ORTHODONTICS EMERGENCIES AND FAQ’S

Loose Teeth
If your teeth begin feeling a little loose, don’t worry; this is normal! Your braces must first loosen your teeth to move them into the right position. Once your teeth have been repositioned, they will no longer be loose.

Loose Wires and Bands
It is very important to try and avoid any kind of emergency, however, we do understand that there may be times when this will occur. Please keep in mind that breakages of your appliances in most cases occur when the wrong foods are eaten. These include hard, chewy, crunchy, or sticky foods as well as chewing on hard items like pens, ice, pencils or fingernails.

When the wires and bands on your braces come loose please contact us as soon as possible so that we can check and repair your appliance.

You can temporarily fix the loose wire by using the back of a spoon or the eraser end of a pencil to carefully and gently push the wire back into place. If the loose wire is causing irritation to your lips or cheeks, put wax or a wet cotton ball over the broken wire to relieve the pain.

In general, it does not hurt. However, while inserting the braces or making a major adjustment during the treatment, certain teeth may be sensitive and may cause a mild headache. You can use light analgesics to solve this problem. It is also not uncommon for your lips, cheeks, and tongue to become irritated for one to two weeks as they toughen and become used to the braces. We would be happy to give you some wax that you can put over the braces to lessen the tenderness. If you need some wax, please let us know.

Avoid eating foods that are hard, chewy, crunchy or sticky. Avoiding these foods is important as it can cause you to break wires or brackets. This is not only painful, but it can prolong your actual treatment, which means having your braces for a longer period of time.

Do not eat the following: Caramel or gooey chocolate bars, nuts, gum, popcorn, chewy or hard lollies, very sticky or chunky peanut butter, minties, toffees, or hard muesli bars.

Foods that can be eaten with caution include apples and carrots if they are cut into small pieces, chewy bread like bagels need to be torn into small pieces, corn on the cob (cut corn off the cob) and chips (eat them one at a time).

It is also important to avoid chewing on hard items like pens, ice, pencils or fingernails.

An orthodontist is a dentist that has become a registered specialist in orthodontics after completing three years of full time specialised post-graduate education in an accredited university program. An orthodontist specialises in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of dental and facial irregularities to help correctly align teeth, bites and jaws, including straightening teeth.

Age is no barrier to consider orthodontics as an option. Agreed, a majority of the orthodontic patients are children and adolescents. Yet statistics indicate that nearly 25 percent of the orthodontic patients are adults. Adults aged between 40 and 70 have regularly availed themselves of an orthodontic treatment.

It’s not necessary. In many cases dentists recommend orthodontic treatment to their patients. There are however, many who directly approach us to benefit from orthodontics.

We evaluate your dental condition and make recommendations to prevent problems from occurring in the future. We also make recommendations on intercepting problems that are already developing and treatment of conditions that already exist.

On evaluation, if we find treatment is required, we inform you about the treatment options available, duration of each treatment option and costs.

Yes, you can. The discomfort is only for the initial period and will not prevent you from resuming with your day-to-day activities.

Yes. Orthodontic treatment does not prevent you from playing contact sports like football, hockey or basketball. However, you have to take the precaution of wearing a mouth guard. The mouth guard should be a part of the regular sporting equipment purchased by you if you are participating in contact sports.

We have to clinically examine you before determining at a precise treatment plan. Only then can we determine the cost. We will do this when you meet us for the first time at the consultation visit. We will offer you a variety of payment plans and financing options. For your convenience, we accept payments in cash, cheque, credit card, EFTPOS and direct debit. For more details refer to the payments section below.

The length of your treatment depends on varied factors like your age, remaining growth, case complexity and how cooperative you are during treatment. We offer ‘Express’ treatment if it’s suited to you, which lasts for 6 to 8 months. In general, treatments can last between 12 to 30 months.