First adjustment - what can I expect?

[revelvia]

The hospital just changed my date, and naturally have moved it to the day before I go on holiday. They won't adjust it.

So, uh, what am I to expect? Am I going to be in pain the whole time and have my entire holiday ruined?

[klobird]

Take a lot of Ibuprofen and you should be fine. Start before your adjustment. The first adjustment wasn't that bad from what I recall--but I seem to easily forget the discomfort as soon as it's over....which will probably be only a couple of days.
The hardest thing for me right after an adjustment is eating, but like I said, I don't remember the 1st one being that bad...

[workingmomma]

I go for my first adjustment tommorow too! Guess we'll both find out how it goes..

[musiclady2340]

Adjustments can vary in discomfort. My first one was hard. Taking Ibuprofin beforehand did help. Then eating softer foods. Seems that is typically the way it works with adjustments. The first couple of days after one are always a "pain". But the discomfort does go away.

[vincent168]

I hear the pain isn't supposed to last longer than 3 days

[EbonyQ]

It depends on what wire you have and what wire he is going to use. Orthos are working very differently. That's why some get a lot of pain and some very little.

Some start with.13 or.14 and some even with .16 (the strength of the wire).
If you started on .13 you might just get .14 on your first adjustment just like I will. If you started on .14 he might jump to 16. or even .19 which is very common.

My ortho goes from .13 to .14 and then .19, but because of my fear of pain with braces we are going to take .16 between .14 and .19. We are taking it very easy.

[kellyb]

looking forward to the replies in this topic as i will be having my first adjustment on saturday 18th feb. when i had the braces fitted, i only experienced tenderness for 3 days so i am hoping i will be as lucky this time around.

[reynolk]

My first adjustment was done in December, and honestly I don't remember any pain at all. My ortho changed my arch wires, and put powerchains on. There was a slight discomfort with getting the powerchains put on. But i took a couple of advil prior to the appointment, and was back to eating regular foods the next day. BTW, I have a very low tolerance for pain.

[vincent168]

My ortho started with a very thin archwire. Will my 1st adjustment be a lot worse (thicker archwire)?

[midnight]

I had my first adjustment on Wednesday and i had some mild discomfort but nothing more than that. Having to have slightly softer food than I was the day before the adjustment but it's nowhere near as bad as when I first had the brace put on (which is weird as i also had the bottom one put on on Wednesday but it hasn't caused the same problems that the top one did!)

I don't know what strength of wire it was before (it was very thing and round though) but I heard her ask the assistant for a .16 this time which appears to be square instead?

[kellyb]

I had my first adjustment on Wednesday and i had some mild discomfort but nothing more than that. Having to have slightly softer food than I was the day before the adjustment but it's nowhere near as bad as when I first had the brace put on (which is weird as i also had the bottom one put on on Wednesday but it hasn't caused the same problems that the top one did!)

I don't know what strength of wire it was before (it was very thing and round though) but I heard her ask the assistant for a .16 this time which appears to be square instead?

wow, now i am abit scared as i am only wearing lowers at the moment. had about 3 or 4 days discomfort when they were initially fitted so now i am dreading the uppers going on next month

[midnight]

I had my first adjustment on Wednesday and i had some mild discomfort but nothing more than that. Having to have slightly softer food than I was the day before the adjustment but it's nowhere near as bad as when I first had the brace put on (which is weird as i also had the bottom one put on on Wednesday but it hasn't caused the same problems that the top one did!)

I don't know what strength of wire it was before (it was very thing and round though) but I heard her ask the assistant for a .16 this time which appears to be square instead?

wow, now i am abit scared as i am only wearing lowers at the moment. had about 3 or 4 days discomfort when they were initially fitted so now i am dreading the uppers going on next month

sorry don't be scared! everyone is different and some people won't feel any discomfort at all! mine was mainly with the quad helix that was fitted at the same time and think the whole thing was a bit of a shock as I had no idea what to expect - with the lowers i had more of an idea of what the whole thing would feel like

[kellyb]

thanks midnight
i will let you know how i get on when the upper arch is fitted. it is now official i will have them on 17th march

so back to the present, had my first adjustment today. all went well apart from me being 20 mins late for my appointment due to heavy traffic/road works/bad weather. anyhow, the ortho office wasn't bothered that i was late which was a good thing.

had my wire changed from .14 to .18. the ortho said i didn't need the .16. also had power chains to close some gaps. it's now been 4 hours since the adjustment and so far i can only feel a slight tenderness amongst a couple of teeth at the front.

[trisportgirl]

I wouldn't be too nervous - my orthodontist didn't even change anything on my first visit, after 6 weeks of braces! He just poked around, said "looks good, we should be able to change the wire next time, see you in 5 weeks" and I was done. At 11 weeks I went from 16 gauge to 12 gauge on the top with no pain, and I STILL haven't had the bottom wire changed!

I think it's reasonable to expect that at the very least it will hurt less than when you originally got them put on :)