How To Deal With Orthodontic Emergencies
Given that braces prices in Fort Worth have been going down through the years, it’s now more common than ever for adults and teens to wear braces. Thus, more people suffer from orthodontic emergencies that may occur during their treatment. Fortunately, although it might sound frightening orthodontic emergencies are nothing to be overly worried about and are mostly fixed with quick a visit to your orthodontist, or by some small tinkering that you can do at your own home.
What Is an Orthodontic Emergency?
An orthodontic emergency refers to any malfunction or breakage that may occur to your orthodontic appliance. If there is something broken, out of place, or loose when it shouldn’t be, it constitutes an orthodontic emergency. Serious pain and discomfort are also considered an emergency.
Orthodontic emergencies are situations that require a dental appointment much sooner than expected. If a patient doesn’t schedule an emergency appointment with their orthodontist, they can sometimes run the risk of backtracking their treatment’s progress.
A Bracket Breaks or Loosens Up
A bracket is the metal part of braces that attaches to both your tooth and the archwire, the metal wire that goes along your teeth. Throughout your time with Dental braces in Fort Worth, your brackets are the ones responsible for maintaining pressure on your teeth as the archwire pulls on them.
Your bracket may loosen up or break off completely. This can be a result of not following the diet that your orthodontist gave you at the beginning of your treatment, or it could be a result of head trauma while playing a sport or just an unfortunate accident in your daily activities.
A Poking Wire
During your orthodontic treatment, it is completely normal for your archwire to move a little out of place. This metal wire can end up causing pain and discomfort for the patient. Usually, your orthodontist will give you tools to help reduce any possible irritations.
Ligatures Breaking
There are two types of ligatures. The elastic-colored ones, and the metal wire version. They are what hold the archwire to the bracket, thus, they are under constant pressure. At some point in your time with braces, a ligature might loosen up or break completely. This specific situation is a more urgent matter than others given that one broken ligature often leads to others breaking soon after.
How to Handle an Orthodontic Emergency?
Here are some ways to handle different orthodontic emergencies. Remember that if you want to keep your Fort Worth teeth braces in their best condition, you must call your orthodontist as soon as you notice the problem.
A Bracket Breaks or Loosens Up
For loose brackets still attached to the metal wire, you can try applying dental wax on top of the tooth and the bracket itself to keep it in place instead of sliding around. If you think you can place your bracket back to its original position, do it with a pair of sterile tweezers.
Brackets that break and are completely separated from both your tooth and braces should be kept safe until your next visit to your orthodontist. Remember that regardless of it being a loose or broken bracket you must call your dentist to schedule an appointment as soon as possible.
A Poking Wire
If the archwire slides out of place and it’s causing pain and irritation, you can apply some dental wax at the pointy end of it. Another way of treating it is using a pair of sterile tweezers to bend the metal wire so that it’s flat against the tooth, preventing it from hurting your more sensitive areas. Additionally, you can also try to push the wire back into place with a Q-tip or the eraser end of a pencil.
For more bothersome cases where the pain and irritations persist, contact your Fort Worth orthodontist. They will either ask you to come to the office or give you more specialized advice. Depending on the situation you may end up cutting the extra bit of wire with a pair of clippers.
Ligatures Breaking
When a ligature breaks, there is not much a regular patient can do. Unless you have an extra pair of ligatures there is no way to reattach the bracket to the wire. In this scenario, it’s very important to contact your orthodontist as soon as possible as long periods of time without the necessary pressure from your braces can end up hurting your treatment’s progress.
Can I Have an Emergency With Invisalign?
Yes, there are orthodontic emergencies that can happen while using Invisalign. As with most orthodontic emergencies, the problems that may arise aren’t too severe or represent a danger to your general health. You may experience some issues while wearing Invisalign such as a broken tray, a broken attachment, your trays not fitting well, losing your trays, staining, and sharp edges.
Whichever the case may be, most of the time your best course of action is to call your orthodontist for them to either fix your tray or get you a new one as soon as possible. If your problem is sharp edges in your trays, you can try filing them down just a bit with a nail file.
Orthodontics Emergencies in Fort Worth
If you suffer from an orthodontic emergency in Fort Worth don’t take too long to contact your orthodontist at Perking Orthodontics, remember that the longer you go without fixing a broken bracket or ligature the more damage you can cause to your treatment progress.
