Orthodontic Emergencies

It is almost the bewitching hour!  Time to dress up, pretend we are someone or something else, eat all those special goodies and hopefully not break any orthodontic wires or brackets.  However, if in the instance you sneak one of those "no-no goodies", we have created some helpful hints to get you through the rest of the Halloween night. 


Broken Arch Wires:

• If an archwire is broken and it is NOT poking or causing discomfort, you can place a small piece of wax on the end and call our office in the morning to schedule an appointment.
• If an archwire is broken and it IS poking or causing discomfort, you can either put a piece of wax on it or you can clip it with a pair of nail clippers which have been disinfected with alcohol.  Again, please call our office in the morning to schedule an appointment.

Broken Brackets:

• If a bracket/brace has popped off your tooth and is still attached to the archwire, and it is NOT bothering you, please call our office in the morning and we will schedule an appointment to repair the broken bracket.
• If a bracket has popped off your tooth and is NOT attached to the archwire, please keep the bracket in a ziploc baggie and call our office in the morning to schedule a repair appointment.  If the archwire is poking, you may clip it with a pair of disinfected nail clippers or place a piece of wax over the pokey end.

Pokey Archwires:

• If an archwire is poking, you may either put a piece of wax over the end or clip it with a pair of disinfected nail clippers.  Please call our office the next morning to schedule a repair appointment.

Of course, these are just a couple of incidents that could occur. The best prevention of broken brackets or archwires is to follow our guidelines and stay away from the gooey, sticky, chewy or hard foods this Halloween.  However, with any emergency situation, if you can not temporarily fix the problem at home, or if you have any questions about a situation, please do not hesitate to call our office!

We hope you have a "SPOOKTACULAR" Halloween!