Emergency Care

True orthodontic emergencies are rare, but when they occur we are available to you. As a general rule, you should call the office when you experience severe pain or have a painful appliance problem you can't take care of yourself. We'll be able to schedule an appointment to resolve the problem.

You might be surprised to learn that you may be able to solve many problems yourself temporarily until you can get to our office. When working with your appliances, you need to know the names of their parts so you are able to identify which one is broken or out of place. After alleviating your discomfort, it is very important that you still call our office as soon as possible to schedule a time to repair the problem. Allowing your appliance to remain damaged for an extended period of time may result in disruptions in your treatment plan and lengthen treatment time.

General Soreness

When you get your braces on, you may feel general soreness in your mouth, and teeth may be tender to biting pressures for three to five days. This can be relieved by rinsing your mouth with a warm salt-water mouthwash. Dissolve one teaspoonful of salt in eight ounces of warm water, and rinse your mouth vigorously. Placing Orabase or Brace Relief on the affected area may help; this can be found in a pharmacy and from our office respectively. If the tenderness is severe, take aspirin or whatever you normally take for headache or similar pain.

The lips, cheeks, and tongue may also become irritated for one to two weeks as they toughen and become accustomed to the surface of the braces. You can put wax or Gishy Goo on the braces to lessen this. We'll show you how!

Headgear

Sometimes headgear discomfort is caused by not wearing the headgear as instructed by your orthodontist. If the facebow is bent, please call our office for assistance. The headgear may hurt less the more it's worn, so be sure you get in the prescribed hours.

Loose Appliance

If any part of your appliance is poking you, place wax or Gishy Goo on the offending part.

Loose Bracket

If you notice that one of your brackets or bands has become loose and is still attached to the wire, you should leave it in place and put wax on it to provide stability. If the wire comes out entirely, wrap the bracket with a tissue.

Loose Wire

Using a pair of tweezers, try to put your wire back into place and add wax for stability. If doing this and using wax doesn't help, as a last resort use a small fingernail clipper to clip the wire behind the last tooth to which it is securely fastened. If your discomfort continues, place wax on it.

Poking Wire

Using a pencil eraser, push the poking wire down or into its original position until it is no longer irritating the surrounding tissue. Place wax or Gishy Goo on it to alleviate the discomfort.