Lucky for you, there are very few real emergencies when it comes to orthodontic treatment. But, as we all know, life happens. If you feel that you are having an orthodontic emergency – like a loose bracket or broken appliance – don’t hesitate to call our office anytime during regular business hours.
Remember, don’t come directly to our office if an emergency happens. Call first and let us know what happened, so that we can have proper time to prepare what we need to fix the issue upon your arrival.
Call (770) 972-6000 and we’ll straighten everything out.
If you have a lip or oral laceration due to a traumatic accident, please seek emergency medical attention with an ER physician, an urgent care doctor or your regular primary care doctor.
If you have broken brackets, broken wires or any other problem with your braces resulting from a traumatic accident, please call our office to schedule a repair appointment after you have been checked out by your primary physician, an urgent care physician or an ER physician.
Broken brackets are very common at the start of treatment. This is no cause for alarm – they can be repaired at your regularly scheduled appointment. If you break a bracket that attaches to a rubber band, please call the office during office hours and we will make an appointment to take care of any needed repairs. Please use the following diagrams to help describe to us what requires repair.
Wires can sometimes stick out and cause discomfort to your cheeks and lips. If you find that a wire is irritating you, please use the wax given to you by Silver Smiles to cover the offending piece of wire. If you’re out of wax, it can be found in the dental section at many grocery stores and pharmacies like CVS or Walgreens. If the wire is long and bothersome, you can clip the wire with nail clippers or scissors that have been washed and sanitized in rubbing alcohol. If you cannot resolve the wire irritation, please call our office to schedule a repair appointment.
If the wire has come out of the last bracket, you can try to put it back into the tube by directing it with tweezers. If the archwire has slid around to one side try using tweezers to slide it back to its original position.
If the wire just seems to be long, first try putting some of the orthodontic wax on it. If that doesn’t work, you or a parent can cut the wire with a nail clipper at home. Cut the wire as far back as you can. If you can’t reach all the way to the back, cut in between two other brackets and pull the end piece of the wire out of the brackets. We will fix your wire at your next appointment.
If a smaller wire is poking you (not the main archwire), push the end of the wire toward your teeth with either your finger or a pencil eraser. This will move the wire away from your lip or cheek. You can also put wax over the wire as well.
No one knows smiles like the orthodontists at Silver Smiles. If you’re ready to get a smile that makes you want to smile, you’ve found the right solution at Silver Smiles Orthodontics.
If you’re in need of general dental work like cavity repair, teeth cleaning, caps, crowns or veneers, give us a call and we’ll be happy to refer you to an outstanding general dentist in your area.
