36 with braces

[mickjordmoll]

Hello, I just had my braces applied on Tuesday. I am 36 and this is my first set. I also have top and bottom expanders that are very uncomfortable.

Question : My top expander has a plastic shield that covers the top of my palate and touches the back of my top teeth. Since this is here, my bottom front teeth touch this when I close my mouth. This is keeping my back molars from touching together (they used to close perfectly). So this is going to cause some chewing issues. I am still on soup for now, but when I do feel the need to begin real food I am worried that I will not be able to break things down like I once could. Is this normal or should I be able to bite down with my back molars?

[klobird]

Sounds like you may have a deep bite, which means that the ortho doesn't want your top teeth to bang into the bottom braces which could be bad for your teeth (and braces). Other appliances used to achieve that are molar build-ups or bite turbos. I haven't had those but it usually doesn't take long to adjust to all this junk in your mouth. It probably doesn't seem like you will, but you should be able to figure out what works in the next couple of weeks.

For the first couple of weeks, soft foods are good--oatmeal,jello,smoothies,soups,rice,noodles etc. You may need to break up other foods into small pieces. I still do...

I'm not an ortho, and maybe others might have other ideas about this, but from what I've read
this seems to be what you have going on...

Good luck with your new journey!

[udubdave]

My ortho put in molar build-ups, so my back molars can bite, but my front teeth can't. They did this so that they could pull one of my front teeth forward to fix a slight cross-bite.

[ashenk224]

I have bite turbos and because of them my back teeth don't meet. It's been 3 weeks now, but I can pretty much eat anything I want. So you do get used to them. I will admit though, when I first got them on I had the craziest lisp for about a week. Now I still have it, but it's not nearly as bad. Sometimes I accidentally bite down too hard and the turbos bang on my bottom teeth and it'll hurt, but it doesn't happen often. My turbos are metal and I have scraped my tongue on them before too. They told me I may wear mine for almost a year (which seriously sucks).

[badbites]

I'm in a similar boat to yourself, although I don't yet have the bottom expander and bottom brace installed (will be in 2-3 months when hopefully the crossbite has cleared).

My thread:
http://www.archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtop ... 13&t=41750

I'm pretty much used to the upper appliance and I'm just adapting to the upper brace, which is going pretty well. I also have molar build-ups on my premolars, which separate all my teeth (except the premolars). It makes chewing difficult, although with how tender my teeth are, I wouldn't be chewing anyway.

I've been sticking to primarily very soft foods that don't require much chewing...pasta is a frequent resident on my menu...

[mickjordmoll]

Thanks everyone! I called my dentist about building up my molars and she said we could do that on Tuesday when I go back to learn how to turn my expanders.

I actually ate real food tonight!!!! We went to a buffet and I ate potroast (the soft veggies!), taco innards (without the shell), mashed potatoes and green beans! It felt so good!!!

Nice to meet all of you!!