Emergency Care

True orthodontic emergencies are rare, but when they occur, we are available to you!

As a general rule, you should call the office when you experience severe pain or have a painful appliance problem you can't take care of yourself. We'll be able to schedule an appointment to resolve the problem.

You might be surprised to learn that you can solve many problems yourself temporarily until you can get to our office. When working with your appliances, you need to know the names of their parts so you can identify which one is broken or out of place.

After alleviating your discomfort, it is very important that you still call our office as soon as possible to schedule a time to repair the problem. Allowing your appliance to remain damaged for an extended period of time may result in disruptions to your treatment plan.

When you get your braces on, you may feel general soreness in your mouth. Teeth may be tender to biting pressures for three to five days. This can be relieved by rinsing your mouth with a warm salt-water mouthwash. Dissolve one teaspoon of salt in eight ounces of warm water and rinse your mouth vigorously. Placing Orabase on the affected area may help; this can be found in a pharmacy. If the tenderness is severe, take aspirin or whatever you normally take for headache or similar pain.

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!

Sometimes headgear discomfort is caused by not wearing the headgear as instructed by your orthodontist. Please refer to the instructions provided by your orthodontist. If the face-bow is bent, please call our office for assistance. The headgear should hurt less the more it's worn, so be sure you're getting in the prescribed number of hours.

Call our office immediately for advice if a bracket or wire is loosened. The bracket may need to be re-fitted as soon as possible. You may have a situation that requires cutting a wire or sliding a bracket off a wire at night or over the weekend. If you need to cut a wire in case of emergency, you may use fingernail clippers that have been washed and sterilized in alcohol. Please call our office the next business day, so that we may schedule an appointment for you.
We want our patients to wear well-fitting retainers. If you lose or break your retainer, we will need to repair or replace it. If your retainer is not fitting well, it may require an adjustment. Bonded retainers (the wire glued behind your incisors) are used for some cases. If the glue has come off, this should be repaired. For all retainer issues, call during office hours so we can schedule an appointment for you. Bring your retainer!
The wire may cause irritation to your cheeks if it shifts, breaks or becomes long at the ends. Sometimes discomfort caused by a wire on your braces can be resolved by moving the wire away from the irritated area with a cotton swab or eraser. If the wire will not move, try covering the end of it with a small amount of wax. If the wire is painful, you can cut it with nail clippers or scissors that have been washed and sterilized in alcohol. If you cannot resolve the wire irritation, call our office for an appointment.