How would one go about taking his braces off at home using household objects? Is this economically worthwhile?
Why would you even want to??
After all the money spent to have them put on, it would be highly unwise to do a DIY removal. First of all, you could damage the enamel of your teeth. The braces are cemented on and IIRC they use a special solution to help break down the cement during removal. Then they scrape the remaining cement off and they are skilled at doing it without damaging your pearly whites.
Also, if you did it yourself, it wouldn’t take long for your teeth to return to whatever position they started in. You will be eating corn on the cob through a picket fence in no time.
One has to wear a retainer for a while so your gums can heal.
So, I guess the answer to your question is “no.” There is no do-it-yourself home braces removal kit or an “Orthodonics For Dummies” book.
Doing it at home will cost you more in the long run after they try to put your mangled mouth back together.
I imagine you could do it with pliers. It’s just glue that holds it on after all. But good god man, would you really want to try this at home? Hasn’t your dentist shown you pictures of people who didn’t brush their teeth well and they have all the holes where their braces used to be?
Post pictures!
Then again, maybe not.
According to a review I read of Jenna Jameson’s new magnum opus, she
pulled her braces off with pliers. I haven’t read this tome, so I
don’t know how well this went. Badly, I would think.
Break down and pay for an orthodontist. Even if you got the braces off, there would be cement left behind.
Yet another reason – if one were needed – why she is a role model to millions. :rolleyes:
I read that about Jenna Jameson too. I think the story was that she was auditioning for a part and they thought she looked too young with the braces so she yanked them off and went back.
I had friend for a short time in middle school who pulled her braces off. Here orthodontic experience wasn’t complete so her teeth looked kind of like a work in progress.
She was a very troubled girl.
My brother had a friend with braces. The friend stopped going to the orthodontist even though his braces were still on and when they literally started falling off, he removed them with pliers.
I flinched as soon as I saw this thread…I don’t know how your ortho charges you but the $2700 I spent on getting my top teeth done covered all the monthly appointments, removal and follow-ups.
I had to pay monthly payments for a yr to afford it though I recall there was a disclaimer saying if you didn’t make payments they wouldn’t remove the orthodontics until you did. If you really can’t make the payments see if you can set up a new payment plan. Honestly, it was painful getting them off and your teeth feel yucky. You really do want the ortho to do it. He polished and cleaned mine up nicely and even gave me a treatbag of things i hadn’t been able to eat (well things I wasn’t supposed to eat 
) like gum and popcorn and hard candies.
Don’t forget you still need to get a retainer from them or else your teeth will move back. Still grudgingly wears hers every damn night
I had a good friend that used pliers to yank his braces. He never got them all the way out, though, and left some shards that cut up his mouth pretty good. He ended up going to the orthodontist.
I would strongly suggest against it!
Well, you unbutton them at the front, and then toss them over your shoulders. Either that, or you just shrug out of them and remove them from your trousers later.
Oh, wait…
I never wanted nor needed braces. When I was 15 and in foster care they made me get them. When I was 16 some pliers did the job. It was no biggie. YMMV.
When my braces were taken off, the orthodontist used some kind of special braces popping off pliers, and all the glue came with them. The ones at the back, that anchored the wires, though, were much harder to take off and I still have some glue on my teeth today.
I would just like to take this opportunity to say GYYAAAAAGGHHHH!!!
Thanks! I really needed this mental image to keep me on my toes seeing as how I’m working until midnight. That’s what I love about the SDMB: People helping people.
I’m just trying to figure out what you’d tell your dentist if something went wrong: “Well, I had the braces put on, and I couldn’t afford an orthodontist to take them off, but I had some pliers and a bottle of whiskey, so I figured, what’s the worst that could happen?”
GYYAAAAAGGHHHH!!!
My god, man! Are you nuts?
A friend of mine had braces when we were young and she was frequently catching her lip or her mouth on her braces, enough to draw blood. I can only imagine how badly you would end up cutting yourself up! You’d turn the inside of your mouth into hamburger!
My orthodontist was a mean, cruel man. The day my braces came off, he removed all but 4, front bottom teeth, and asked me to return in a week. After 4 years I wasn’t going to go one more day with 4 pieces of metal in my mouth that were attached to nothing.
Needle nose pliers, they pop off very easily. The dirty pliers my dad used to fix cars had a kinda oily taste, that part was the worst, so try to find clean pliers. I used tweezers to scrape off the big chunks of cement, doc finished cleaning them up the following week.
He then glued a bottom retainer in my mouth. I asked how long to keep it in place. After the right time passed, I popped that out using same method. At that time I was not under any insurance plan and just waited until my next cleaning and the dentist cleaned up the cement.
If you have the horrible bands cemented around your teeth, I wouldn’t try removing them. That’s a whole different ball game.
Ravenous Lady, if you don’t mind my asking, how have your teeth fared over the years?
I’m in braces now for the first time at 24. I can’t imagine doing anything to ruin the effects of the investment I’ve made. And to my knowledge, bonded retainers (the kind you glue in) are meant to be worn permanently. At least that’s what they say now. I know they used to say retainers only needed to be worn for a year after treatment. Now they’re saying retainers should be worn at night every night, permanently to keep teeth from ever shifting back.
Keep in mind I wore braces from 1980 to 1984. I was told when they were put on it was for 2 years and it turned into 4 years because I couln’t wear head gear at night, and refused to wear it during day at school. I always wore my rubber bands.
My top row of teeth are still perfect as can be 20 years later. On my bottom teeth, two have shifted slightly. And this shift has been ever so slight over the last 10 years I’d guess. I wore my bottom retainer the time the orthodontist told me to (the glued in retainer, holding front 4 bottom teeth in line). No ill effects on any teeth on bottom from taking off the cement.
I considered going back to fix this slight crookedness on bottom 2 teeth, but realized they don’t show when I smile, and I have other problems I could deal with before things like that.
In the end, I was the one to beg for braces to be put on, and I’m still very glad I did that.