Emergency Care in North Attleboro, MA
Loose brackets or bands can be adjusted at home or during a normal visit. As a general rule, you should only need to call the office when you experience severe pain caused by appliance problems that can’t be fixed at home.
True orthodontic emergencies are very rare, but when they do occur, we’re available to help at North Attleboro Orthodontics. We’re available over the phone during normal business hours. Outside of normal office hours, please email afterhours@northattleborobraces.com for immediate care.
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.
After alleviating your discomfort, it’s imperative you still call our office as soon as possible to schedule a time to fix the issue. Allowing your appliance to remain damaged for an extended period of time may result in disruptions in your treatment plan.
The following solutions may help you relieve your discomfort at home:
- Poking Wire Using a pencil eraser, push the poking wire down or place wax on it to alleviate the discomfort.
- Loose Bracket or Band If your bracket or band is still attached to the wire, you should leave it in place and put wax on it. If the bracket or band comes out entirely, place it in a plastic bag to bring with you to the office.
- Loose Wire Using tweezers, try to place your wire back into the band tube. If doing this and using wax doesn’t help, as a last resort, use a small fingernail clipper to carefully clip the wire behind the last tooth, to which it’s securely fastened. If your discomfort continues, place wax on it.
- Loose Appliance If the appliance is loose but still fits on the teeth, this is fine. Keep the appliance in the mouth and call the office to have it re-cemented. If your appliance is poking you, place wax on the offending part of your appliance.
When you get your braces on, you may feel general soreness in your mouth, and your teeth may be tender to biting pressures for three to five days. 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.
If you develop areas of ulcerations, placing wax on the parts of your braces that are rubbing can help. Putting Orabase on the affected area may help; this can be found in your local pharmacy. If the tenderness is severe, take aspirin or whatever you usually take for headaches or similar pain.
If your soreness from braces continues to persist or is severe, please contact our North Attleboro Orthodontics team directly.
