Did your need for wax change after you were initially braced?

[overthewater]

I've had braces for a couple months now and I have not needed to use wax once. My mouth/lips were never irritated or in pain nor did they develop any sores.
Will it likely stay like this or is it likely that I will go through a time of having a lot of sores/pain? I know that I won't possibly be lucky enough to make it through without even one sore, i'm just talking about the frequency of sores/pain similar to what most people experience in the very beginning. Did you have it easy at first but then later made up for it?

[TheProfessor]

I've had my braces for over 19 months and have only used wax 3 or 4 times and they were all during my first couple of months. I had very little irritation from the beginning and can't imagine having problems in my last few months. I think people have different sensitivities and it probably also depends on your cheek/teeth relationship. Some people are just lucky

[ItsFreyja]

It sounds like you're one of the lucky ones, overthewater, but you never know what weird stuff might be in store for you. I went through a lot of wax unexpectedly recently when I fell and tore up the inside of my cheek/lips. I remember not really needing wax when I had braces at age 7-8 until I got some coil springs and they tore up my cheeks. I hope it continues to be smooth sailing for you though!

[MissMaree]

I have had my braces for 2 weeks now and have also not needed any wax or had any irritation whatsoever. For now, I am just considering myself lucky :)

[EWUgal15]

My need for wax fluctuated quite a bit over the last year. I used it a lot in the beginning and then was able to stop cold turkey after the first month or so...then it spiked again when I got power chains and tapered off as gaps closed...then it peaked again with the addition of surgical hooks. I always use it if I need it.

[metalliKa]

It depends on the individual. I've used wax maybe once in the second month when a wire was poking at the back when I was out of town. But that doesn't mean I didn't have sores from the brackets rubbing against the inside of my lips. I definitely had some sores but I was trying to be brave!

[musicbrace]

I have yet to use wax and I'm a year into braces.

Not sure what your pain threshold is like, but my lips were never severely irritated by the braces. I do remember having wires poke or uncomfortable scratches but nothing too bad. But you never know, depending on the rest of my treatment I'll probably end up needing some.

Or maybe, I'm just lazy.

[teeebeee]

I tended to be fine when the wires were initially changed...it was as my teeth moved that the wires would 'slip' and then stab me viciously! As things moved so quickly, it would probably be 1 week out of 3 that I had to use the wax. However, as they wires have got thicker, it's not been such a problem.

I think it just depends!

T xx

[lambchop]

I've had mine on for over four years, and I still never leave home without wax...I never know when I'll need some (I use both the normal, cheap kind for the back brackets, and the clear orthosil kind for the front brackets). I think a lot of my irritation begins while I'm sleeping, almost like my cheeks are being sucked into and stuck to the brackets and wires in between them, if that makes sense, and the rest of the day it just gets more irritated. If I jump right on it and put some wax in these spots, the irritation usually dies down after one day, and I'm good to go.

[diamant]

Yes, I needed wax all over the place for the first week or so. I thought it would never get better! Then I spent the last few days sans wax, but today I've put some on again in the back due to poking wires.

[dejavu]

I haven't had my braces for super long (about 2 months now) but I think I may need wax for the whole time. Some days I'm fine without it, but I think my problem is that I sleep on my side, and the pressure of that causes my wires/brackets to cut into my lip. It's just the part of my cheek/inside of my bottom lip that's right in front of my front bottom teeth. It hasn't gotten better, so I either have to put wax right there before bed or during the following day. Oh well, I guess.

[jaime]

Tomorrow will be 18 months of braces for me.

In the beginning I used dental silicone (this site blocks any use of the brand name) as the hooks on my canine brackets used to rub the inside of my upper lip raw.

Starting in August this year (15 months of braces), the wires poking out in the back have been really bothering my cheek, mostly my upper left side. They can't trim the wires down anymore than they are, so I've been going through wax like crazy. My cheek is basically always ripped up, sometimes worse than others.

So you never know if you'll need wax or not!