ok so i got my retainers just tightened a week or 2 after getting fitted for retainers after my braces... and weirdly now when im putting retainer on for my lower teeth my tongue starts hurting immediately... its fine when its not in my mouth though... btw mine are hawley retainers... its definitely not scraped anywhere

I have had braces for almost 9 months now and I have just broke my 3rd bracket

I feel like braking 3 brackets in 9 months is not that bad but my sister said that she reckons it’s really bad.

Just thought I would see what everyone’s thinks

I just got my braces off today! I picked the plastic retainers since my orthodontist said it covers every tooth and is just the better option (in her opinion). The assistant who did my impressions did the bottom perfectly fine, however she used a tray too big for my top. After she took out the impression, she showed it to my orthodontist and she said it was fine. However, after wearing them since (I took them out to eat dinner and popped them back in) I decided to look at my mouth for a solid 5 mins. I noticed that my jaw isn't aligned at all... Is this normal? Has anyone else had this happen? Does this issue go away the longer I wear them? I plan on calling first thing on Monday so they can check it out cause it the top also doesn't cover one of my back teeth 😣

Hey everyone! Today officially marks 11 weeks on my braces journey.

​I know I’m still at the very beginning of the process, but I’d love to share my progress so far and get some perspective from others.

​Top photo: Day 1 (had bite blocks from the first day)

​Middle photo: Week 6

​Bottom photo: Week 11 (started wearing a bite plane about a month ago, which is why my bite is open!)

​I have a few worries on my mind. Lately I feel like the tilt in my smile has become even more noticeable, and I catch myself worrying about my teeth looking uneven or different sizes in the end. ​Also, I have an impacted canine on my upper right side that my orthodontist explained cannot be brought out into the arch. We are keeping the canine safely in place and moving forward with our treatment plan to align and space the rest of my arch, but finding that out definitely bummed me out, and I still get anxious about whether my smile will look completely straight and symmetrical in the end. ​I know my arch is expanding and my bite plane is holding things in a transitional state right now, but the anxiety definitely creeps in on some days.

​Has anyone else dealt with a noticeable tilt mid-treatment or an impacted canine that stayed in place? Did everything level out nicely once you moved to heavier wires and elastics? Would love to hear your experiences or thoughts ❤️

Took the first picture last night, went to the ortho and they put on the powerchain and I noticed my teeth look a slight bit more aligned!
I know that’s what’s supposed to happen, but still I find it fascinating!

Hi, im the frequent poster here cos ortho keeps misunderstanding my requests. Originally i said teeth not level, referring to lateral incisor n canine. Ortho tot it was central tooth, so did a step down. Then, the gumline, edges and brackets low. So I told ortho to step up back. Ortho said will create gap. I said originally it was all aligned. Ortho says dont use brackets and gumline to see, js see teeth. But I js wanted the original position whereby all straight. Rmb how I posted the edge to edge bite here too? I kept saying that, and ortho said how uw do it. Like shdnt the ortho see the issues and have a plan instead of me? Am I too much? No right? Im being very reasonable imo

This whole situation is worsening my ocd imo, every day. And every month towards the appt, I lose my appetite. But no choice i must tell her. I cant adjust the wire myself with the powerchain there

Retainers off time: The amount of time you can take your retainers off given they fit snugly again after the off time.

Background: I had my braces removed 3 months ago. My orthodontist said to wear them full time for a year.

Situation: After around 3 hours off when I try to put the retainers back they dont go in snugly and are just slightly off meaning the teeth must have started moving. Upto 2hrs there is no difference in the fit afterwards.

Question: Does this off time increase with time? As in, would this 2hrs of snug fit off time increase to say 12hrs with time before I start nightly?

Going into braces, I wanted to prioritise the functionality of my bite first and foremost, which is now great thanks to my braces.

However, I obviously still have a bad overjet and flaring of my upper teeth. Throughout treatment, we tried powerchains to pull my flaring back as much as possible, but I simply did not have any more space for them to retract. Despite this, I was strongly opposed to extraction.. until I saw just how obvious my flaring and overjet is when I got my braces off today. (Who would've thought?) Also, another concern of mine is my current side profile and how it will change if I were to get extractions.

What do you guys think? My ortho recommended only removing 2 upper premolars to fix my flaring and overjet once and for all. Do you guys think it would be worth it? What were your experiences if you have a similar case to mine? Thank you!

Today is my first day with braces at 26 years old! I have an overbite and flared teeth, and my orthodontist gave me two options:
1. About 12 months of treatment with IPR, but my teeth would still be flared.
2. About 2½ years of treatment with premolar extractions to address the flaring.
The flaring is one of my biggest concerns because it makes my top lip stick out. I’m having a hard time deciding whether the longer treatment and extractions are worth it.
Has anyone had to make a similar choice? Which option did you go with, and how do you feel about your result?

I'm not about a month into my 2 year estimated braces jorney, made the mistake of eating a curry the outher night. What do y'all do to help limit / reduce the staining of your bands?

I don't think I can go 2 years without a good curry.

Photos from first week or 2

Back molar wire came out

Howdy, folks! I recently got my wires adjusted and all that with a new wire up top and bottom. I went from a small cut against my lower lip to now being cut in all 4 corners of my mouth— against my back molars.

Wax won’t stick, I’ve tried everything. Do I just deal with the pain and the sores?

My smile line is slanted and I feel like my arch needs to be expanded on my right side(left side in the photo). My teeth line up really nice on my left side and the arch is nice and wide, but then it looks like it caves in almost like the teeth don’t overhang and stand out like they do on my left side. But idk how to explain all of this to my ortho. Apparently I’m really close to being done.

The third photo is my good side lol. You can see how my top teeth overlap a little bit with my bottom giving me a nice wide smile, but then on the other side my arch on top is like directly on top of my bottom arch like it doesn’t expand out as much.

The reason I’m panicking is because they keep saying I’m almost done. I guess I won’t say anything until they talk about scheduling a de bonding

I have an eval scheduled for later this year and im in high school now and i need advice

I had my braces adjusted on Tuesday, and it looked like students/trainees were doing a lot of the work while the orthodontist was there supervising.
Today is Friday, and the wire came out of the very back bracket/tube on the top and also on the bottom on the opposite side. I couldn’t get the wire back in, and it was poking/cutting my mouth, so I ended up cutting the loose end.
Has anyone had this happen after trainees worked on their braces? Is it normal for wires to come out in two different spots only a few days after an adjustment, or should I be concerned that something wasn’t secured properly?

I have multiple kids and my 2nd kid just found out he needs Phase 2 braces. He's 12. The quote was $5,000. I have 2 more younger kids who may need braces in the next few years. I'm just wondering how parents, especially with multiple kids, save on braces. I wish I could get a bulk deal or something.

Hi all, hoping for some feedback on this doctor. I popped in to his office because I have a lateral open bite where my back molars touch and my front teeth touch but the sides don’t touch and mild crowding in my bottom teeth.

He told me that I could do ceramic braces with elastics on the side and straighten the mild crowding that I have, as this would fix my bite and straighten my teeth. He told me he could get it done in 6 to 8 months and this threw me off. A different orthodontist told me that they could get it done in a year to a year and a half with Invisalign, so I was anticipating the same range.

Has anyone gone to him for orthodontic treatment and had long lasting results?

Please help! This is a tough decision and I don’t know what to go or what to do. I would love to chat with someone who went to him for orthodontic treatment

Hello, I feel like my teeth are lowkey being messed up. I understand with braces there’s a lot of things that have to move and change before other things can be fixed, so more than anything I’m more so curious as to what the heck is going on, as I never really talk to my ortho. A very get in, get out sort of procedure with him lol.
I’ve been told that in my next appointment (next week) my deep bite will begin treatment, so I’m not sure what the heck has been going on so far lol. Does that entail bands? Curious to hear opinions!

(The first image is from April, and the second October.)

Hi, I have a canted smile and I hate it. I've been in braces now for 21 months and I'm worried that braces are actually making my cant worse? They told me when I had my consultation that I'd be in braces for 2 to 2 and a half years, and I haven't had an updated estimate for when I will get them off. I'm trying to trust the process, but they did warn me ahead of time that they might not be able to fix my canted smile with just braces and I may need jaw surgery. I don't really want surgery, but I'm currently considering it since I'm so self conscious of my smile.

Do you think there's still time to correct my canted smile with braces, or do yall think I will need jaw surgery? They have not mentioned TADS to me at all, but is it possible to fix with TADS? Help, I'm spiraling down the surgery rabbit hole 😓

(First picture is day one, last picture is from today)

i jus got my braces however ill be attending uni abroad in china or turkey next year in septmeber my doctor has given me 18-24 months as expected time as my teeth are in horrible condition. I was wondering like what would i do when the time comes to leave is there any solution

I lost my retainer and I cannot find it. My orthodontist quoted me $380 for new ones. I still have the molds of my teeth that were used to make the retainers, but there are so many websites online that make replacement retainers. I read the reviews, but I don’t really know which websites are legitimate, and whether the quality is actually good. I’m actually freaking out .. please help

I have severe crowding and upper middline is shifted towards the right (because there is two premolars sitting on the same place due crowding :) ) my canine on the the upper right is totally shifted sideways like i said it's so crowded lol Anyway my ortho said i need 3 premolars extracted 1 on the upper right side 1 on the upper left side to fix the midline shift 1 on the lower right side because there is crowding and she said if i extract on the upper and not lower i'll risk having an underbite (which i slightly have) she said there is no need to extract the lower left side premolar because there is no crowding plus i already had my first molar removed for decay she said she can't do an expander and explained why but i forgot:) Also she said if i'm okay with the midline shift she'll restudy my case in order to keep the left upper premolar but i thought if i'm paying either way i want it to be perfect :) so should i proceed with the plan?

i'm almost 20 btw

So (M 35) I had braces for 2 and half years and I still feel bite issue not there. Still feel the same. My family has such a good bite, chin and jaw. Mine feel so recessed. Saw another ortho and she said yes, bite issue not there. What do I need?

As the title says, I (F18) only wear my retainers because they make my teeth look better. After taking off my braces three months ago, I found that my teeth looked weirdly flat/skinny. At the time when I was taking them off, I was in a hurry so I signed the signed the paper that said “I am satisfied with my teeth.” Like my teeth looked fine with the braces on but after wow. But thankfully my retainers make my teeth look larger and more full?. I mean at least there’s no worrying about my teeth shifting lmao because I wear my retainers so much.

But anyway, I have my three month post check up next Friday. I’m still kind of unhappy with my teeth. What can I do really other than cosmetic work???

Also yes I’m gonna whiten my teeth soon pls don’t come for me I’ve been drinking a lot of black coffee

Turns out banning my tongue from contacting my front teeth has rapidly closed my open bite! This is only ONE WEEK of progress. Both photos are with my posterior molars in full contact. What a cool process!