Emergency Care
For Children and Adults | Life with Braces | Ortho FAQs | Emergency Care | Patient Care Videos
True orthodontic emergencies are very rare, but when they do occur we are available to you. As a general rule, you should call the office when you experience pain or when you have a painful appliance problem that you can't take care of yourself. We’ll be happy to schedule an appointment to resolve the problem and alleviate your discomfort.
You might be surprised to learn that you may be able to temporarily solve many problems yourself until you schedule an appointment with our office. When working with your braces or appliances, it's helpful for you to know the names of the parts of your appliances( e.g. wires, bands, brackets) so you are able to identify what part is broken or out of place. After alleviating your discomfort, you may call our office to see if it is necessary to schedule a special appointment to repair the problem or if you can just keep your regularly scheduled appointment for the repair. Allowing your appliance to remain damaged for an extended period of time may result in disruptions in your treatment plan.
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General Soreness
When you get your braces on, you may feel general soreness in your mouth and teeth may be tender to biting pressures for three to five days. This can be relieved by taking Tylenol or ibuprofen for analgesia and reduce the inflammation. Follow the dose instructions on the manufacturers label. If for a child, follow the instructions normally given by your pediatrician.
The lips, cheeks and tongue may also become irritated for one to two weeks as they toughen and become accustomed to the surface of the braces. You can put wax on the braces to lessen this. We'll show you how!
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Loose Bracket
If your bracket or band is still attached to the wire, you should leave it in place and put wax on it. If the wire comes out entirely, wrap the bracket with a tissue.
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Loose Expander
Call our office so that we can best help you resolve the problem. If we are not in our office, you can listen to the instructions on our answering machine and then page Dr. Phucas.
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Loose Wire
Don't be alarmed if a wire or band comes loose. This happens occasionally. Insert or remove the irritating wire segment by cutting it with wire cutters at home.
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Poking Wire
Using a pencil eraser, push the poking wire down or place wax on it to alleviate the discomfort.
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