When the brackets on your braces are bonded to your teeth, it's intended that this arrangement is permanent — or at least until your braces are ready to be removed (which can be anywhere from 1 to 3 years after they've been fitted). So what happens when one of those brackets comes loose during your treatment?
Your Regular Consultations
Your treatment will involve regular consultations with your orthodontist. This allows them to adjust your braces, tightening the archwire thread between your brackets, which adjusts the amount of force being applied to your teeth in order to reposition them. During these consultations, your brackets will be inspected, and if it's found that one of them has loosened, it will be reattached. This isn't uncommon in orthodontics, but not everyone with braces will experience the problem.
Not Especially Uncomfortable
Of course, it's not as though your brackets will be cooperative, deciding to come loose at a time that coincides with an upcoming consultation. You may notice that one of the brackets has detached, and this can conceivably happen at any time. It's not going to be especially uncomfortable, although the loose bracket will now be free to move along the archwire like a bead on an abacus (even though its range of motion is limited by the brackets on either side).
A Disruption to Your Treatment
This movement can be mildly annoying and is disruptive to your treatment. The loose bracket can irritate the lining of your cheeks or lips, and can even exert unnatural friction on your tooth — potentially damaging your dental enamel. There's also the fact that the tooth in question is no longer being repositioned alongside its neighbors.
A Temporary Fix
DIY adjustments to your own braces are discouraged, but you may need to take some short-term action. If the motion of the bracket proves to be an irritant, you might want to apply a small amount of dental wax to the rear of the bracket. This won't restore the bracket, but it will restrict its movement, and will prevent the bracket from damaging your teeth and irritating the soft tissues inside your mouth. However, this is very much a temporary fix, and you'll need to see your orthodontist without delay.
Reattaching the Bracket
Your orthodontist will generally just reattach the bracket, and that's the end of the matter. They will, of course, inspect the rest of your braces to see if there's a specific reason for the bracket to have detached. Your archwire may have become warped, weakening the bracket's bond with the underlying tooth. This isn't a major problem, and the wire can easily be reshaped or replaced.
A loose bracket means that the orthodontic adjustment of the particular tooth has been paused, and won't be un-paused until the bracket has been properly reattached.
Share31 January 2022
Halloween is a holiday that my children love, and telling them they can't go door-to-door collecting candy would break their hearts. This led me to allowing them to collect candy on the holiday, then rationing it out to them every day instead of letting them gobble it up in just a few days. I always thought this was better for them, but my dentist told me this could be the reason why their February dental check-ups were always their worst ones. Daily candy consumption was taking a toll on their teeth. I started a new tradition of letting them indulge for two days, then giving them the option to swap the rest with me in exchange for a new toy. They never pass on the opportunity for a new toy. I created this blog to encourage other parents find similar tactics to keep their children's teeth healthy after Halloween.