Some Braces Questions

[The3rdNipple]

The last time I went to the ortho was earlier this month and they told me that in the next appointment they're gonna make a sculpture for my retainer, so I'm fucking happy I get those off!

They gave me chains on the top as I expected, but they told me to continue wearing my rubber bands (here's a picture on how they want me to wear it, and no these are not my teeth http://www.get-it-straight.com/image...I-triangle.jpg)

These rubber bands pull my upper jaw back making it not feel good when I bite down, and leaving a lot of space between my upper and lower jaw, I don't think this is suppose to be right so I took them off for a couple of days and then it felt a lot better. Would anyone happen to know what this triangle form suppose to do? They're telling me that they want my teeth to be tight together when I bite down (showing very little to no space like this - http://z.about.com/d/dentistry/1/0/-/5/after8.jpg). And the rubber bands they told me to wear is pulling my upper back like I said making a lot of wide space.

My second question/concern is white marks that are on your teeth after you get your braces removed, I've seen many friends who have this and it doesn't look that good. I need a little more info about that to.

And my last question is your lips. Braces push your lips out making it look bigger and now I started to see 2 different colors on my lips, upper lip is like brownish and then a bit lower is pink. Your lips will return back to normal after you get them off right?

[TinTin92]

Just thought i'd answer your questions- I've had braces twice , this bein the 2nd time ...
But yeah once you get them off your lips will return to normal.. i.e colour and if they were bigger they'll go to normal size again. The white marks will go away in time , but i agree they dont look good. Just make sure you brush as much as poosible.
I have a question i was hoping you could answer- i got coloured bands put on my braces and i was wandering what they are for? are they just to add a bit off colour to your brace or do they have a real specifit need?

[The3rdNipple]

I'm not sure what you mean by color bands, elastics rubber bands or the ones that are on your brackets. Anyways, I'll try and answer both of them. Colored Elastics (rubber bands that help your jaw) I think have no effect, just different colors.

Bracket rubber bands (the ones that push down on the wire) I also don't think that it has any effects

[Zoso]

Whoaaaa! Hang on... Both rubber bands (the ones that go from bracket to bracket) and ligatures (the ones that go around an individal bracket) do have an effect. Depending on the configuration that is used, rubber bands can bring about various movements of the teeth, and even some extremely limited remodelling of the jaw joint with certain configurations. The ligatures help engage the archwire firmly into the slot in the bracket, and this helps the archwire to move the teeth. Sometimes a ligature will be placed in a figure-8 arrangement instead of jst like an o around the bracket, and that will hold the wire more firmly in the bracket slot, which transfers extra pressre to that tooth.

The rubber band configuration you have, 3rd, I think is meant to do two things - it will tend to bring your upper teeth back in relation to the lowers, and will also tend to some extent to close the two arches closer to one another since it has a vertical. Please don't jst stop wearing your elastics - if you are concerned they are perhaps not prodcing desirable movement, give your orthodontist a call and discuss that - if we do not wear our elastics as instructed we can risk making our treatment take longer.

As to white marks around the brackets, these are usually caused by decalcification of the teeth - some of the calcium is lost from the enamel leaving it weaker than normal and appearing white. This can be thought of as the start of a cavity, but at the earliest stages it can often be reversed by using good fluoride toothpastes and rinses - have a word with your dentist about getting a prescription-only paste that will have a higher concentration of fluoride than regular paste. If the decalcification is not too bad, it can sometimes go away with just use of good fluoride products, but often it will not. In this case, whitening might help, but might not - for some people it does tend to even up the tone, hiding the white spots, but for others it sometimes just makes the white spots brighter. Of course, it's better to avoid getting these white spot lesions in the first place, and this is really fairly easy, since it requires only good dental hygiene, and some extra attention when you have braces to cleaning around the brackets.