Clear Brackets With Colored Ligatures??

[Blondii428]

Sorry for the second post, I'm just so frustrated and confused! I'm getting clear braces put on this week and since I've heard nothing but bad things about the clear ligatures/O-rings I feel like I should get colored ones. However, I cannot find ONE picture of someone with clear brackets and colored ligatures! They all have clear! Does anyone have one or know of where to go to see a picure? I'm just really concerned it won't look right. My top choices are light pink or silver, are either of these bad choices? Thanks for the help!

[Sunny]

Blondii check out my blog and you'll find that I've nearly always had coloured ligs. To get their you can click on the address in my signature, plus here's my 2 1/2 year front profile collage.

If you eat and drink a lot of staining foods, I'd recommend you ask about wire ties, or dark coloured ligs. If you don't eat and drink much in the way of staining foods, then you'll probably be fine with lighter colours.

Another question for the ortho you choose is, can I have my ligs changed between appointments if they become stained? We offer this service to our patients. Not many bother, but a few adults who have a special function to go to, will get fresh ligs before they go, and high school kids often get new clear ligs before school photos and formals.

Keep researching!

[Zoso]

Sunny did forget to mention though that some orthodontists will not place wire ties just to avoid stained elastomerics - they save them for those situations where they are needed for clinical reasons. So don't be disappointed if your orthodontists refuses that suggestion.

Silver, by the way, resist stains very well, and yet if you are looking for a choice that does not really show up all that much, they are a good choice. You don't need to go for vibrant colours just to avoid staining.

[Sunny]

There are several ways of tiring wire ties, and the main differences relate to whether the wire tie is being used to hold the archwire (in the same way as a ligature used round all the points of a bracket), or instead being used to put pressure on the archwire in a particular way. I've recently met ortho's who use only wire ties. This does appear to be mostly about personal preference, and something you need to discuss with your ortho Blondii.

As I wrote in a previous post, silver is a good colour, unless you frequently eat yellow staining foods, as then they don't take long to turn silver a strange fluro green/yellow.

[zeocin]

Tons and tons of pictures in this thread:
Metal Mouth Message Board :: View topic - Lig colours (colors)

[Zoso]

You can say whatever you want, Sunny. But the fact remains that some orthodontists will only use wire ties where they are needed clinically. This may not be true for some docs, but then again, I never tried to claim that was the case - I'm not given to fabricating stories, or presenting something as fact that I do not know to be so.

And my personal experience is that silver ties do prefectly fine and totally resist staining even with frequent consumption of the most staining foods.

[Blondii428]

Sunny, I your 15 month is exactly what I had in mind but it looks different than your 6 week ligatures. The 6 week looks purple and the 15 month are more of a light pink. I was wondering if this was just lighting?

[Sunny]

Blondii I think it's a combination of fading and the lighting, as the top are purple ... it's a 'pink purple' shade, as compared to my preferred shade, which is grape and can be seen as a powerchain on my lowers from months 16-25. The lowers in the 15 months pic have a horribly stained silver powerchain, that was a couple of months old ... very grimy looking.

I think pink looks great with ceramic brackets and if that's a colour you like, then give it a try. I eat and drink too many staining foods, so the light and soft colours stain too quickly on my brackets. I'm sure you'll find that the changes in ligs, is mostly something we (as wearers) notice, but I think wearing coloured ligs can be fun.

[Zoso]

Do get whatever colour you prefer, but I definitely agree that you should be aware that paler shades, such as pink, will tend to be almost as susceptible to staining as clear. Silver/gray does seem to be the oddball, defeating daily curries, but being pale enough to be barely visible.

[coolestSamantha]

Almost all my friends who have clear brakets that are my friends wear colors on them. Sadly for me though I have Damon system brakets which means no color... but somehow they say this process will be faster because of it