This article provides a guide on how to fix a broken bracket. In addition, it also tells you what to do when your braces brackets or wire become damaged or broken.
Braces brackets or wires can get damaged or broken. This usual inconvenience can rapidly cause uneasiness and sometimes severe pain.
Causes of Broken Bracket
Brackets, bands, spacers, and wires can break or get damaged due to various reasons. The causes of broken or damaged braces brackets include:
#1. eating hard or crunchy foods,
#2. sustaining a mouth injury,
#3. even brushing your teeth too vigorously.
What to do when braces bracket is broken or damaged
So, what should be done when the braces bracket is broken or damaged?
4 things to do when braces bracket is broken or damaged include:
#1. Inspect the Damage
#2. Take Control
#3. Book an Appointment
#4. Take Care of Your Mouth and Relieve Discomfort
#1. Inspect the Damage
The first step is to assess the area of your mouth with the broken appliance. Once you find the root of the problem, it is tempting to touch and test the device, but it is best to contact your dentist or orthodontist and ask for advice.
#2. Take Control
Unfortunately, you can’t glue a bracket back on yourself. But here are a few things you can do to relieve discomfort and hopefully make it easier for your orthodontist to fix the problem.
How to take control include:
If you have a loose bracket
Brackets are metal or ceramic pieces that are attached to each tooth. Your orthodontist will use an adhesive material to attach them to your teeth. The adhesive or glue can weaken or break, causing the bracket to come loose.
If bracket glue came off and the bracket can be easily removed, bring it to your orthodontist, and they will address the problem. If the wire is still attached to the bracket, leave it and use orthodontic wax to hold the bracket in place.
Where you have a protruding or broken wire
Orthodontic wires connect bracketed teeth and ultimately guide teeth into proper alignment. Broken wires can stick out and hurt the inside of your mouth. If the wire is still attached to the bracket but sticking out, try to gently move it back into position with a cotton swab or pencil eraser. In the event it is still protruding, use orthodontic wax to cover the pointed end of the wire until you can see your orthodontist.
If you have a loose spacer
Spacers are small rubber rings between your teeth to make space for bands to fit around your teeth comfortably. They are usually left in place for a few days before placing braces on your teeth. If your spacers move out of position or fall out entirely, no need to worry! It most likely means that you’re ready to have your bands put on.
Loose band
Bands are the metal rings that fully surround your back teeth (and sometimes front teeth). If you feel a band has come loose, call your orthodontist to have it replaced or re-cemented. Never try to put a band back on a tooth yourself. If it comes off completely, save it and bring it to your appointment for reattachment.
A loose band may come off without your knowledge, and there is some risk of choking or swallowing it. The good news is that most orthodontic patients today have few to no bands on their teeth.
#3. Book an Appointment
If you’re not experiencing much discomfort and the break is not interfering with treatment, your orthodontist may wait to repair it until your next regularly scheduled appointment. However, it’s always a good idea to call the office as soon as you experience a problem, and they will let you know if you need to come in earlier. If you need an appointment, your orthodontist will examine your braces and either repair or replace broken brackets or wires.
#4. Take Care of Your Mouth and Relieve Discomfort
There are a few ways you can protect your mouth from additional trauma and ease any discomfort. Start by avoiding hard, crunchy foods like apples and raw carrots and sticky foods, like taffies and caramels. Instead, stick to eating soft foods like boiled eggs, yogurt, and soft bread to avoid any further damage to the bracket.
READ: Best 5 Cottage Cheese Substitutes
If a broken wire has caused a sore, rinse your mouth regularly with salt water or use an antiseptic rinse to reduce discomfort or temporarily numb the area. If you are still experiencing discomfort, you can take an over-the-counter pain reliever to reduce your pain.
Broken orthodontic appliances can be uncomfortable and inconvenient, but it’s very rarely a dental emergency. Your orthodontist will know what to do to fix you right up and get you back on the road to your ideal smile! All you need to worry about is staying positive, keeping up with good oral hygiene with twice-daily cleaning around your wires and brackets, and keeping yourself comfortable while you wait.
READ: How long do you have to wear a retainer?
How to fix a Broken Bracket: Can a broken bracket be fixed?
Mistakenly broke your retainer? It often occurs. Breaking a retainer or bracket is quite different from breaking a nail or a coffee mug. It is a bigger deal wrecking a brace bracket. Moreover, you don’t want to deny all the beautiful work your braces did on your teeth.
Under this head, you’ll learn what to do if your braces break or is damaged. This guide cover from the point of noting the damage to removing the bracket to devising a temporary fix.
To fix a broken bracket, do the following:
- Recognize Damage to a braces bracket
- Remove Broken bracket
#1. Recognizing damage to a bracket
Wear and tear, hard foods, or a mouth injury can cause your teeth to detach from a permanent retainer or the wires to break. You might not even be aware of an issue until your teeth begin to move out of their correct position.
We understand it can be tough for you to tell if your fixed retainer is damaged, so it’s essential to get regular dental checkups. You might also regularly schedule orthodontist checkups – at least for the first year you wear a retainer. By finding the problem sooner rather than later, you may minimize the effects of a broken retainer.
READ: Bonded Retainer and Other Retainer Types Part 1
You might want to make an orthodontist appointment asap if you:
- Suffer a mouth injury
- Bite down on something inadvertently hard
- Feel something is wrong with your retainer or your bite.
Better safe than sorry, eh?
#2. Removing the broken bracket
Usually, an orthodontic professional will need to remove a bonded retainer or broken bracket. To do this, your provider must:
- Remove the dental cement with a drill.
- Ease the retainer away from your teeth.
- Clean and polish the surface of your teeth.
Once the bracket or retainer’s out of your mouth, your orthodontist will determine whether it needs repair or if it requires replacement.
Broken Bracket: What you can do at home
If you discover your bracket might be damaged or broken but you’re unable to get to the orthodontist or dentist immediately, what should you do? We offer a few actions you can take to minimize the damage to your mouth:
For Fixed Retainers
- Find someone you trust to examine your bracket or retainer. Have them determine whether the retainer seems stable in your mouth and if you can still use it. As you carefully use your retainer, make your own determination.
- Purchase an over-the-counter mouth guard to wear at night. Until you can see your orthodontist, the mouth guard can help protect a fixed retainer while you sleep and prevent any teeth movement.
For Removable Retainers
- Examine the retainer yourself to see how severe the damage is.
- If it’s damaged enough that a cheap removable retainer could help you in the short run, purchase it.
For All Retainers
- Avoid hard foods and sports activities until you can get the attention you need to repair or remove the retainer.
- Rinse your mouth with warm salt water to help heal any painful spots.
- Step up your oral hygiene by adding an antibacterial mouth rinse. This is particularly important if the damage makes it possible for food or bacteria to access previously unreachable areas – such as between the back of your teeth and the retainer.
How to fix a Broken or loose Bracket
For the question “How to fix a Broken Bracket?” – the answer is you really shouldn’t fix it. broken bracket, fixed and removable retainers are custom-made to hold your teeth in place. You shouldn’t mess with a broken retainer – get a new one or have it professionally fixed.
Your Retainer Options
Teeth keep moving until you’re in your early to mid-20s because the jaw is still growing. And even if you got braces later in life, you might need a retainer to maintain your bite. Here are some options to help you:
If your orthodontist can’t repair your broken retainer, your best option is to get a new retainer made as soon as possible. If you need to set up a payment plan to pay for the process and the new retainer, talk to your orthodontist.
Where you can’t visit your orthodontist right away, ask if they can remake your retainer based on their records. This can work if you haven’t had your retainer very long. And it will save you the cost of having the entire process redone.
If necessary, a cheap removable retainer could help to support your mouth until you get your new fixed retainer.
If you’ve invested in orthodontic treatment to achieve a perfect bite and smile, don’t let a broken retainer undo all that hard work. Get a dental opinion as soon as possible about whether your retainer needs repairing or replacing. And discuss all your options with your orthodontist. The sooner you can put a repaired or new retainer in your mouth, the sooner your teeth will thank you.
Originally posted 2021-07-09 14:20:59.
