affixed, but I popped a (4th) bracket off using a flimsy plastic floss pick. So I doubt we're going to be facing a serious tug-of-war when we get our braces off.

[EmilyTravels]

I just got my braces this week, and I'm already worried about removal! Only because during the installation process, the ortho didn't like where one of the bottom brackets was placed, so the tech. had to take it off and place it again. When she tugged it off and filed away the glue, I thought it hurt! My teeth have always been on the sensitive side, but now I'm already nervous at the thought of having to have them all removed at once. The tops are ceramics, which can be even more worrisome, I now know.

Sure wish they'd just give IV sedation for removal day!

[djspeece]

With the proper tool, removal of ceramic braces is very fast, painless, and easy. The ortho has a special pliers that grasps them and they pop right off, no trauma at all. I was surprised. Then he spends most of the time using a small fine grinder to remove any remnants of glue -- that also is painless, but takes more time. Frankly by the time my debracing came around they could have hung me upside down by the ankles and lit a fire under me. Just wanted them off!
Don't sweat it. Getting them off is an anticlimax. Best of luck to you!

[djspeece]

I am hopefully nearing the last few months of wearing braces. I have ceramic braces upper and lower. I recently took my 15 year old son into a different ortho office - they are new and are having a sale - to see what the cost would be for him. The ortho mentioned to me at the end of my son's consult that she recommended metal brackets for him and one of the reasons was that removal is so much easier. She said that it takes her about 1 minute to remove metal brackets and about 1 hour to remove ceramic. Anyone have any insight on this? I was never told this when I had mine put on. I'm hoping that this isn't true...

I missed some of the detail in your post. There is a special tool that the ortho uses to remove ceramic braces -- sounds like your ortho does not have the correct tools -- and that would be very disturbing to me. My ortho went through and easily and painlessly removed my ceramics. If she resorts to brute force then you are indeed in for a rough ride. She can contact my ortho, Dr. Andrew Schwartz in Washington DC or Shady Grove MD (Capitol Orthodontics) if she needs guidance. Maybe she is cutting corners in order to minimize expense to her practice. Whatever, it would be unacceptable to me. Best of luck to you.

[FlyByNight]

I had 6 ceramics on the upper 6 front teeth and they were hell getting off. The metal ones came off so quickly with just a slight pull. No pain. The ceramics were stubborn and cracked apart. The front ones wouldn't come off and there was so much pressure. The ortho assistant ended up using 3 different methods.