Emergency Care

You may experience some discomfort when you first get braces and directly after they are tightened, but don’t worry – this is normal! You can try taking simple painkillers like Aspirin or Motrin, but if these don’t help, please call our office and we will work with you to alleviate pain. We always have wax on hand to protect your gums from the wires and brackets, which can ease much of your discomfort.

Sometimes brackets or wires can get loose or break if they are knocked around. If this happens to you, please call our office immediately so we can correct the issue. We want to make sure that no progress gets lost from appliances getting bumped out of place.

If a wire or bracket gets loose or comes out at night, there are a few ways to keep you more comfortable until our office opens:

• If a bracket breaks off the tooth: The adhesive that holds brackets to the teeth may loosen if you eat hard foods or if it gets hit too hard. If this happens try to get the bracket back into place on your tooth as much as possible. If the bracket is flipped around, you can carefully move the brackets to the space in between two teeth and flip it back around.
• If a wire comes loose: Wires can work themselves out of a bracket when you are eating hard or chewy foods. Having a wire loose and poking your cheek is not fun, so cover the end of the wire with wax until you can get into our office to prevent mouth sores and cuts.