Although a true orthodontic emergency is a rare occurrence, King Orthodontics is available to you if it happens. If you’re experiencing severe pain or your appliance has become painful, please call our Wexford or Bridgeville office. We’ll schedule an appointment and resolve your issue.

There are some things that you can do to temporarily solve many orthodontic issues yourself. You’ll need to know what the parts of your appliances are called so that you can find and identify the part that’s damaged or out of place. If you’re able to temporarily fix your appliance, still give us a call right away so that we can permanent solve the problem. If your appliance remains damaged, you may find that your treatment plan will be interrupted.

General Soreness

When your braces are first placed in your mouth, you may feel soreness, and your teeth may be tender to biting pressure for about three to five days. Rinse your mouth with a warm saltwater mouthwash to relieve the pain. To create this mouthwash, dissolve one teaspoonful of salt in eight ounces of warm water, and rinse your mouth vigorously with the solution. Orabase, a paste that can help with pain, can be placed on the affected area. If the tenderness is severe, take ibuprofen, aspirin or other regular pain medication.

The lips, cheeks and tongue may also get irritated for several weeks as they start to toughen and become accustomed to the surface of the braces. The solution? Putting wax on your braces. We can show you how.

Headgear

Sometimes, you’ll feel discomfort wearing headgear if it’s not on properly. You should carefully follow the instructions provided by your orthodontist to see if it’s not placed correctly. If the facebow is bent, please call our office so that we can help. The headgear, surprisingly, may hurt less and less the more that it’s worn, so be sure that it’s on for the prescribed number of hours.

Loose Appliance

Place wax on the loose part of your appliance if it’s poking your mouth, cheek or gums.

Loose Bracket

Check to see if the loose bracket or band is still attached to the wire. If it is, leave it in place and put some wax on it. If it’s not and the wire comes out entirely, be sure to wrap the bracket with a tissue.

Loose Wire

You can fix a loose wire by using tweezers to try to put your wire back into place. If using tweezers and wax doesn’t help, you can (as a last resort) use a small fingernail clipper to clip the wire behind the last tooth to which it’s securely fastened. Then, place wax on it.

Poking Wire

Push the poking wire down or place wax on it using a pencil eraser. That should help to alleviate your discomfort.

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