After getting braces on your teeth, you might have to face various issues. What if a bracket pops off a tooth? You must want to know, Can braces fall off your teeth?
Sometimes, one or two brackets can fall off your teeth due to poor bonding or lack of cooperation from the patient. It can even happen on the first of getting braces. Sometimes, a bracket can keep coming off the same tooth. This happens more when you have a bracket that attaches to a crown or dental restoration.
So, the question is, “Why do braces brackets fall off teeth?”
There are several reasons why your brackets can come off teeth, such as:
- Not following the instructions given by your orthodontist
- An unfavorable dental condition
- A fault or an error during bracket placement
- Bad oral habits
- An injury to the mouth
The most common cause for brackets to fall off is the patient’s habits or not taking care of braces.
But, you shouldn’t get worried as there is always a way to solve any orthodontic problem.
In this article, we have discussed all the responsible factors thoroughly and what you should do if brackets keep coming off.
You’ll also know, what happens if braces pop off and how to fix a bracket if it falls off a tooth.
Is it normal for brackets to pop off?
Usually, the brackets don’t fall off if you properly follow your orthodontist’s instructions and your orthodontist doesn’t make any mistakes during placing them on your teeth. However, it’s not uncommon for a bracket to pop off once or twice from your back or front teeth during the full treatment period. It can happen sometimes even if there is no error.
Do brackets fall off easily?
Braces brackets are not known to fall off easily because they are attached to your teeth with adhesive glue. This glue is specially made to hold the brackets in position. So, brackets can withstand force from eating or brushing.
However, you need to be careful so that you don’t put excess pressure on your teeth and braces. If you do, it can cause the brackets to fall off.
Why do your braces brackets keep falling off?
Factors related to the patient, the orthodontist, and even teeth themselves can be responsible for the brackets keep falling off.
Let’s know in detail what causes braces to fall off.
1. Lack of patients cooperation
After getting braces your orthodontist advises you to follow instructions. But, why does he or she do that?
One of the reasons is to keep your braces healthy. Wearing braces need lifestyle modification until your treatment ends.
But, when you fail to do that, you may have a problem like your brackets keep coming off.
These may be due to the following factors:
Wrong food habits
Braces wearer should change their dietary habits. So, you should stay away from eating or chewing hard, crunchy and sticky foods. You should avoid sticky candy, burgers, popcorn, etc.
Avoid biting into meat bone. Any of these could lead to brackets coming loose. You should increase the amount of softer foods in your diet.
Though it’s hard to maintain these food habits, you should follow them to get faster results and properly aligned teeth. Otherwise, you have to wait too long to take the braces off.
Get a list of foods to avoid with braces and braces-friendly foods.
Wrong brushing technique
You shouldn’t brush vigorously. The wrong brushing method can cause the damaging to brackets which can lead to falling out of brackets.
This may also result in the wire of your braces popping out of a bracket or breaking in half.
You should know about proper brushing techniques from your orthodontist to avoid damaging braces.
Learn all effects of not brushing teeth with braces.
Wrong flossing method
Learn the proper technique of flossing while wearing braces from your orthodontist. Otherwise, you may damage the brackets or wire.
2. Bad oral habits
Your orthodontist will check your bite after attaching braces. There shouldn’t be any interference when you bite.
However, the biting pattern isn’t the same at all times in some patients. Maybe, he/she bites correctly when the orthodontist monitors.
But, he/she may use a different path to make a bite during eating or at other times. So, they may bite on the brackets which can cause damage.
Some patients may have bad biting habits like clenching teeth frequently. This happens unconsciously during sleeping or all day.
These habits may make your brackets lose. Grinding teeth while sleeping can be minimized by placing a night guard in the mouth. Consult your orthodontist about it.
Some may have bad habits such as biting pens, fingernails, and other objects. These are also harmful to braces.
3. Faulty bonding technique or mistakes by the orthodontist
Everyone can make mistakes, so why not an orthodontist? Sometimes, even after trying their best, they can make mistakes, because placing a bracket on a tooth is very sensitive.
Uncleaned enamel surface
A material acting as glue such as dental cement or composite is used to make an attachment. The surface of the tooth enamel must be cleaned and dried nicely to get better bonding between them.
But, sometimes debris may be present there even after cleaning. Adhesive materials can’t stick on the uncleaned enamel surface. This can result in falling out of brackets days after attaching brackets.
Interference of moisture and your saliva
Another problem is moisture and your saliva. During attaching brackets, it’s hard to isolate teeth and brackets from saliva when there is too much salivation.
It can be responsible for weak bonding. But, your orthodontist tries his or her best to prevent this problem.
Wrong positioning of brackets
If the brackets are positioned too high or too low on your tooth, it may also cause the bracket to pop off.
4. Having a bite issue
When you have a deep bite or a tooth that is overlapping your tooth of the opposite jaw. This is because when a bracket is placed on that tooth, a bite from the opposing tooth hits directly on the bracket.
This can cause the bracket to come off easily. In this case, your orthodontist will have to reposition the bracket to make sure it doesn’t come off. Or, sometimes, he/she can place another type of brackets or materials for that.
5. Poor quality adhesive glue
If brackets are of good quality, but the adhesive material used to make an attachment with your teeth is of poor quality or has low bonding strength, brackets may fall off.
6. Poor quality brackets
If you have low-quality brackets, they may fall off your teeth frequently. Because of this, your treatment period becomes longer.
7. An unfavorable condition of your teeth
The tooth itself can be the reason for brackets to keep coming off. Tooth enamel should be healthy to make a good bond with brackets. But, when there is a defective enamel, bonding becomes weak.
This can happen in some conditions when you have a brown or yellow color enamel (hypocalcified) or chalky white color enamel (hypercalcified).
An orthodontist identifies this problem before attaching braces, though he or she may not be able to do much about this.
Another unfavorable circumstance is when brackets are placed on stained teeth. Placing brackets on stained teeth can lead them to fall off.
However, the orthodontist can clean your teeth professionally before attaching the braces.
The presence of a crack on the surface of the enamel is another situation. This should be fixed as well before starting orthodontic treatment.
Although brackets can be placed on these types of teeth, the attachment between them might not so good. Therefore, brackets get loose after some time.
Another condition is when you have a dental crown. Placing a bracket on this type of tooth can be a difficult task. And, it can also result in the bracket coming off after some time.
An orthodontist can place a special type of bracket or glue to attach it to the dental crown.
8. An injury to the mouth
Try to avoid any injury happening while you are wearing braces. An example of that is getting hit in the mouth while playing sports.
This may cause so much damage not only to your brackets but also to your teeth and the soft tissue of the mouth. You can wear a mouthguard when you are in activities like sports.
What happens if a bracket comes off?
If a bracket pops off the tooth, it can cause the following problems.
1. Pop-out archwire
An archwire can pop out of the bracket slot if a bracket gets detached from the tooth. If this happens, quickly put it back in place. If you can’t, go to your orthodontist and ask him or her to do it for you.
2. Poking ligature wire
A ligature wire is used to tie the archwire to the bracket. It’s usually made of a thin metal wire or a clear elastic material. If the bracket gets detached, this wire can poke your gum tissue or the inside of your cheek.
Use a cotton swab or your fingernail to push it away from the gum tissue if you have a poking braces wire. If you can’t do it, go to your orthodontist and ask him or her to fix it for you.
3. Bent wire
An archwire can get bent when a bracket comes off a tooth. This is because that portion of the archwire will get loose without the support from brackets.
4. Broken braces wire:
A broken braces wire can cause the same problems as a bent wire. But it’s more serious because a broken wire may have sharp ends. These sharp ends can poke and damage your gum tissue or the inside of your cheek.
5. Tooth shifting to the wrong position
When a bracket pops off, it can cause your tooth to move out of its original place. As a result, you may have misaligned or gaps in your teeth.
What to do when the braces bracket falls off?
If your bracket comes off, don’t get frustrated as it can be solved. However, you shouldn’t be too late to get it fixed. Consult your orthodontist as soon as possible.
Don’t lose your bracket. Take it to your orthodontist. He or she can reattach it. But, you should never try to attach it by yourself.
It could make the situation complicated and mess up your treatment.
In the meantime, you can use orthodontic wax on the irregular surface of braces and wires so that they can’t hurt your mouth.
Moreover, if the bracket is loose, you can also use orthodontic wax to fix it. Follow the steps to put dental wax over it or try other ways to fix loose braces and wire at home.
Choose the right type of wax and keep it with you always as it can be helpful at any time.
What if you lose a Bracket?
Even though you lose a bracket, you shouldn’t be worried as new brackets can be attached. Just don’t be late or shy to visit your orthodontist because there shouldn’t be any interference during the period of orthodontic treatment with braces.
If you know that you’re responsible for brackets that keep coming off, don’t hide it from your orthodontist. Otherwise, your brackets may keep falling off and your treatment may not be effective.
What happens if you swallow my braces bracket?
Be careful that you don’t swallow a broken bracket. But, even if you swallow a bracket, don’t be afraid. It shouldn’t do any damage and will pass through your stool. But, if you have any pain or discomfort, seek medical attention immediately.
What does an orthodontist do to fix fallen brackets?
If one of the brackets comes off, an orthodontist usually replaces it with a new one. To do that, he/she will clean off any adhesive present on the tooth first. Then, braces glue is used to attach the bracket to your tooth.
However, the orthodontist can also fix a fallen bracket. He or she can take the old bracket from you and clean it off thoroughly to remove any residual glue.
It’s uncommon for a bracket to keep falling off more than once. However, when this happens to a back tooth, your orthodontist can consider placing a band around the tooth.
A band is more stable. The molar band is usually used when you have a dental crown.
Why does my same bracket keeps coming off or breaking?
The reason is your bracket is attached to a defective enamel or a crown or dental restoration. Even though you replace it with a new bracket, it may keep falling off. So, if you know about this problem early, take proper care of brackets, placed on this area, to prevent fast damage.
Another reason for the same brackets to keep popping off is your upper tooth may be hitting a bracket on a lower tooth. Tell your orthodontist to fix this. He or she can place bonding materials on the teeth to prevent this.
Brackets may also keep popping off from the same tooth due to patients eating habits or teeth cleaning techniques, which I discussed before.
How can we know why brackets keep coming off?
You may not know the exact cause, but you can know if you are responsible for that. Another way is by keeping a note of when the brackets come off.
If it falls off immediately or after a few days of attaching the brackets, the cause might be tooth or patient’s habit related.
If it falls off weeks or months later, the cause might be related to a bonding technique or fault.
Takeaways
Though it’s not usual that your braces brackets can keep coming off, you should know why this happens so that you can be aware of it.
Reasons may be your food habits or bad oral habits, a mistake by the orthodontist, technical fault while attaching brackets, or bad dental health. It’s more common in a tooth with a crown or bridge than in a natural tooth.
You should consult your orthodontist as quickly as possible to replace the bracket.
You should maintain brackets according to your orthodontist’s instructions to prevent this from happening.
FAQs about braces brackets falling off
Why does it feel like my braces are falling off?
It may be due to many reasons such as gum disease, plaque accumulation, eating hard foods, and brushing too hard. Consult your orthodontist to know the exact reason.
Do I need to see an orthodontist if my braces bracket falls off?
Though it’s not an emergency, it needs to be fixed immediately to prevent any further damage to the braces system if a bracket comes off. Moreover, without the bracket, braces can’t be effective and it can delay the treatment. So, you need to visit your orthodontist as soon as possible.
Is it bad if a bracket falls off?
It’s not good if the bracket falls off because braces will stop working properly and it will cause a delay in treatment. Even, it can be harmful to your teeth and make the situation worse.
Why did my bracket pop off on the first day?
Braces bracket may pop off on the first day due to various reasons including weak adhesive, brackets not being placed properly, eating hard foods, and brushing teeth carelessly.
Why do my brackets keep coming off from a crown or bridge?
Adhesive or glue such as dental cement or composite bond better to natural teeth than to a dental restoration like a crown or bridge.
Though the different techniques and types of adhesives are used to attach brackets to a crown or bridge, it’s still strong enough. So, it might not last very long and fall off.
So, your orthodontist provides a minimal force to a tooth with a crown or bridge to prevent this. In this case, teeth move slower and the duration of treatment is also longer.
How often do brackets pop off?
Your bracket may fall out of teeth 3 to 4 times during the whole procedure which shouldn’t be considered too often. But, if it’s more than that, then there must be a problem. In that case, you need to consult with your orthodontist and find out the cause.
Sometimes, this can happen within a few days after braces are attached to your teeth. Sometimes this may occur weeks or months later.
Do you have to pay if your bracket comes off a tooth?
It depends on your orthodontist. If you don’t lose your loose or detached bracket and it’s not damaged, your orthodontist may reattach it into the previous position.
But, if you lose the bracket, you have to place a new bracket on that teeth. So, you may have to buy a new bracket. The cost of the broken single bracket may be minimal.
Some orthodontist doesn’t charge you for the first few broken brackets. Still, it’s up to him or her and the cause of breakage.
Can I fix my own bracket that has fallen off?
You shouldn’t fix your own bracket. You may end up doing more harm than good. So, it’s always better to visit your orthodontist.
Pallab Kishore is a certified dentist and the owner of Orthodontic Braces Care.
He completed BDS in 2014. Now, he is an MS resident in Orthodontics, BSMMU. He likes content writing and has 12+ years of experience in blogging.