Trimmed braces wire

[JWoods38]

Ooookkk soooo I have to confess something. I asked my dad to trim the wire poking me in the side of my mouth with some metal wire cutters. I mean everything feels ok, and the dentist hasnt noticed it sooo i really dont have anything to worry about do I? I mean its kind of short on the top right side, i cant feel it at all, but it has to be in there, right? I mean where could it go if it was just trimmed. This wont disrupt the process will it?

[Zoso]

I'd not make a habit of it! Quite apart from anything else, as you progress to heavier wires, it will be harder to accomplish, and you'll run a greater risk of accidentally doing some harm as a result. But it's probably OK. The only reason I could see it being a problem (since obviously you did not hurt yourself) is if it was not so much that the wire was getting too long due to tooth movement as it was that the wire was travelling from one side to the other - with that going on, if you kept trimming, you might suddenly find yourself without enough wire to go to the end of your arch on the opposite side to the side where you trimmed!

[mikedatooth]

i have found that when i have issues like this.. i just pop into my orthodontist without an appointment and they fit me in pretty quickly...

you can always use a piece of wax if you need too.

[mariahfromchicago]

Like Zoso said, don't get used to doing that. When you move on to thicker wires, it is much much harder to do. You could call your ortho. Many do have emergency appointment slots to fit in patients that have problems like that. It doesn't hurt to tell your ortho that you did that.

[Zoso]

One other tip: if you're waiting a day or so before you can get in for that "comfort appointment" to trim a wire that's poking you, sugar-free gum can also be used to protect your mouth from the protruding wire end - the wire doesn't tend to poke through it quite so easily as it does through wax.

[HeadJam]

My dad trimmed my wire on more than 1 occasion. Damn first doc was a retard.

[metalmonkey]

Can someone tell me more about the heavy wires I shall be moving on to I had no idea and it sounds like this whole process is only going to get more painful

[Zoso]

As your teeth get straighter, so the orthodontist can use wires that are less flexible. Also, later in treatment, he will typically transition you from wires that have a round cross-section to wires that have a rectangualr cross-section - this allows him better control over the precise position of teh roots of your teeth.

The good news is that in fact it's quite common for later wire changes to be less painful than the first wire change, simply due to the mathemtaics of the forces the different wires apply. And in any case it shouldn't generally be anything that an over the counter pain reliever cannot handle.

Headjam - what a rude and thoroughly unnecessary and inappropriate comment. It's completely common for the wire to become too long as your teeth move - that's part of how it all works. And if it was that you left the surgery with a new wire that was too long and already poking into you, well that's your fault as much as the ortho's.

[mariahfromchicago]

metalmonkey - The heavier wires, I believe are for the detailing and bends and stuff like that? Yes, they do hurt when they change the wire to a thicker wire.