Got my lower brackets fitted today

[Carlosis]

So i finally had my first foray into the world of lingual braces. I'm having both upper and lower fitted but today i got the lower brackets fitted.

The whole experience was completely fine, no real discomfort and it was all fitted within the hour. Tongue is getting used to all these brackets and the first thing i noticed was that i couldn't properly bite down at the back, which i was told is normal. Not tried to eat anything yet but other than finding it difficult to properly chew i can't see there being any problems.

I go back in a month to have the wire fitted and have the upper brackets put in too. Before then i have to have a lower incisor removed.

SO far so good though! i'll put up some pics once both brackets and wires are installed so i can start seeing the progress.

[touchofhiddencharm]

i could never imagine having lingual braces! good on you! good luck

[busy bee]

Fantastic! I've got lingual braces on the top and I love them! What are the bottom ones like? Are you finding them comfortable? Mine are generally ok but it's taken me 5 months to get rid of the lisp (hurray, it's gone now!). Sometimes I get a few days of discomfort but it generally passes quite quickly with wax. Good luck with yours!

[Carlosis]

Bottom ones have been taking some getting used to! There's a couple of brackets that are doing a number on my tongue so wax is a must everytime i eat anything at the moment. I don't know how i'd cope without it.
Hopefully by 11th June my bottom ones are comfortable enough as that's when i get the uppers and wires fitted.
It's not exactly comfortable but i don't really care, i'm just thinking of the end result.

Have you seen much progress in the 5 months you've had them?

[busy bee]

Loads of progress! I had extraction gaps which quickly started to close up with power chains. I can honestly say that the upper ones were uncomfortable at first but it didn't take long to get used to them. Other people who I've known to have both upper and lower have said that the upper ones are much easier on the tongue than the lowers but I can't say first hand. I love my upper linguals though! Good luck with yours!

[Carlosis]

How long after the extraction did the gaps close up? my main concern is having a big gap in the front of my mouth whilst talking, luckily it's on the lower so not as noticeable.

How do you find cleaning them? i don't find it so bad so far but i don't have any wire on yet, just the brackets. I'm sure that'll change!

Carl.

[busy bee]

The extraction gaps have not closed completely but they are much less noticeable now and I've had the braces for six months. I had power chains on for the first three months and in that time they closed about half way. I was never really too bothered about them though as the top one closed really quickly (about half way) and after that you can hardly see it. The bottom ones were worse but they really are not very noticeable on the bottom as you rarely show your bottom teeth. Also, remember that no one else cares as much as you do!

As for cleaning, it gets easier. I use an orthodontic head on my electric toothbrush, water pik and inter dental brushes. It used to take ages but you get quicker. At first it was much harder when the wire went in but now it's fine. I actually found the brace more comfortable when the wire went in as the surface becomes a bit smoother.

Good luck!

[Carlosis]

Ah that's good to know then, i know i'm going to notice the gap more than anyone else! the ortho will be putting some filler on the teeth either side so it's not so drastic either.

I'm interested to know what wires i'll be getting first thing and if i'll be put on power chains to begin with.

I've not tried the inter dental brushes yet but i can see those coming in handy once the wires are on! i'm currently just using a mix of standard floss, waterpik and electric toothbrush.

[Carlosis]

Well it's been almost a month now since had the brackets fitted. My tongue is fully used to the brackets and no longer get cut up by them. Had my lower incisor removed today which wasn't fun! the gap looks huge. I have my next appointment with the ortho tomorrow to have my upper brackets fitted, have both wires fitted and hopefully have some filling put in either side of the gap to lessen the look of it.

It's slowly all coming together.

[Carlosis]

So the day after i had the tooth removed i had my upper brackets and wires fitted. They also filled the gap with a fake tooth filling thing which, apart from looking overly white and out of place, works very well to replace the gap.

They also fitted a rubber bracket thing (i guess this would be a power chain?) to the lower front teeth. The first week was pretty tough going, every tooth really ached and was tough eating anything and my lisp was horrendous. It's now been almost 2 weeks and i'm very comfortable with the braces. Eating is still tough, mainly with stuff getting caught but my Waterpik is amazing and gets rid of everything in minutes. I've tried using the floss threader so i can actually floss my teeth but it doesn't seem to fit inbetween any of my teeth? neither does the inter dental brush they gave me. The Waterpik is doing a fine job so i'm just sticking with that and standard electric brushing for now.

Here you can see what my teeth look like now, and how obvious it is i need braces! on the lower pic you can see the extra white tooth filling in place of the extracted tooth. I haven't asked how long i need them for but it's going to be a while. I'll post picture updates every month or so to compare progress.

[Carlosis]

Just stopping by with a 6 week update, there's been quite a lot going on since my last update! mainly the bottom teeth have aligned a significant amount and the gap created by the removed tooth is not far off being closed up. Very happy with what's been achieved so far and i'm completely used to wearing the braces now. Eating can be a chore but common sense and avoiding things too tough like crusty bread and anything that could damage the bracket or wire has done me well so far. Highly recommend the Waterpik again, don't know how i 'd manage without it.

[Carlosis]

Hi everyone,

So it's clearly been a while since I've posted but thought I'd stop by to say that i got my braces off a few weeks ago. It took over 2 years, many many changes occurred, at one point i had to have my lower linguals taken out and replaced with standard front braces but i finally reached the finish line. I've attached the before and after photos below. If anyone has any questions feel free to comment here or send me a message.

[Viconia]

Hi Carl,

For some reason I can't see your photos, could you repost?
I have upper lingual so, would like to know why you had to have your lowers removed?

I'm sure your teeth look great now!