Pain
There are various reactions patients experience to having spacers placed between their teeth. If the patient has a relatively small amount of space between their molars (or none at all), then the spacer may irritate the nerves in the gum of the mouth, causing pain. In some cases the spacer digs into the gums, causing bleeding and swelling. An orthodontist may advise the patient to drink cold drinks or to eat ice cream, producing a similar, although less efficient and short-lasting effect. Spacers are usually painful, although pain relievers can alleviate the pain if needed. Depending on the placement of the patient's teeth, spacers may not hurt when first applied, then start to hurt after some time, or they may immediately start to hurt. Depending on the type, spacers may cause pain while chewing, making certain foods (usually those that are tough or crispy) difficult to eat. Some people may also experience a sensation similar to having loose milk teeth. Brushing will not cause spacers to be displaced and regular, if not more brushing while spacers are in place is encouraged.
Read more about this topic: Orthodontic Spacer
Famous quotes containing the word pain:
“There is some joy in weeping. For our tears
Fill up the cup, then wash our pain away.”
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
“The fox, he felt, had never seen his past disposed of like a fall of water. He had never measured off his day in moments: another—another—another. But now, thrown down so deeply in himself, into the darkness of the well, surprised by pain and hunger, might he not revert to an earlier condition, regain capacities which formerly were useless to him, pass from animal to Henry, become human in his prison, X his days, count, wait, listen for another—another—another—another?”
—William Gass (b. 1924)
“This is a pain I mostly hide,
but ties of blood, or seed endure,
and even now I feel inside
the hunger for his outstretched hand,
a man’s embrace to take me in,
the need for just a word of praise.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)