Spring from Tennessee

My reason for getting braces as an adults sounds like so many others: my parents didn’t have the money when I was growing up. It was always something that bothered me so I decided I would do it when I got older. I just turned 29 and I’m in day three of having braces put on the top row of my teeth.

I started the process about 4 ½ months ago. I have a cross bite and crowding so my dentist told me I would have to wear a pallet stretcher to move my upper teeth out before he would put the braces on. Let me tell you, I hated wearing that thing! It made me talk like Cindy Brady! Luckily, he gave me one I could pop in and out so I could eat. Originally, he told me he thought I would only have to wear it for four weeks – ten weeks later I was still wearing it. He was going to have me wear it longer but when he saw the look on my face after he said it, he decided to go ahead and put the braces on.

They only did my top row because he said if he did both rows, to start, they would “chase each other.” I’m still not sure what that means. He’ll put the bottom ones on in about 12 weeks. I was in my car going back to work after having them put on and I was a little concerned they weren’t doing anything because I thought I would feel tightness right away. I thought they had to “tighten” the wire to make it work. Until I found this website, I didn’t understand how the wires worked. About 5 hours after having them on, I started to feel the tightness and pain. Then I knew they were working! I was stupid and tried to eat a bagel sandwich when I got home that evening – DON’T DO THIS! I had a lot of pain after that (and wasn’t able to eat more than a couple of bites). When I woke up on day two I had a lot of pain. I took three Advil and once it kicked in, I only felt slight pressure. The second day was definitely the worst of the pain. This morning when I woke up (day three), there wasn’t much pressure or pain at all.