Re: sugical wires/clear braces- To

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I have ceramic brackets on my teeth upper and lower, except for

silver in the back. I had my surgery March 9th without incident. I

had never even heard of any such problems. I never signed any waiver

or anything. It may just be how the surgeon works too, or for the

specific case. My OS was pretty explicit about everything to expect

and the risks involved, so I don't think it was an oversight. Since

getting my braces on, now it's been exactly a year, and I've never

had even one bracket fall off, break, become loose, or anything. I

have followed my ortho's eating recommendations though. Maybe that

makes a difference?? I had silver in high school and have not noticed

any significant difference (in comfort for example), Except that for

the sake of appearance, I definitely prefer the ceramic. I am 26 and

I felt a little self-conscious about the idea of silver on my teeth

again since I am a tad older than the typical age for braces and my

job involves dealing with the public a lot and in person. Anyway, I

don't know anything about the surgical wires. Before my surgery, I

had very heavy wire on my teeth for quite a while just to get my

dental arches to conform to the arch of the heavy wire and for the

teeth to level out and everything. My wire was never described to me

as a " surgical wire " though. I do know that my orthodontist typically

uses heavier wire in his treatments and I see him every 5-6 weeks

because of that instead of more frequently. My wire was not changed

for the surgery. It is heavy duty and I felt that when if was first

put in definitely! I got surgical hooks put on the day before my

surgery on purpose. My ortho recommended it because they are totally

a nuisance and my OS didn't object or make a recommendation that they

be put on earlier than that. My hooks were attached to the wire like

little metal posts. I can't wait to get them back off!!! I think

this is an area where a lot differs between the orthodontists and

surgeons and their approaches to the surgery and treatment. I would

consider what your surgeon and ortho say/recommend because they know

their work and would make recommendations based on that. By the way,

I did pay extra for the ceramic, so I can't imagine having paid more

and then having the ortho recommend changing to metal. What would be

the point of paying the extra in the first place if you end up in

metal most of the time anyway??? Sounds like a nuisance to keep

having the braces removed and reapplied!!! Good luck!!! Katja

>

> Hi again. I have a question regarding surgical wires and clear

> braces. How many of you have done the surgery with ceramic (clear)

> braces on? I only have them on my top 8 teeth. When i first got

them

> on my ortho mentioned changing them to silver for the surgery

because

> they are safer. I think i am getting surgical wires on next week.

Can

> they attach surgical wires to clear braces? Is this when he would

> change my brackets if he still is going to change them. It seems

like

> a waste for me and I really dont want them changed this early (my

> surgery will be in june/july) because of dance performances coming

> up. He said he changes them out incase one pops off and falls into

my

> lung he can find it. Do you think i could tell him i just want to

keep

> these on and take the very slight chance of that happening? None

of

> my brackets have popped off yet either. And also...what exactly

are

> surgical wires??? Thanks! ~