Emergency Care

Orthodontic care emergencies are rare, but when they do occur, we are available to assist you. As a general rule, you should call the office when you experience severe pain or when you have a painful appliance problem that you can’t take care of yourself. Ehrler Orthodontics will be able to schedule an appointment to resolve the problem through our emergency orthodontic care process. You might be surprised to learn that you may be able to temporarily solve many problems yourself until you schedule an appointment with our office. If you scroll down on this page, you will find some of the common issues and how to address them. After alleviating your discomfort, it is very important that you still call our office as soon as possible to schedule a time to repair the problem. Allowing your appliance to remain damaged for an extended period of time may result in disruptions in your treatment plan.

Common Issues and How to Fix Them

General Soreness

When you get your braces on, you may feel general soreness in your mouth and teeth may be tender to biting pressures for three to five days. This can be relieved by rinsing your mouth with a warm saltwater mouthwash. Dissolve one teaspoonful of salt in eight ounces of warm water, and rinse your mouth vigorously. Placing Orabase on the affected area may help; this can be found in a pharmacy. If the tenderness is severe, take aspirin or whatever you normally take for headache or similar pain. The lips, cheeks and tongue may also become irritated for one to two weeks as they toughen and become accustomed to the surface of the braces. You can put wax on the braces to lessen this. We’ll show you how!

Loose Appliance

If your appliance is poking you, place wax on the offending part of your appliance.

Loose Bracket

If your bracket or band is still attached to the wire, you should leave it in place and put wax on it.

Loose Wire

Using a tweezer, try to put your wire back into place. If doing this and using wax doesn’t help, as a last resort use a small fingernail clipper to clip the wire behind the last tooth to which it is securely fastened. If your discomfort continues, place wax on it.

Poking Wire

Using a pencil eraser, push the poking wire down or place wax on it to alleviate the discomfort.