One week into Lingual Braces - upper and lower

[flaav001]

Hi Everyone

Long time reader. First time poster. I'm one week (tomorrow morning) into my lingual braces journey...and it's been tough. I'm remaining positive but I do have a few questions for everyone and would love as many insights as possible. Reading forums is what convinced me to finally bite the bullet and do this!

Just to give you background, my main reason for having lingual is to correct my midline shift. My midline is off by about 3-4mm due to a dentist pulling out a tooth when I was a kid and then me growing up with my teeth off centre because I'm one tooth short. So the plan is to widen my arch enough to recreate the space for the tooth the dentist (that I curse in my head daily) took out. When the gap is big enough, my orthodontist is going to attach a fake tooth to my linguals. You won't be able to really see that area when I'm talking generally, but when I go a big smile you will, so I'm hoping so much I don't have to go for too long with a gap. Once i'm done I'll be looking into an implant. Oh joy, more money, more pain! My lower teeth are ok but a bit crooked in sections, so we're correcting that too. My estimated treatment time is 2 years.

So I got my linguals last Thursday (March 10) morning and day 1 was actually ok. I didn't have much pain just felt strange and my mouth felt tight. The following days were hard. I struggled with speech and eating and pain and STILL having some trouble. Here are my queries!

1. SPEECH - While everyone assures me I sound normal...to me I don't...and talking is actually exhausting. I feel like I've run a marathon after an hour meeting at work. I can't continue to feel like that when I talk! Does this feeling go away?
2. WAX - I put wax on my back molars and a few other teeth to help my tongue but I'm quickly running out of what my oath gave me. Bought some from a chemist but it's so crap. Does anyone have any recommendations of brands I can buy online (I'm in Australia.)
3. EATING - I have a minor overbite, but what's happened is now my lower teeth when my mouth closes, they rest on my upper teeth brackets - this makes my back teeth no longer touch so I feel like I can't chew...which means I'm still on soup and yoghurt. Has anyone else had this problem and how did they get around it?
4. TOOTH ACHES - I've had dental issues in the past, have had to have one root canal and have two crowns on two teeth. With my history, a tooth ache freaks me out. Since getting braces on, a different tooth seems to ache each day. Is this just normal? Or should I be looking into this further as a dental rather than orthodontic issue?

Thanks in advance for your help. My huge positive with linguals is that you cannot see them, which is why we all go with it as an option really - so that's a plus!

[iob]

Hi flaav - It sounds like you're having a bit better-than-normal experience early on the speech front, and a normal experience on the others. If, only six days in, your speech sounds pretty normal to others, I think you're ahead of the curve. I suspect you'll be a lucky one with your speech getting to 100% before too long. I sounded pretty silly and it took me longer, but even I eventually got to a good place after a couple of months.

Regarding wax options, if you're able to find silicone "wax," I recommend giving it a try. Oftentimes you can find it sold as moldable, silicone wax earplugs. It's great - much better than ortho wax. Stays on, stays in one piece, not as messy to remove when needed.

Eating issues: If you like variety, you'll soon discover the joys of the ever-changing bite. As things move around, different teeth with touch - or not. My back molars did not touch for months. Now, most of them do. In the meantime, cut small pieces and you'll figure it out. I suppose if you're desperate for molar contact, your ortho could add molar buildups/bite blocks to bridge the distance, but I've never heard of anyone actually wanting molar buildups.

Toothaches: yeah, get used to a new sore tooth popping up mid-month. It's kind of like Wack-a-Mole in your mouth.

Good luck. Sounds like you're off to a good start.

[flaav001]

Thanks for the reply. Feeling better about my speech thanks to your comments!

Eating is my challenge I need to combat I think, I've lost a bit of weight already and I don't really have much to lose! In addition to it being hard to bite they are still so tender, but I think it will just take time.

I'll go hunting for silicone wax earplugs on the weekend. Thanks for the tip

Anyone else's comments welcome!

[Kalia]

It's been a little while now, how are you doing flaav? Still getting the same problems, or has it improved at all?

[flaav001]

Thanks Kalia.
I am going a lot better, what a relief! I did have some trouble and had the bracket that is on my tooth with a crown break off..so I was back at the orthodontist yesterday so feeling a bit tender today, a new tooth has decided to ache! My eating is still a bit challenging but I have been trying some very slow and soft chewing, I'm sure it will be onwards and upwards from here

This forum is a lifesaver!

[tm6018]

hi flaav... I was just wondering if you are in Australia and (if you don't mind me asking) how much your braces are going to cost? Im a 27 year old female and have been considering getting lingual braces for such a long time now but have had so many anxieties about it that i haven't been able to take the plunge! Money is also a huge factor as I have read some posts from people with quotes of $16,000!

Anyway I really hope it is all going well for you!
Thanks!

[flaav001]

[quote="tm6018"]hi flaav... I was just wondering if you are in Australia and (if you don't mind me asking) how much your braces are going to cost? Im a 27 year old female and have been considering getting lingual braces for such a long time now but have had so many anxieties about it that i haven't been able to take the plunge! Money is also a huge factor as I have read some posts from people with quotes of $16,000!

Anyway I really hope it is all going well for you!
Thanks![/quote]

Hi tm6018.
Don't mind you asking at all! . Yes I am in Australia and a 26 year old female located in Adelaide. Mine all up are about 8,500 and I get around 2,800 back from my health fund, which I think is pretty decent. I paid upfront so got a small discount too. I know the incognito brand of lingual braces can be up around the 15K mark, which seems a bit crazy. Mine are not a brand specific, my orthodontist just deals with a guy in Melbourne who manufacturers them. They are still really good though, each bracket was designed specially for each tooth. If you can afford cost (and I'm all for investing in yourself) then I would reccomend taking the plunge. The first 10 days are very difficult but you do adjust to them and it's motivating knowing that I'm on my way to a smile I will love! I now have moments where I completely forget they are on, mind you I am still using wax on my back molers, but my Orthodontist assures me I'll get even more used to them. Happy to answer any more questions and good luck!!

[latebracefaceINCOG]

Hey, so I am totally empathetic to your struggle.....I got my linguals on Jan 26th.....I am not sure what kind you got but I have heard different things about different brands....I can only speak about Incognito's....

1. SPEECH - This is worst in the beginning....all the brace edges are sharp, and the wires hit your tongue. I sounded like an idiot...sometimes i still do just to avoid hurting my tongue (see #4). This gets much better on week 3 - you just suddenly get used to it. I recommend those pea-type ice pads in a sleeve or towel (I have a special one that has a strap I velcro around my head when I am hurting. I hate taking any pills (my own wacky belief), but I did have to break down twice and take 200mg of Advil liquigel, and twice some diphenhydramine (benedryl) to sleep; this was only in the beginning.
2. WAX - I really tried not to use wax too much, but there is Oral B mouthwash for Braces (w/pain relief), and Canker X, both of which can be ordered on Amazon. GUM brand wax can be ordered online, but the silicone provided by the ortho was easiest to work with; if you have to get the GUM wax, it still works great, just a little harder to place. Get the GUM with vitamin E; it comes in a green package, and can be ordered on Amazon.
3. EATING - I have these sections of the braces that wrap around my molars (you can see my pics in my thread on the board). This was a little bit to get used to; i felt like biting down would be impossible, but I find myself biting on these pads to sense the movement of my teeth for any given adjustment. Your bite becomes softer, but it is fine. Scrambled eggs, pasta w/olive oil and sauce, both of which can have ground meat added; also yogurt and sorbetto/ice cream become your friend. Cut everything up and use a fork and knife (small forks are best); do not bite into things.
4. TOOTH ACHES - This is a pain in the ass to be frank; everything moves at different times. I just got my bottom wire changed and a powerchain on the top front 6 teeth....the first 4 weeks were regular rubberbands....second 4 weeks were Alastik's rubberbands which are much tighter...third 4 weeks these super small tight-as-hell grey rubber bands on those front upper 6, with a powerrchain on top (everything else from here forward will only be Alastiks, except or unless the ortho has other torture devices to add to the mix (i.e.these front 6), and the wire got changed on the bottom from the 0.014 round wire to a pretty thick increase that is rectangular (0.016 x 0.022). My front 6 hurt like hell for a week, I had the icepack on last night because my bottom jaw in the back hurt, tonight my lower arch (mostly molar area) aches. Expect your teeth to do wacky s**t.

Hope that helps,

latebracefaceINCOG

[flaav001]

Thanks latebracefaceINCOG. Great to hear your thoughts, especially about the tooth aches!

I've been going pretty well,my eating is ok...I have been able to chew a bit, but mostly just on one side. I did go a whole day and night without wax last week, but ended up very sore. I have my first adjustment this Friday, I'll be one month in by then. My major concern is still my speech. It wasn't a worry to me because I thought I was doing fine, but then my very honest cousin, who I haven't seen in awhile' saw me yesterday, and said 'what's going on with your mouth? You sound weird!" - it's now made me so paranoid! I feel now that all the people who haven't said anything, or have said to me I sound fine have lied! Now I feel like my speech has even gone a bit backwards and I'm struggling more in week 4 than I did in week 3. Has anyone else experienced this?

I am noticing a bit of movement, I feel my teeth may end up looking worse before they look better though

[iob]

I think experiencing some regression with your speech is pretty common. At least it happened with both you and me, though I went backwards - badly - during weeks 2-3...a tad bit earlier than you. I have no idea why. After that, it was just incremental, seemingly imperceptible progress until I realized it wasn't much of an issue at some point. I'm not even exactly sure at this point when I stopped noticing it. In the meantime, whenever I got self conscious about it and started thinking too much, I made it worse. At some point you've both improved enough and stopped caring/worrying about it that it's no longer an issue.

Things are 99% fine now, but even then there are occasional moments when my mouth is dry/"cotton-y" and I stumble over certain sounds. It's rare enough, more subtle, and like I said I've reached the point where I just mentally shrug my shoulders and say "whatever." When you're in the middle of your early, slurring worst it seems like it will never get better, but it definitely does.

I can tell you with 100% certainty that I'm very happy with the decision to go with linguals, despite some serious "oh jeez, what in the hell have I done?" moments early on. The benefits have SO outweighed the initial challenges.

[flaav001]

Thanks iob!

A week later and I'm still struggling with speech problems! Driving me nuts! I'm trying to remain positive that I will get to that point you say, where I won't care!

I do a lot of face to face talking with people at work and feel like everyone is staring at my mouth! it's so frustrating! I have to present to our board in 3 weeks so I'm hoping so much I'm better by then. This Thursday I will have had linguals for 5 weeks.

On the bright side, what's keeping me going is that there is definitely movement happening!

[iob]

btw, have you tried putting a small strip of wax over/above your top front four or six teeth? Just enough to smooth over the transition between your gum line and the brackets? Several of us commented early in our lingual experience that this made a big difference with our lisping. It feels annoying, but when you need to sound good it's worth it if it works for you.

[Beckett]

While I don't have linguals, none of my teeth meet to be able to chew so I thought I'd offer some of my soft food suggestions. Mashed potatoes and gravy, scrambled eggs, bananas, fish, and fruit smoothies have been great for me. I'm just past two weeks and finding I can half chew a few things that dissolve well, like Ritz crackers, Kix cereal for breakfast (though a sliced banana is better) and today I had one of those peanut butter/chocolate wafer dessert bars, though I still had to cut it up into bite size pieces. It was a nice treat because except for the smoothies I haven't had much for sweets lately. I have bumpers on the four front lower teeth so biting into things is pretty impossible right now. Eating is tiring so I don't consume as much as before, but I am in the position of not complaining if 10 or 15 pounds dissapear from my body. Not much more or I'd probably look ill.

[Mrcf]

So in your opinion: do you regret got linguals? My ortho is specialiced in lingual techniques. As I am looking forward to start with braces after solving TMJ pain with a bite plate I was told to start in 3 month. So Linguals Ort traditionales?

[flaav001]

Thanks Beckett! I've definitely been better with eating but don't eat as often! I've dropped a fair bit of weight in 5 weeks but I think that should stop now - hopefully!

Mrcf, even though I'm still frustrated with my speech....I don't regret going with linguals. There is no way I would have had braces on the front of my teeth. It may sound silly, but I just never even considered it for a second! I'm not sure how long I'll need braces on and already in the next 12 months I'm in two weddings and have a feeling I'll be engaged in the time I have braces and I just don't want metal in any photos!

I'm not really in much pain any more, it's more just a slurred speech that's become my issue but I will persevere! I was so good in week 3, so I need to get back to how I was then!