On keeping Ceramics clean and more

[Guest guest]

As someone who wore braces from the time I was 7 years old to 17 and

then again most recently now at age 27 I take the liberty of being

somewhat of an authority on braces. I've worn both metal and

ceramics - twice metal and twice ceramics to be precise. First of

all, at least in my case, it was explained to me that the ceramics

are glued onto your teeth with a different glue than that used for

metallic brackets. In fact, the glue tends to STICK more to your

teeth which makes removing ceramics harder at the end of treatments.

Again, I repeat this was in my case and perhaps not in other people's

cases.

Second, on keeping ceramics clean and preventing your mouth from

looking like a bunch of 'cruddy' teeth. You can floss, brush all you

want but the only way you are going to keep your ceramics from

turning yellow is from eliminating all forms of caffeine from your

diet, so tea, coffee and coke are out, avoiding curries, spinach,

cigarette smoking. You get the gist. I gave all of these up when i

put my ceramics on for the second time and I am happy to say that

they are still perfectly white 5 months down the line and from far

away you cannot tell that i have braces, including in photos that are

not taken upclose. In fact, my dentist recently told me that she was

impressed by how white I had been able to keep them. Having braces

may not be a big deal for some people but for me personally it sucks.

I went through all my teenage years wearing them and believe me, i

was pissed when i found out that i would have to have them again for

surgery (i was angry of course also about the surgery). Being able to

wear the ceramics and therefore in my mind stick out a little less

makes me feel better and I therefore understand Connie's concern.

Especially if after surgery you're going to have to be wearing braces

for a while longer to get all your teeth straight. For me this was an

important issue because I work in a business where appearance is

unfortunately important because I have to represent people and speak

on their behalf and let's face it, while braces may be cute not

everyone wants someone talking with braces representing them. Ok, so

maybe this is discrimination but what can one do.

Ok, enough spouting on my part. I just wanted to let Connie know that

I totally understand your insistence on getting ceramics and here's

to hoping that you won't turn too black and blue after surgery!

Sara

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