Starting on Friday!!!

[saps]

Sorry you're having a hard time. I know NOTHING about specific kinds of lingual braces but I had a very hard time and felt just like you described on the first day. It took a little time but I (and my mouth and tongue) adjusted. I didn't feel much "pressure" at first but my teeth moved very quickly. I had to use a lot of wax at first (and pain killers - namely Orajel for me). Hang in there! We've all been through the tough first part and it DID get easier for us. Good luck and I hope you find some comfort!!!!!

You asked for advice and I would say this:
1. Eat a LOT of smoothies, shakes, and soup.
2. Use a LOT of wax. It won't slow things down.
3. Remember that your smile is going to beautiful and this is what you have to go through right now (but it WILL get better).

Good luck!!!!

[billybob]

Hi there, yes, we feel for you, and have been there. My uppers have been on for just over 2 weeks now, and in terms of speech, i only applied wax to the back bracket on each side (mine go all the way back) - they were the ones that seemed to "scrape" my tongue the most when it moved around when speaking. The front of my tongue also became very sensitive from touching the front brackets when trying to make "S" type sounds, but i found that applying wax to the front brackets just made my speech worse from a lisping point of view - it created even more space between tongue and teeth, more air escaping etc. Days 4-6 were the worst and then things started improving considerably, and by Day 10, speech was almost (95%) back to normal. I still apply wax on the back bracket particularly if, later in the day, i know i'm going out or will be speaking a lot. I did get ulcers for first few days and used Bonjela to help. Your tongue will toughen up though!

Can't advise on lowers, as haven't yet had them fitted (6 weeks time).

[anoushka]

Finally. I am so glad you got back to us. I have been checking the site over and over just to see how you are doing. It is amazing how close we get going through this.
Have you tried Orthosil, silicone wax. It will last a bit longer, little tricky to put it on, but worth it. First few days, i thought I am going to take the braces off myself but 3 months deep I think it is the best decisions ever made. Have a great weekend to recover, and even through out the first few days you will think it is worse than ever. It will get better, we all said it and I had to read everyone's post to reasure myself to think that way.

[Noellenoelle]

Hey there-well...I found that day 3 and 4 were worse than the intial days--I would suggest taking advil or motrin every 4-6 hours and try to rest your mouth if you can! I only have the bottoms on, but they are harder to get used to in regards to eating etc...I have the ibraces too (is that what you have?) I lived on milkshakes, pancakes, soup, pasta the first few days-but mostly milkshakes. Get some orajel or something for the sores, and do salk water rinses like 4-5 times a day to help speed up the healing process. I felt pressure on my teeth on days 4 and 5, but nothing motrin didn't help-plus I did my share of drinking wine to ease the pain too!!
Hope this helps and let me know how you are making out!

[sad sam]

hang in there - I felt bad for the first week but have my top ones on for 13 days now and feel so much better now. Mash potato is a good thing to eat if you are fed up of soups and smoothies as well as pasta and sauce. all the best
sam

[Noellenoelle]

[quote="lingual or nought"]So here we go…

The time came and I sat down in the chair and everything was opposite of anything I ever imagined or prepared for from this site and the net. The prep of the teeth was fine. Never tasted the bitter stuff. Maybe because my mouth was so dry.No face stretcher, only cotton but then……

…… he put on the most vicious brackets top and bottom you have ever seen. They are the same ones my friends had on the front of their teeth in 1983. They are called Begg, I think, and attach with these little pins. They are pokey and prickly and not at all smooth like the Stb’s I saw on the net and on the Ortho’s model that he showed me at the consult. He then filed between my teeth to make space and I got splashed and smelled smoke.

He only put on the front eight teeth top and bottom and wired them in and sent me on my way. Wow was it sharp. I had to go straight to a meeting and so piled on copious amount of wax and apologized for my speech with a slurpy “ekthkutheâ€

[lingualslady]

Ulcers - ive had loads and at the beginning they were huge!! This is the best stuff
www.archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=27603
If youre not in the UK, maybe you can take the details to a pharmacist and ask for an equivalent - seriously it's much better than bonjela. They will get better but mine healed much quicker the nights i was sleeping lots (knock yourself out if needs be) and I also took a lot of vits/mineral supplements given the obvious limitations on diet.

I'm only just starting to eat a sensible variety of foods.. Between my ulcers and teeth being so sensitive -different ones different days- I lived off scrambled egg or mash with gravy/sauce for about 2 weeks. After I moved on to overcooked pasta and then mince! Yesterday I managed to eat roast beef and roast potatoes - hooray!

Hang in there - it does get better!

[rolo]

Sorry you have having such a hard time. The first few weeks are the worst. Do keep going though, once you are used to them they are great, I forget I am wearing mine now a couple of months in.

As for tips, in the early days I drank slimfast, not to loose weight, but to get a quick meal in, espeically breakfast on busy days, I tried complan and build up shakes but they were gross. Also yoghurts and little gooy deserts in pots are a great way of getting easy calories in.

For me staying well hydrated was key to protecting my tongue and keeping the speech good to the end of the day.

My top product for mouth wear and tear has to be Difflam oral rinse.

Hope you feel better soon

[lingual or nought]

Hi everyone.

THANKS for all the replies. You were all right. It does get better. From about Sunday afternoon (BD was Friday) I could suddenly go waxless except for the brackets on the wide back teeth (tooth number 4) on all sides.

I also bought bracease that's like wax but is supposed to stay on for eating. Oh and I have a small tongue on my ulcer (no typo.)

I still can't eat without feeling like its a driving test and the ssss'ss are "Thloppy" but I feel a million times better.

Taking each minute as it comes.

And still no one's seen my braces. Probably worth the pain alone.

Thanks again!

[lingual or nought]

and painkillers. Ibruprofen and codine. Mood altering narcotics.

[lingual or nought]

Thanks again for all the support. It has now been six days and things are getting better. I got braced on friday, things were very mserable and unbearable(see earlier thread), until Sunday when suddenly my speech got much better and they had another quantum imrovement on tuesday afternoon.

I have moments when I almost speak audibly and the only worrying brackets are those nearer the back.

The actual braces preassure has never been too bad. The top wire kept on jumping out the end bracket which saw me returning to the ortho every day this week. Eventually yesterday he replaced it and now its working and I'm feeling the pulling for the first tiem.

Brushing and flossing and replacing wax at night is like a half hour or more and eating is tedious and sometimes sore.

Hydration is the answer for speech difficulties and making sure to swallow between sentences. Never talk for long between swallows or your mouth turns into a washing machine.

I have found a glue like gel called brace-eze that works much better than wax, stays in when you eat and is thinner on the surface, allwong more space for your tongue.

But there are still times when I want to rip these things right out and enjoy the semi smoothe surface of the back of my crooked teeth.

This is still better than flashing outside brackets. Its linguals or nought.