Metal Mouth Message Board

I had my upper/lower put in a few days ago, and it's been an a real ordeal.

I can chew fine but speaking, on the other hand, is a chore; it's like trying to talk with a mouth-guard. Alas, I'll have to wait another week or so before I get more comfortable, but I already am happy with my decision to get braces for several reasons. First, I've pretty much laid off the junks that are on the do-not-eat list. Second, I stopped biting my nails - they look visibly better even though the braces have been put in only a few days ago.

I can't wait for the 2 years to pass by - I should have great looking teeth AND nails :)

Hi wate wate, and welcome.

Practise speaking whenever you get the opportunity as this will help your speech come good. Search for the Rainbow Passage on this board and read it aloud.

watewate, welcome.

speak, sing out loud and say tongue twisters as often as possible. by week 4 my speech had improved drastically (minus many lovely "s" words) from doing this. good luck on your journey to a healthy smile!

btw, one of the tongue twisters i used to say to work on that pesky "s" was:

Sally sells seashells by the seashore.
The shells Sally sells surely won’t sail
But since Sally sells sea shells and not ship sails,
Surely she’ll sell all the shiny sea shells she’s soon shipping on sale.

I want to get my teeth staightened, but don't want to sound like a fool. How bad is the lisp/speech? If others can really tell, then I guess you end up telling people it's the braces behind the teeth? Defeats the whole purpose of "invisible braces." No one will know??

The speech issues are definitely noticeable for the first couple of weeks. I shared the same frustration you expressed - I wanted my braces to be invisible but yet I had to explain myself to some people who noticed my speech problem. The difference though is that if you tell someone you have braces but they can't see them, they will forget you ever said anything about having braces after a short time. If people can see them, then they're always aware of them. Think of it like this - are you more concerned that people will KNOW you have braces or that people will SEE them on your teeth every day? Maybe I'm vain, but I am more concerned about aesthetics so I am very pleased that nobody can see them, even if I have to disclose it to some people that I talk to on a regular basis.

Good point, bradyfan. I too, am kind of vain and I guess people visibly noticing is worse. I wonder if the speech problem sounds the same for invisalign users or someone who has a tongue ring. I did have a consultation at a place where the website said that they worked with ibraces, when indeed, I believe, they didn't. I think it was a lure to get me in and get me to use invisalign. When I asked if any patients were using linguals, the ortho answer was no. I guess the only thing keeping me from the linguals is the speech. I am nervous that once I commit, I will regret it, at least at the beginning......

Hi Chupche, you wont regret it, the speech is only a problem in the first month... not even a month to some.. but u will eventially get used to them and adapt to a different way of pronouncing some letters/words... I only tell people that are close to me that i got braces and they are shocked and ask me where da hell they are.. that's what i love about them, they are completely invisible.. no one can see them and they are doing their job..
By the way... are u maco? lol

Chupche, I don't think you'll regret it once you get through the first couple of weeks. I'm in my third week and I am feeling so much better than first week. I am beginning to conquer the speech problem by, as BlahBlah said, learning to say certain words a little differently. I still have trouble with some "s" words, but it's getting a lot better. I was not a candidate for Invisalign, although I heard that Invisalign users have similar speech problems during the initial adjustment phase.

For me, speech was never a problem. I think i noticed the difference more than anyone else. Many people around me didn't even notice. And the rest knew i was going to get them to begin with. It's been more than 3 months, and i have always had a problem towards the end of the day when i am tired, or when i talk too much. I guess it helps to work at a casual environment, it gets to be funny when i start lisping and we make jokes about it -so it's never embarassing.

i wouldn't worry about it. First couple of weeks, you just need to try a little bit harder to speak normally. and it is not really that hard.

I think it really does depend on the person. I am sure some people struggle alot with speaking, and others get lucky and have it pretty easy. I would say I barely had any problems when I got my upper linguals (except for some s words,) but did have to try really hard to speak when I got my lowers. The lisping only lasted about 2 weeks though, and people barely noticed. Now I am pretty much talking normally, so I am happy with my decision. I think having my braces hidden is worth it, and I would have done it again even if I knew I would struggle even more with speech.

Just wondering itsjust me, if you are in Toronto and what ortho you are using.......................

Good tongue twister.
Sally sells seashells by the seashore.
The shells Sally sells surely won’t sail
But since Sally sells sea shells and not ship sails,
Surely she’ll sell all the shiny sea shells she’s soon shipping on sale.

hi i am trying to decide between ceramic braces and ibrace/lingual. I am having a pretty hard time because i really do not want my braces to show. At first i thought i was for sure going to get lingual/ibraces but my aunt had them a couple years ago and she said the experience was horrible and would never do it again so that obviously changed my mind. This may sound pretty gross and im sorry but she said when she got sick her throw-up got caught in her braces and she fet like she was choking and it was just terrible. Im wondering if that has happened to any of you or if you did not have that problem when you got sick. Im so confused about what kind i should get and im kinda stressed about it lol. So any sort of advice you could give would be greatly appreciated.

New generation linguals are a lot smaller than the older ones, have a lower profile and are therefore a lot more comfortable. I don't know what your aunt had, but maybe she didn't have these ones. I've had one vomiting episode and can assure you that none of it got stuck along the way out.

I havent vomitted for about 10 years so i wouldn't know.... lol