Ugh. . . rubber bands for my braces

[Kalvin00]

If your upper teeth are more forward than the lower teeth, they can put bands on the upper to bring them back, and move the bottoms forward, and vice versa. It's just a way to align the top & bottom teeth.

 

[EvilYoda]

yeah, bands suck, but they work relatively quick (and painfully...but you get used to it after a while), so hopefully you won't have to deal with it for long. Is it only one band? Cuz when it's bad, they'll give you a stronger one, or double up......<i>that's</i> when it really starts to suck.

 

[narzy]

tylonol aint gonna do sh!t, you have to continously wear them, if you don't, expect more pain every time you put them back on. one thing that helped me, was ice cream tho depending on the metal used for your brace arch wires that can be painful as well. your orthadontist should have given you pain management guidelines to help you deal with it. OTC pain killers work for a little wile but you end up needing more then you can take in a 24hr period. another reason I went to marshin time...

 

[NokiaDude]

Originally posted by: Kalvin00
If your upper teeth are more forward than the lower teeth, they can put bands on the upper to bring them back, and move the bottoms forward, and vice versa. It's just a way to align the top & bottom teeth.

For me it's to move my bottom front teeth about 1.5mm to the right. The asprin made the pain go away very fast but still I couldn't eat my salad without removing them about 5 mins before.

 

[MainFramed]

Originally posted by: Howard
WTF? Teach me!

using your pointy finger you can flick it off the bottom...sniping is the hard part....its like driving a fishing boat point to the left it shoots right, etc.

 

[HonkeyDonk]

ah the good ol days of braces...wait they weren't good.....they were horrible! haha

I had it pretty bad. In addition to the braces, i had to wear rubber bands all over as well, BUT, in addition to that, i had an "anti-bite" plane which basically was a retainer for my upper teeth. Wearing all of that at once I could barely talk let alone open my mouth and it was just so uncomfortable...glad that's all over with. Unfortunately I wasn't a good boy and never wore my retainer after my braces came off so now my bottom teeth are starting to be come crooked again.

 

[Alphazero]

Now I really appreciate the fact that I have decent teeth and never had to suffer braces and the like... It sounds awful, but people seem to get used to it after a while.

 

[Bulldozer]

I've got you all beat. I had braces for four years when in junior high/high school. At one point I was wearing a head brace at night to correct an underbite. I always had atleast one rubberband attaching my upper jaw to lower jaw. I had the RPE for a while. Had that thing cranked on once a day. I never did figure out why the doc cranked it six times right before removing it (ouch).

Had the braces removed and my teeth still weren't in great shape (I began to get sick of the whole thing and didn't wear the rubberbands regularly). A few years later the docs told me all of those efforts were wasted anyway as my teeth would have moved back no matter what.

Two years ago I decided to get fixed up right. I had the braces on for 18 months and had jaw surgery. My upper jaw was completely separated from my skull and then cut in the center so that it could be widened. It was then reattached to my skull with small wires. My lower jaw was cut in two places: on each side there was a vertical cut made just in front of the ear. This was done to correct the underbite and help teeth mate (before the surgery when I would close my jaw I could fit my tongue between my teeth. Yes this did make eating certain foods difficult). I stayed in the hospital overnight in the ICU. The most painful part was having the catheter removed. My mouth was literally wired shut for 6 weeks. After that I had to wear rubberbands which kept the jaws closed for another 4 weeks. Believe it or not there was very little pain in the whole ordeal. I did not eat at all through a straw, which I actually found quite diffiucult to do. I drank Ensure and Boost. $35k later I have a perfect bite. This wasn't done for cosmetic purposes BTW, most people can't tell that I had anything done. It has made eating much easier and more enjoyable.

 

[ThaGrandCow]

I had to wear them back in the day. Do you have to wear them 24/7?

Eventually the pain just went away when my teeth got used to them and started going where they needed to go.

 

[SWScorch]

I'm starting to think I may need surgery too. My lower jaw is shiufted left, and all the braces do is make my jaw dislocate. For anyone whose never had that happen, imagine this: you are eating a nice tasty turkey sandwich. As you open your mouth wide to take a bite, you hear a pop, and feel your jaw move sideways. Suddenly you can't close your mouth, or move it at all. It takes several painful minutes of massaging your jaw with your hands before you are able to close your mouth, and then wheehoo! its the cycle all over again the next time you open your mouth. It sucks.

 

[Bulldozer]

SWScorch, you may want to go see an oral surgeon. Lock jaw doesn't sound like fun.

http://www.dental--health.com/lockjaw4.html

They can do some TMJ operations from inside the mouth, leaving no external scars.

 

[Pilsnerpete]

ow dude. You learned the first word, now work on the next. my jaw pops a little sometimes, but not like that!

"Whatsoever bestoweth not death, maketh thee exceedingly and abundantly strong, and able to overcome."

That goes for the bands too! I had a prescription to wear 1 rubberband on each side all day, but I hated constantly extracting and replacing them so I did 2 at night. That guy was nuts. How am I gonna wear rubberbands all day?

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[chiwawa626]

Man i get my braces off on may 17th hopefully....bah i havent been wearing rubberbands but my orthodontist didnt say anything so oh well..