Emergency Care Information

True orthodontic emergencies are very rare, but when they do occur we are available to 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. We'll be able to schedule an appointment to resolve the problem quickly.

When you are in discomfort, always call our office first, however, 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. When working with your appliances, you need to know the names of the parts of your appliances so you are able to identify what part is broken or out of place.

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. The following solutions may help you relieve your discomfort:

Poking Wire - You can call our office to arrange for a quick wire clipping. We can always fit you into our schedule for a wire trimming as long as we are open that day. If you can't come in right away, you can also take care of it by placing wax or wet cotton on the wire to alleviate the discomfort. If the wire protrudes out more than few millimeters long, you can also get someone to clip the protruding wire off with a sharp nail clipper or a wire cutter from a toolbox.

Loose Bracket or Band - Don't be alarmed if a bracket or band comes loose. This can happen occasionally. If the wire is still in place and it doesn't bother you, you can wait until you are able to schedule an appointment to fix it. If the last bracket in your arch comes loose, the wire may come out sideways and poke you. In this case, you can use a nail clipper to clip the wire behind the last tooth to which it is tightened. Please save the piece that comes off, and bring it with you to the office.

Loose Wire - Using tweezers, try to place your wire back into the molar bracket tube. If doing this and using wax does not 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.

Headgear Does Not Fit - Sometimes headgear discomfort is caused by not wearing the headgear as instructed by Dr. Ouyang. Please refer to the instructions which was given. If the facebow is bent, please call our office for assistance. Surprisingly, the headgear may hurt less if it's worn more, so be sure you're getting in the prescribed hours.

General Soreness - When you get your braces on, you may feel general soreness in your mouth or teeth may be tender to biting pressures for three to five days. 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. If you have cold sores develop due to irritation of wires or brackets, placing "Brace Relief" gel from a small tube that we gave you when you got your braces on the affected area may help; If the tenderness is severe, take aspirin or whatever you normally take for headache or similar pain.