Just stumbled upon this old thread of yours Lazlo. Might be interesting for you to re-read in light of your 3-piece surgery planned.
As to your comments, I can attest. I've only been in braces for 1mo and my gums are CONSTANTLY inflamed and tender. It's not a matter of hygiene, I'm ridiculously clean and generally keep a low carb diet. I have the advantage that I'm using Invisalign and can easily take them off to actually clean my teeth. I'm getting blood from low pressure Waterpik DAILY. Fortunately, it's only happening between the maxillary 2nd molars and wisdom teeth and they're coming out on Friday. The rest aren't as terrible. But my total time in braces is only 12mo, except apparently I need to wait 9mo after the wisdom teeth come out before I can have surgery. I'm wondering if sitting in my last trays for 4mo is going to be a problem. I'm still dubious about the Damon claims, however it's nice to know that having such a provider also implies that you won't get an extraction recommendation. 3M and other companies make self-ligating brackets too, like Invisalign I hear they have some limitations in what they can accomplish.
