Emergencies
Listed here are some of the more common problems and some possible solutions to deal with the situation on a temporary basis until you can get in touch with us for an emergency appointment.
For after-hours problems, please first check and read through the issues and solutions provided below to see if you can answer your question here. If you can’t find relief, please text your urgent concern to 0419 016 503. If this results in an after-hour office visit, charges may apply. If not an urgent enquiry, please leave a voicemail to (07) 3376 2651 and one of our staff members will call you back at opening hours.
For after hours problems, please first check and read through the issues and solutions provided below to see if you can answer your question here. If you can’t find relief, please call your urgent concern to (07) 3376 2651. If this results in an after hour office visit, charges may apply.
Orthodontic pain or discomfort
Mouth sores
If you’re finding that the salt water rinses aren’t helping, you can purchase a topical anesthetic gel, such as Bonjela, from your local chemist.
Poking wire
Swollen / Irritated gums
You may notice your gums swelling and/ or becoming irritated during your Orthodontic treatment. This can be normal and is normally caused by lack of tooth brushing in that spot. We recommend gently brushing the area, even if it bleeds, as this allows any trapped plaque to cause anymore inflammation. Warm salty rinses can also assist with healing of gums. If are still finding discomfort, call our team to book in an emergency appointment.
Loose appliance
Lost or broken retainers
Swallowing of brackets
Lost separators
Lost aligners
Broken braces
- If you are taking care when eating you should not experience any breakages.
- Please DO NOT chew fingernails, pens or hard objects which may put pressure on the brackets and injure your mouth.
- Breakages can add significant time to your treatment.
- If your bracket does come away from the tooth it is not a 000 emergency. If you need to, you can place wax over the bracket to ensure it doesn’t move around and rub your cheeks.
- Please call the surgery as soon as possible for advice. We will make an extra appointment to have the bracket replaced. We may not be able to provide an after-school/work appointment. As you will appreciate, the after-school/work appointments are very popular and are booked 6-8 weeks in advance.
- Unfortunately, if we are not aware of a broken bracket at your routine adjustment appointment we may not have adequate time to fix it, therefore requiring you to make another appointment.
- We allow you two chances for complimentary repairs. If there are further breakages then this will incur an extra $50 fee for each bracket.
Bleeding
Bleeding can happen if appliances or braces are causing any irritation to the gums or cheeks. Using wax can help the rubbing, although if bleeding still continues please call our practice so one of our clinicians can take a look.