New to braces

[ashuk]

I'm a 30 year old with braces top and bottom , after 3 weeks of having braces my teeth are still really sore and the last few days my jaw and back of neck are really painful , i'm only eating mushy and liquid foods , is this normal after 3 weeks.

[djspeece]

Welcome to the forum, and yes what you are experiencing is fairly typical. It does get better. You may want to consider taking ibuprofen for pain -- makes a big difference in your outlook. Best of luck to you!

[ashuk]

getting bad headaches and feeling sick , i was concerned over the back of my neck hurting because i wasn't sure how that was related.

[Bracingmyself901]

I didn’t feel less sore until really a month after. It’s normal, but at the same time everyone is different. Promise it gets better!

[djspeece]

getting bad headaches and feeling sick , i was concerned over the back of my neck hurting because i wasn't sure how that was related.

No one here can say for sure, but it may be due to stress that you are experiencing due to the pain, and probably some anxiety. You might want to see if the pain gets better with distraction therapy -- whatever typically relaxes you (a hobby, reading, exercising, sex, and so forth . If you have a fever and/or swollen lymph nodes in your neck, then definitely go back to your ortho and/or physician ASAP. Best of luck to you!

[Ziggy]

After they first put my braces on I thought I was going to be eating smoothies for the rest of my sentence. Ibuprofen became my best friend and soon my braces became the norm. Just go about your life and try to forget about them. Soon you actually will forget about them.

[ashuk]

My teeth are so my better , can eat alot more foods now

[EmilyTravels]

After they first put my braces on I thought I was going to be eating smoothies for the rest of my sentence. Ibuprofen became my best friend and soon my braces became the norm. Just go about your life and try to forget about them. Soon you actually will forget about them.

Until your next wire change or when you first get elastics! <-- Both of which happened to me yesterday. OWIE!

[joicetti]

Yes it really does ebb and flow. When I first got braces it hurt to chew soup or brush my teeth. I thought I was going to be like that for 1.5 - 2 years. I actually cried the first day because I couldn't eat steamed white rice.

It slowly got better and as the pain went away, I also learned to eat normally again. Because your teeth feel loose at first since everything is starting to move, you're afraid to bite down on food and tear, so I kept cutting my food up like a little kid to minimize the work that my teeth needed to do. At least that was the case for me. I still remember the first time I bit down into a bagel and ate it like a normal person instead of cutting it up kiddie style and feeding it to myself in tiny pieces. That was about 3 weeks into the process.

After that the pain has been minimal for me. I've felt more pressure than anything else. The exception was about 6 months into my journey when I got power chains and class III elastics at the same adjustment. It felt like my face was coming apart and I was back to not being able to chew anything, although this time I knew the pain would go away after a few days.

[EmilyTravels]

I haven't eaten anything as chewy/firm as a bagel yet, even between adjustments. I consider it a huge victory when I can eat a standard PB & J sandwich on soft bread without cutting it into pieces first!

[ashuk]

its been 5-6 weeks and my mouth is still very painful , is this normal ??

[assertives]

It will continue to hurt on and off until perhaps the end of your treatment. It will also hurt after every adjustment.

Different people and teeth respond differently to same treatment, I've had some months where the pain is bearable and other months it's so bad that I had to take arcoxia just so that I can properly brush my teeth. I have also had teeth on one side of my face hurt more than the other.

Don't sweat it. That said, if you are in intense unbearable pain and OTC painkillers are not helping, contact your ortho.