Braces on Monday, Broke off a Bracket Thursday

[captmiddy]

I must be unlucky, just had my braces put on, and broke off my rear bracket on my upper left side this morning! I haven't even had a chance to do the intro and already I have had trouble with them. My orthodontist is great in that he will get me in today to get back on but if this means I can only eat apple sauce for a year this will be torture .

I broke it off eating lightly toasted bread which I figured was pretty safe, maybe it was a bit too chewy but my wife is in shock as well over it and she had braces on for 6.5 years and didn't think what I ate should have this affect. First day I could actually bite something a little with my front teeth and this is what I get. Oh well, hello everyone

[Stephanie]

It is possible that particular bracket did not bond well.. as that has happened to me a couple times in the same spot.

You can eat a lot more than you think after the braces settle in... but the first few weeks you should go easy on them..

Good luck and I'm sure you will love the results!

[cellardoor]

for the first couple of week i had my braces on, i was constantly having problems. wires kept popping out, a bracket came off. the end of wires kept poking me. i had to make 3 emergency trips to the ortho in 1 week! but after that, things calmed down and i haven't had any problems since (i hope i didn't just jynx it).

i think it just takes a little time for your teeth to get adjusted.

[Sunny]

Welcome and please don't be concerned that a bracket popped off, this is totally acceptable and there's many reasons why this may have happened, and most of them are not related to your eating.

Where I work, we ask patients not to eat hard or chewy food for four hours, then to return to eating their usual food as quickly as possible. The sooner you're back to chewing and feeling good about your food, the easier it is to adjust to having braces.

Good luck getting the bracket replaced and you getting used to your treatment.

[captmiddy]

New bracket on, all is well again. The assistant that put the bracket back on told me it should fine as long as I don't eat any rocks . It was sort of funny, the ortho was out working with another person when he turned around and saw me in a seat and asked what I was doing back (by name which impressed me but mostly because I can't keep names straight), then he told the assistant to just put a bracket on then he came and checked up on stuff. So far everything is good with the orthodontist, now if I can keep this whole braces thing moving forward I will be happy.

I get two teeth pulled in a 2 weeks so I guess the worst part is still to come.

[Sunny]

Great the bracket is sorted!

Hopefully having two teeth pulled will go well for you. Most important is to follow the instructions given to you. These should will include to keep your mouth warm and away from cold winds or the like. Leave your mouth to settle for 24 hours, so the blood clots form well, then make warm salt rinses and gently move them around your mouth. Let the warm salt water drain from you mouth, as spitting isn't good for a couple of days. This will aid the healing process and soothe any discomfort.

Good luck!

[cellardoor]

Great the bracket is sorted!

Let the warm salt water drain from you mouth, as spitting isn't good for a couple of days. This will aid the healing process and soothe any discomfort.

Good luck!

it's also fun because it makes you look like a zombie! lol.

[Sunny]

My son has a death metal band called the 'Zombie Flesh Eaters', and I wouldn't wish that look on anyone!

[captmiddy]

I actually had my wisdom teeth pulled several years ago, what a nightmare, got a fever, was on antibiotics felt dead for two days, ate just applesauce then too . Today my teeth are feeling mostly normal so regular food has been good today. When my teeth were pulled before they gave me some wonderful stuff while they were doing the pulling, so I remember nothing happening. Apparently I am good at finding home when totally doped out because my wife had me give her directions home. Here is hoping I can quickly forget these teeth coming out as well.

[Sunny]

You poor thing, that sounds like a miserable experience. Maybe you had a some dry socket, although usually that lasts a lot longer than two days.

What's really important is to make sure the blood clots stay over the holes where the teeth are pulled, and fall away naturally by themselves. Talk to your dentist about how to best care for you mouth after the extractions and hopefully this time you'll be like the majority and have little to no side affects.

[coconut]

I recall my ortho issuing explicit instructions to avoid certain foods for the duration of treatment. These included things like nuts, popcorn, biting into celery, apples and carrots, and so on.

[Sunny]

It's important to be careful when eating hard and chewy foods. Just as it's important to be careful when eating foods high in sugar ... and this applies whether you have orthodontic appliances or not. With our younger patients we often recommend they avoid hard, chewy and sugary foods, but with our adults patients, it's about using commonsense.

Popcorn is a difficult one, due to two issues, one the corns that don't pop and are therefore hard and often take the person eating it by surprise. Many people break teeth and fillings this way, so I'm sure they could damage the archwires and brackets. Even more worrying is the husks that are left with the popcorn. They are thin and can work there way under the gums, causing problems. Again ... it's about being careful and using commonsense.

[captmiddy]

I am going to try something called Hulless popcorn, it isn't really without the hulls but they have thin membranes which make them break into tiny pieces more readily than regular popping corn. This is because substituting generally healthy popcorn for other snake foods just isn't a good idea in my opinion, and if I can find a way to have it without affecting my orthodontics then great. If not then I guess I will have to suffer for a year and a half, but I won't be a happy camper.

[braceyourself]

When I was a kid, I always had brackets popping off with no rhyme or reason (which probably increased my treatment time!). I'm now wearing braces again on my top teeth only to close in some gaps when my teeth shifted (WEAR YOUR RETAINERS!). I just got them on yesterday and hope I don't have the bracket popping problems again On a positive note, it was sooo much easier to have the brackets put in than I recall 15 years ago.

[Sunny]

Great you've found the first couple of days are good braceyourself!

Here's to your treatment going well!