Dental braces, can anyone help with these questions?

[alaspoorderek]

Hi, DS 16yrs has had some prep treatment for a dental brace today. He has two milk teeth still in place and the adult teeth need to be encouraged to come down so tooth extraction and a brace is required.

The last 2 weeks he has some sort of elastic bands fitted between the back teeth to make a gap. Now today he has had some sort of metal fixation put in place. DH accompanied but some vital questions were not answered.

1. What is this metal thing called?
2. What does it does it do?
3. How long is it there for, is it part of the eventual brace?
4. What is the sharp bit that sticks out on one side (the metal wire runs across the roof of the mouth but a sharp looking piece sticks out on one side of said wire about half way between the centre of the mouth and the side of the mouth. It is really making his tongue sore and it's hard to eat.

Why the heck don't doctors write all this stuff down for you, with diagrams of what they're doing? It would be really helpful!! Many thanks for any help.

In terms of the sharp bits, was he given any wax? If not you can buy it in a chemist to cover any sharp bits and protect the mouth.

And reassure him he will get used to it quickly. My children have had s variety over braces and the first couple of days can be tough, but they quickly adapt.

Thanks Glittery, no (!) he was not given wax and it was not mentioned it, DH has read about it on the net this evening and you have now mentioned it.
Thanks for your reassurance. I don't think we would feel so het up about it if we knew what this sharp sticky out bit was for! You would think that the hosp would put something on the end to soften it, be it the wax or whatever, I see no need for it to look and be so darn uncomfortable!

You should be able to buy some tomorrow - blu tac might work temporarily ( similar texture).

My daughter has block braces which stop her closing her mouth. She couldn't eat for days but now doesn't even notice. Also offer him painkillers. The soreness can make them even more fed up.

thank you Glittery.

If you dont have any wax try the red outercasing of a baby bell cheese. This is wax and similar to the stuff they would give you only its red.

OP. It sounds like a quadhelix. The elastic bands were spacers to make room for the rings that go round the teeth. The sharp bit is probably an expander with a screw. It has a little key that gets turned every so often.
Don't worry it does get more comfortable and as others have said wax will help.

The sharp bit can be trimmed off if it continues to hurt. Just ring them,they usually fit you in on the day here.