Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi everyone,

I've had my upper lingual on for 5 weeks now and sad to say im not doing so well. Though my speech have improved since i first got them, i still stumble upon certain words when i make a sentence.

But the problem i'm having now is with the wires and the brackets. 2 weeks ago the wires on the upper left broke, 2 days later the wire on the upper right side broke and today a bracket on my back molar came off. Since my ortho is out of the country, i have to wait till my next appoinment which is next week to get all of this stuff fixed.

Does this happen to all of you or is it just me? Im only 5 weeks in and i still have about 2 more years to go. Will this happen all the time? Do i need to avoid entirely eating hard stuff so the wires and brackets will stay put?

Oh no!! It sounds like you're going through the wars

Speechwise are you practicing lots? Are you sure people can notice the difference or is it just you who notices? Have you tried reading the Rainbow Passage, Comma Gets A Cure and Arthur The Rat? I think they really help (as does any reading out loud I suppose)

As for all the breakages, please tell me your ortho has a stand in so you don't have to suffer? Call the ortho office and see as it must be really uncomfortable with broken wires and brackets and it will slow down your progress.
I'm not too sure what others think but have you thoroughly researched your ortho? It's unfortunate to break a wire or bracket but to have 3 breakages in quick succession can't be right. Unless you have been eating nuts etc.

Good luck and keep your chin up. Let us know how you get on.

Hi Tilly, thanks for your reply. Actually yes I have been eating nuts and some other hard/crispy stuff....are we with linguals suppose to avoid eating these stuff?

Had my first adjustment 3 days back and had the brackets glued back on. My teeth are still sore after the adjustment and my speech has gotten slightly worse than before most probably due to my sore teeth and my tongue is still adjusting to the thicker wires. Anyway, hope this will all improve soon....

Hi ana7,

The sore teeth and tongue will improve in no time.

Regarding food, you really need to avoid hard food like nuts, pizza crust, baguettes etc. I've had my linguals for 14 months and no broken brackets. However, I've broken the wire with nuts before !

Good luck with your treatment.

No nuts, no hard breads, ever!

Your speech will improve, and when you think you sound bad that is your imagination. I broke a bracket eating toast this past weekend. Hang in there, its tough.

Hi Pimlico & lisa...

Yup, it is tough...guess i have to say goodbye to nuts and hard food.

As for speech, maybe you're right lisa. maybe im just imagining things. Anyway mine is the normal traditional lingual braces, not the fancy i-braces type. Maybe thats why i feel my speech is still effected even after almost 8 weeks with them on. But those wishing to go for linguals shouldn't be discouraged by this. Im doing way better than before. Only certain words are problematic if i speak too fast.

Apart from the 2 main problems above, im doing fine. Getting used to stuck food after eating . Its not so much of a hassle now.

My upper teeth have not move much though. I think its because i have yet to extract 2 of my top molar. I wanted them out fast so my teeth can move quickly. But my ortho said they will only be extracted in 3 to 4 month time after my teeth are aligned. Are most of you people in the same situation or did you have your teeth extracted first before the linguals were put on?