TPA

[~KMG~]

Soooo....this has not been the most stellar week for me in th orthodontic realm. I was the lucky recipient of a TPA on Monday to aid in my impacted canine eruption. This feels like torture device!! My tongue is torn up from the wire constantly resting on it. I can't eat and when I do, food gets stuck in the roof of my mouth and my speech is horribly affected! For those of you out there that have one, or something similar, PLEASE tell me it will get better! I never realized how much a person thrusts their tongue on the roof of their mouth for various things until now. This makes my first week of braces feel like a cake walk!

Rant over....thanks for listening!!

[Jenn B]

Sigh...I am in the same boat! I was the lucky recipient on Tuesday of a TPA and LLA....my tongue was so raw for days and my cheeks kept getting caught and getting cut. I have these in until June 1st. I can't believe that I was actually looking forward to this part because I thought it would be better than the spacers....I would give anything to trade the spacers for these things! My speech is absolutely horrible! People look at me funny all the time when I talk and my mouth seems to be full of saliva at all times! Hang in there! Hopefully it gets better!

[madisonian]

Once I saw this topic, I had to post a reply. I, too, have a TPA. I started my orthodontic treatment about 5 weeks ago. The first week or so was terrible. I hated having that thing in the back of my mouth. All of the symptoms you described are 100% accurate. I regularly have to present and hold meetings at work, and the first week, I felt like I sounded like a freak. Others told me they couldn't tell, but I believe they were being polite. A few days after it was installed, I had to present information to a managment group, and I, at least, felt like I couldn't talk. I was so frustrated that I was inches away from getting a wire cutters and cutting the thing out of my mouth. My wife kept begging me not to do it. But, all that bad stuff being said, I have actually gotten used to it. I had to tell myself to stop thinking about it, and if I wanted the results from the treatment, I was going to have to find some way to deal with it. I also thought, if a 15 year old can do it, I can do it. Once my tongue stopped being swollen from rubbing on it, my speech has returned to almost normal. My tongue still gets kind of irritated sometimes, but it's not like during the first week.