First day

Message

#1 Post by **BecStar** » Mon May 17, 2010 9:10 am

Oh.my.god. I hate it already!! Its not as painful as I thought, in fact not really hurting at all... but I am having serious issues talking! I think its partly the saliva that keeps gathering behind my teeth, but also the fact that I obviously have a lot more in my mouth than usual! I am absolutely dreading having to talk to people especially coz I havent told anyone I'm having them fitted! My treatment is a compromise so I feel like if I tell people they'll be expecting perfect results, but I know it can only ever be an improvement and there will be a great deal of difference between actual and ideal results! I hope its all worth it! :-s I want my speech back!!! How long did it take you guys to get back to normal!?

#2 Post by **triggerhart** » Mon May 17, 2010 10:23 am

Hi Becstar

I had mine fitted last Monday and my speech is still a disaster. People at work have thought I was drunk and I have to keep repeating myself to be understood. Most people say it gets better - I think my case is worse than average so hopefully you won't be like me. I hadn't told many people about my brace but now have to constantly explain why my speech is so mangled. Kind of defeats the purpose of having linguals!

I'm having serious second thoughts as I'm not sure how much longer I can keep going into work sounding like a stroke victim (I don't mean to sound disrespectful - I know a stroke would be a million times worse than anything I'm putting up with right now) but I work in Sales and not being able to speak properly and confidently is a major issue. I was prepared for a lisp but this is in a different league.

I'm sorry to be negative. It's only day 1 for you and there is plenty of time for things to improve. See how you are in a few days time.

#3 Post by **BecStar** » Mon May 17, 2010 10:42 am

Lol you've hit the nail on the head there, you go to the extra lengths of getting linguals in effort to keep it hidden and then end up with people thinkin you've been hittin the bottle so have to tell them anyway!! I was prepared for it but now its actually happened its so demoralising and I am startin to wonder if it was the right thing, the right time etc already! But then I tell myself to get a grip I've hated my teeth my whole life so if this is the price I have to pay so be it... but then it still comes back to the fact that people will notice, and then if it doesnt work out for whatever reason I've just paid a lot of money to draw attention to my awful teeth!! Lol what a disaster!! My friend had em done n she said it was horrific for 2 weeksish then one day she just woke up normal again! I'm crossin my fingers that will happen for me too... and for you! Altho preferably a lot less time than 2 weeks coz I'm fed up already lol! Patience never was my strong point! Just had my first meal, I used to love food but i think things are gonna change pretty quickly coz really didnt enjoy it at all! I'm also not used to this cleaning malarky just yet either! Lol the joys of linguals eh!?x

#4 Post by **triggerhart** » Mon May 17, 2010 11:36 am

Let's hope that in a couple of weeks we can both look back and laugh at these early days.

I'm over the tongue soreness and the brace doesn't feel odd at all now. I'm even getting to grips with eating. It's just the blasted speech! I'm really encouraged by your friend's experience. I could put up with this if I 'knew' it would be over by a certain date. I'll cling onto the hope that another week will make a big difference!

Keep your chin up! I'm sure we'll both muddle through somehow.

#5 Post by **BecStar** » Mon May 17, 2010 11:48 am

I wouldnt wanna promise you it'll definitely be ok in two weeks, but I really hope thats how it works out!!! I've done an awful lot of reading around since I decided to go ahead with it and it seems some people have no probs at all, others take weeks/months and a small minority seem to have issues all along, altho it would seem that its more noticeable to them than to other people...but hopefully like you say we'll look back and giggle about it in a couple of weeks! Keep me posted how you're gettin along!! Do you have top and bottom by the way or just one?x

#6 Post by **triggerhart** » Mon May 17, 2010 12:12 pm

Just top - I had my bottom teeth straightened in my teens. There was none of this carry-on with that brace! My orthodontist at the time wanted to do corrective jaw surgery too. My parents thought he was a nutter and so I never went back after that appointment. Oh how I laughed when my current orthodontist made the same observation! However it's not strictly necessary just to improve the aesthetics so I'm not going down that route. I won't have a proper bite even at the end of treatment but it will look better than it does now.

My top teeth were gappy in my teens but are now pretty crowded and seem to be getting steadily worse and it's that I want corrected.

I'll definitely let you know how I get on and I'd love to hear how you are managing too.

Good luck for the next few days.

#7 Post by **triggerhart** » Mon May 17, 2010 12:13 pm

Forgot to say. I struggled with that whole saliva/too much spit thing for days but it's better now and I have found keeping my mouth well lubricated with water helps too.

#8 Post by **BecStar** » Mon May 17, 2010 12:35 pm

It sounds like we're in very similar situations, my bite will still be way out after the treatment, but like you I've gone for a compromise because I feel that at least if they're neat n tidy instead of gappy then I will feel much less conscious of it. I never got told about needing the jaw surgery when I was younger, my ortho at the time was all set to go ahead with extractions and pulling the top teeth back when it turns out the problem is actually with my lower jaw needing to come forward so its a bloomin good job I was too scared to have teeth pulled out lol! I think the important thing is that we feel better and it doesnt need to be perfect for that to happen! Its quite nice to now know someone who is going through the same thing! So dont go disappearing on me, i want reassurance every time things start to get better seein as u've got a weeks head start n all!! Keep ya chin up it can only get better!!x

#9 Post by **triggerhart** » Mon May 17, 2010 2:26 pm

Don't worry - I'll be here to share the good, the bad and the ugly! Saw my orthodontist this evening (how good is she seeing me at 8.30pm!). My speech is worse than would be expected and so she's put some filling material along one section of wire which was mashing my tongue to see if that helps my speech improve.

If not in another week and a half we'll look at removing some of the back brackets if we really have to. And failing that if we get to four weeks with little or no improvement the whole thing will come off and we'll just have to do it the old fashioned way.

I'm really hoping it improves as besides the speech problem it all feels fine now. Very annoying!

#10 Post by **Incognita** » Mon May 17, 2010 3:00 pm

hello!

I had up and bottom done today, does anyone know any exercises i can do - lisp is fairly slight but there! Am off work all week so want to make lots of headway in terms if improving my speech!

x

#11 Post by **drpotter** » Mon May 17, 2010 5:45 pm

I did a lot of reading/singing out loud and I'd say mine was mostly back to normal within a couple of weeks. I still lisp on the occasional word or if I'm tired or dehydrated (it really changes my lips/cheeks then!), but it's been fine. Having wax on the brackets makes it muuuuch worse though. That's when I start slurring.

I also started recording myself just to make sure my speech really was improving. I speak at conferences sometimes as part of my job so being able to speak was essential.

#12 Post by **BecStar** » Tue May 18, 2010 2:49 am

Ah trigger that sounds complicated! Hopefully the metal filling will work, I cant speak for ur situation but think half the problems with mine are coming from the air/saliva rattling through the brackets as opposed to the fact that they are there! So fingers crossed that does the trick for u! And particularly if ur tongue is being shredded then thats gonna affect how you are talking, similar to when you bite your tongue or have an ulcer I find you end up with a bit of a lisp! Hang in there for now, I really hope you get to carry on with these now you've come so far!!

Incognita - lucky u having only a slight lisp! I read somewhere about reading the 'rainbow passage' out loud, I have tried it a few times but so far find it far too depressin lol! If you google for it might be worth givin it a shot tho!

And drpotter - thanks for the chink of light at the end of the tunnel! Currently on day 2 and a 'couple of weeks' seems like forever away but it helps to hear everyone st/arted out with the same probs!! Did you find people noticed urs much?

x

#13 Post by **drpotter** » Tue May 18, 2010 5:03 am

I have to admit I avoided talking to people for the first week, except for my boyfriend who kept saying "it's not that bad!!!" (while also saying "what? could you repeat?"). I talked to someone at my first adjustment though who had standard braces and she felt the exact same and it took a while for her to talk right again too, made me feel better. After a couple weeks though no one knows I have them. Was out to lunch this weekend with some people and was remarking that I couldn't have nuts and someone was like "oh...allergies" "nope, I have braces" shocked faces all around. Then the questions, "where are they?!" "why can't we tell?!" etc, etc. It was great.

I've found that staying hydrated is one of my best weapons too. Seems like I have less saliva bugging me and they don't bother my tongue as much that way either. I can always tell when I'm getting dehydrated.

And that time will fly by! I'm at around 9 weeks now and it constantly astounds me. Especially when I see the progress! My two worst teeth (all tilted and rotated messes) are almost straight now!!

#14 Post by **BecStar** » Tue May 18, 2010 11:23 am

Lol I am having the exact same issues, I'm only speakin to my mum and my fella... and it makes me cringe every time they ask me to repeat myself because I have to listen to myself all over again!! I'm off work this week but because I'm not seeing anyone, hence not talking, I'm scared I will never adjust! Do you think you partly adjust by just having them in ur mouth or do you have to do a whole lot of talking!? I'm feeling really blue today and disappointed with myself that I'm feelin this way when its only day 2!!! 9 weeks seems a lot way away indeed!!!x

#15 Post by **drpotter** » Tue May 18, 2010 11:27 am

After the first couple of days I started talking A LOT. But only to myself *laughs*. I tried things like the Rainbow Passage (http://web.ku.edu/~idea/readings/rainbow.htm) which is meant for practicing elocution and I sang along to music almost constantly. I found my speech improved really really rapidly after that. I ended up having to cover my brackets in wax (I used entire strips of orthosil as a guard basically) every evening because my poor tongue was shredded at first, but it was worth it. After week one my guy stopped with the "huh?" questions and after week two even I couldn't hear a difference in the little recordings I made of myself except for the occasional weird word. There are still some words I'll trip over, but heck there were words I'd trip over sans braces.

Metal Mouth Message Board

First day

First day

Speech exercises - know any?