Check out our FAQ’s below or find more advice with our care videos for simple home advice about what you should do in an out of hours emergency until we can see you.
If you follow our advice, you or a member of your family may not need an emergency appointment at all. However, do email and let us know if you either we have advised you to make one or still feel you or your son or daughter needs to make an appointment.
Please bear in mind that emergency appointments are only usually available during surgery hours and at less busy times, not before or after school. This enables our routine adjustment appointments to carry on with minimum inconvenience to scheduled patients.
If you still require further help and advice after reading the above or watching our care videos, please email us at [email protected] and our team will pick up your query within office hours and be in touch with you to provide help and support as soon as possible.
If there is an acute emergency of severe pain or injury, please call NHS 111 for advice’.
FIXED BRACES
One or both archwires digging into the back of the mouth or cheek.
If your wire is thin and flexible, it may be possible for you, the patient or a family member to use Tweezers to either replace your wire in the tube/band it has dislodged from
If your thin wire has rotated round the teeth so that it is short on one side and long on the other, it is usually possible to push the wire back round to prevent the long end digging in. Try using Tweezers or a pencil with a rubber on the end
Email us for an appointment if you have tried and the above isn’t possible, or if the wire is very thick and stiff. Meanwhile, dry the area well with a tissue and cover it to prevent it digging in with Orthodontic Relief Wax which you will find within our Vitis Fixed Brace Kit, or purchased from any pharmacy.
Detached Bracket[s].
Accept the situation if it is not causing any problems until your next appointment.
Email us for an appointment with a photo, if the bracket is causing trauma.
One or more loose or detached orthodontic bands.
Unless your band is very loose, simply leave the band in place and ensure good brushing and a low sugar diet until your next appointment with us.
The dental cement placed on the back surface of the teeth has worn down or come off.
Accept the situation until your next appointment if it is not causing any problems.
Email us for an appointment if you are biting down on any brackets
A spring[s] has come off the arch-wire.
Keep the spring[s] safely in an envelope and bring it/them with you for your next appointment
A grey or coloured elastic module(s) is/are missing
Accept this has happened and try not to lose anymore if only one module is lost.
If more than one module, as well as multiple modules on adjacent teeth, have been lost, make the length of wire where the modules have been lost secure with dental wax and email to make an emergency appointment
Elastic Bands
if your top teeth start to meet behind your lower teeth or if your top teeth start to procline too far over your bottom teeth stop wearing them, email us a photo and make an emergency appointment
Email us in good time if you run low or out of elastics, you are welcome to collect the ones you need free from Reception
Fractured or Frayed Power Chain-
Accept this has happened and keep the area around it extra clean
Remove powerchain with Tweezers if you can and cut the frayed end as short as possible to improve comfort until your next appointment
A very sharp, and thin exposed end of wire ligature tie has twisted out and is digging in
Re-tuck the sharp end under wire/bracket using tweezers-the end will mould away from the gum or lip easily
Remove wire if it is broken with tweezers if possible and cut the frayed end as short as possible to improve comfort with nail cutters or scissors
Cover for comfort using Orthdontic relief wax and email for an emergency appointment only if the above hasn’t worked.
Lost separating elastic[s]
Wait until your next appointment, they will usually fall out anyway in the vast majority of patients once they’ve done their job of seperating the teeth.
Loose Quadhelix, Rapid Maxillary Expander, Upper Transpalatal or Nance Arch, or a Lower Lingual Arch
Push it back if you can
Email to let us know and send us a photo if any concerns- an appointment will be offered if needed
Ensure that meanwhile, you adhere to good oral hygiene and a low sugar diet to prevent decay under the band and around your tooth.
The gold chain to my buried tooth has broken away from the arch-wire and is dangling
Email us to let us know as soon as you can that an emergency appointment is needed.
Meanwhile, if your gold chain was recently placed and is now dangling down, it may be possible to cut it short.
using nail scissors or nail clippers. Remember to always hold the loose end with tweezers or similar item.
If possible, leave at least 5 links to show through the gum so it can used later by your orthodontist.
SIMPLE REMOVABLE and FUNCTIONAL BRACES [Twin Blocks]
Broken removable brace
If your simple brace[s]or Upper Twin Block is /are broken or ill fitting, do not wear it/them but email us to let us know.
If the lower half of your Twin block breaks, wear the upper half at night only to hold any expansion achieved and email us to let us know
You will either need a small repair or a new scan at your next visit for a new brace. A fee for the replacement[s] is applicable and you will be advised of the cost before an order is made.
*Please note that patients are entirely responsible for ensuring that removable braces are responsibly looked after.
RETAINERS
One or both bonded retainer[s] is/are broken
Email us to let us know
Meanwhile try the following,
Gently and carefully pull the wire with Tweezers to remove the whole retainer or cut the exposed, unbonded wire using tweezers and nail clippers/scissors
Wear your removable retainer as much as possible during the day but without fail at night time
If this isn’t possible, push the wire back down towards the tooth as much as possible with
fingers or Tweezers and cover with the best medium available [Ortho wax}
A fee for the replacement of bonded retainers is applicable and you will be advised of the cost before an appointment is made. *Please note that as patients are entirely responsible for ensuring bonded retainers remain attached to the teeth, we cannot be held responsible for any tooth movement that occurs as a result.
Lost or broken removable [Essix] clear retainers or mouthguard
Email us– it may be that, for some patients, we can access a recent digital scan of your teeth and order new retainer[s] or even a mouthguard quickly.
A fee for the replacement[s] is applicable and you will be advised of the cost before an order is made.
Please note that as patients are entirely responsible for wearing, looking after and keeping their retainers in a safe place, we cannot be held responsible for any tooth movement that occurs as a result
Lost or broken Vivera Retainers
Email us to see if it is possible to order a single arch or double arch set of duplicate retainers exactly as before
However, if you have had a new fillings or crown[s]or any other restoration carried out since your last Vivera scan, these may not fit and you will need to attend for a new scan
A fee for the replacement[s] is applicable and you will be advised of the cost before an order is made.
*Please note that as patients are entirely responsible for wearing, looking after and keeping their retainers in a safe place, we cannot be held responsible for any tooth movement that occurs as a result
INVISALIGN ALIGNERS
If an aligner is broken
Email us to let us know as you may need an appointment but go straight to the next one in the series if you can. If this isn’t possible, go back 1 set. Use your chewies well and as instructed for best fit
If aligners are not fitting well or ‘tracking’ as they should,
Step back to the previous or best fit last aligner and wear at night only
Email us if this is the case, and we will ensure a new scan is taken at your next visit
If your current series of aligners are in good order but you have had to cancel your next appointment unexpectedly
Wear as instructed previously but stretch out each aligner to wear to 2 weeks full time wear, checking each time you go to the next aligner that the teeth fit perfectly until you finish those you have been dispensed up to the stage as expected for your next appointment.
Use chewies as instructed for best fit.
Once your series is finished, wear the last aligner at night only until your next appointment.
If you are going to be unavailable for a while, and would like 1 set of new replacement aligners
Check with us to see if we can arrange 1 upper and 1 lower duplicate of your last aligner.
A fee will be applicable and you will be advised of the cost of ordering duplicate retainers from Invisalign before an order is made.