Sunday, August 19, 2007

Discolored Teeth?

I'm getting the braces off in about a month's time. Hooray!

But now I have a new concern. What if, after the brackets come off, it turns out they've left white spots on my teeth, while the areas around the brackets are stained? Am I making any sense? I'm just worried that my teeth would look discolored to the point where you can see where the brackets have been. Has anyone encountered this problem?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

i've seen it happen to some people, and usually it's the other way around for some reason. but if you've done good brushing, don't smoke, and don't overdose on coffee, i'm sure it'll be perfectly fine. =)

i just had lower jaw surgery last wednesday! I refer back to your blog all the time - i love the pictures. it's great!

Maggie said...

Thanks for your response, Carol!

Wow, lower jaw surgery just last week? How are you feeling?? Are you happy with the results? Are you hungry all the time? :)

Anonymous said...

=D! actually, it's only been a week and i'm hardly swollen at all! since the beginning, all the doctors said usually patients swell up a lot more than i had... i guess i'm just really lucky :D

My jaw is wired shut for 6 weeks, but i'm actually doing pretty good.. i just play with the blender and drink milkshakes like every other hour. i wouldn't mind a cheeseburger though, it's killin me. talking is also a pain :/

Bill said...

Kristen, I asked my Ortho and dental hygienist this question last week and they both said not to worry.

From what I understand, I'll be given upper and lower clear plastic mouth guards to use while the retainers are being made. These mouth guards can pull double duty as bleaching trays. The Ortho will do a light buffing/sanding to get all the glue off the teeth and the dental hygienist will be doing her thing as well. So, with all the buffing, sanding, cleaning, and brightening I'm told there's nothing to worry about.

Sure hope they're right!

Bill said...

Carol,

Congrats on your successful surgery. I had lower jaw surgery (twice!) back in March/April of this year and have been blogging about it at: http://semper-braces.blogspot.com/ .

I wasn't wired shut - I had heavy elastic bands - but I know what you're going through. I found that *eating* every three to four hours was best for me and I was never hungry.

My biggest problems were sleeping and breathing. Took me a LONG time to get used to sleeping on my back in an elevated position and learning to *not* try to breath through my mouth at night with the elastic bands in place.

Melissa M. said...

gosh, i can't believe it's already time for you to have your braces taken off..it seems like you just had surgery! you look great, by the way!

Anonymous said...

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