Swords Orthodontics
17 Main St, Swords, Co Dublin, Ireland

Broken Braces? What to do if a bracket or wire breaks.

April 23, 2019
|
Posted By: Brenda Shanahan

It is not unusual for a bracket or wire to break during orthodontic treatment and its nothing to panic about.

This usually happens when you bite into something a bit too hard and the pressure causes the bracket to come away from the tooth or the wire to move/break.

So what to do if you need something fixed on your brace…

Book an appointment- one of our orthodontists or our therapist will see you to repair the brace. Just call the practice on 018107622 and we’ll book you in as soon as possible.

DON’T FORGET: Orthodontic wax can be used to cover up sharp points on the brace and protect your mouth if a wire is broken/protruding.

Why do Orthodontic Breakages Happen?

The most common reason braces break is biting into hard or sticky foods. Always remember to cut hard food into smaller pieces and avoid anything chewy or sticky and this can help minimise the amount of breakages you have.

Another common cause of a damaged brace is a knock to the mouth while playing sports such as rugby or GAA. Always ensure you’re wearing a gumshield that is specially designed to fit around braces.

Related Blog Posts
April 2, 2025
Orthodontics and Mouth Cancer 2025 Part 3...What happened next

After a busy day of orthodontic treatments, I was in the practice one evening doing some treatment planning for the patients that would be coming in later that week and the phone rang with Prof Stassen’s name on the screen.

As he does the jaw surgery and other special procedures for my patients that need them, I’d always take the call when I get it because it usually means something needs to be discussed in detail and I’ll have to make special appointments and the quicker I know what I have to do the quicker I can help my patients. In this case it was “remember ...

March 31, 2025
Orthodontics and Mouth Cancer 2025 Part 2...Our Experience at Swords Ortho

I have blogged about mouth cancer before. We had mouth cancer screening days in the practice, there was a national mouth cancer awareness day.

It’s not one of the more famous ones, there isn’t a national campaign where we wear a ribbon or a flower or have a coffee morning at work for it, but it’s certainly there in the background messing around with people’s lives. Before I was an orthodontist I used to work at the junior levels of various oral surgery departments around Northern Ireland and England and saw many patients receive treatment for it. Those patients were referred to us from one source ...

March 29, 2025
Orthodontics and Mouth Cancer 2025 Part 1...Examinations

It’s a given fact among orthodontists that every child should have an orthodontic examination by the age of 7. This is to look for healthy development of teeth, their positions in the developing mouth and the way they relate to each other. Some problems might be obvious  but some are lurking unseen by parents - and the kids themselves - and require someone with an appropriate mix of experience and knowledge to detect or investigate.

Why bother so young?

The idea is that if you detect certain problems there are simple interventions (we’d call that interceptive orthodontic treatment) that might avoid a more serious problem developing, one ...