Patients with fixed braces - Home advice
Wires digging in
- If a thin wire, it may be possible for you to use tweezers to replace wire in the tube/band or tweezers and a nail clipper/scissors to shorten the long end;
- It may be that a thin wire is the correct size but may have rotated round the teeth so that it is short on one side and long on the other. Using tweezers a pencil with a rubber on the end or a teaspoon, it may be possible to push the wire back round to prevent the long end digging in;
- If the wire is very thick and stiff (discuss with your dentist) it may not be possible to cut the wire with home instruments. If this is the case it may be necessary to cover the wire to prevent it being sharp. Relief wax/silicone can be purchased from pharmacies, Amazon and some supermarkets. If you are unable to purchase wax, try covering with hard cheese (baby-bell, cheddar), Blue tack or even chewing gum may help.
Broken bonded retainers
- Push wire back down towards the tooth as much as possible. (Fingers or tweezers) ? Cover with best medium available (Ortho wax, Cheese wax, Blu tack, chewing gum) ? Cut the exposed unbonded wire using tweezers and nail clippers/scissors;
- Gently pull the wire to remove the whole retainer;
- Wear clear retainers as much as possible.
Bracket off
This is not urgent unless it is causing trauma to the soft tissues;
- It may be possible for us to guide you on how to remove the bracket from the wire if it is causing trauma;
- It may be possible to leave the bracket if it is not causing any problems at present.
Elastic Bands
- At this time if you run out of elastics please stop wearing them until your next appointment.
Invisalign patients - Home advice
- If your current aligner is in good order keep wearing it as much as possible;
- If your current aligner is broken or ill fitting, step back to your previous aligner;
- If you have worn your last Invisalign aligner for the recommended duration, keep wearing that aligner at night time until you can move on to your next aligner or receive further instructions from our team.
