Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi Kbelle!!! I know exactly how you feel - I am 32 and had upper and lower braces 1 week and 2 days ago - my two fron teeth also protrude slightly and worse still, my gap that has been filled in for 15 years had to gotten rid of much to my horror! When the braces were on it felt so weird and I felt like I couldn't close my mouth, I said to my hubbie it feels like i've had collegen implants cos I had a real "trout pout" - but I can honestly say, it is getting better and although I am still self-conscious (more becuase of the gap than the brace) it's certainly not so bad as last week.

Just hang on in there - you'll be ecstatic with the results I'm sure - that's what I keep telling myself!!!
Pxx

Kbelle - Like everyone else has said, we have all had that "What HAVE I done?" moment (or moments!). For me it was even scarier knowing that part of my treatment would be major surgery to move my jaw forward. The advice of taking it day by day is the best that you can get. If I had focused on the whole treatment I would have freaked out!

In the beginning it's about getting used to the hardware in your mouth and learning, literally, how to eat without having braces full of food or grossing out your table mates!

And, that first indication of movement!! Wow! That's a real milestone for most of us. Do take pictures, not just of your smile and front teeth, but of your arches. The changes there will amaze you!!

Best of luck, keep coming back. The people here ROCK!!

Yep! What have I done??!!! This is the most common reaction. Funny thing is, most will not notice. I am 37 and have all metal braces. Don't sweat it, you'll probably miss them when they are gone! OK, so probably only for a day.....

I felt exact same way. The day after I was braced I had to go to a dinner function for my husbands work my mouth hurt and they had NO pasta on the menu.. but that's a different story. The first day it just felt weird putting my mouth over the braces but in the car on the way to dinner I was trying to put lipstick on and my lips wouldn't curl around the brackets and meet for me to rub them together! I thought great a year of uneven lipstick and stained fingers from rubbing it on. But now I'm over a month into treatment and it's much better you'll get use to the feel and the look of the braces.

I can't say I felt the way you do, because I was happy to get my braces and knew I was doing the right thing. But I would suggest you look at as many progress photos on this board as you can. Once you start to see the dramatic change braces can bring about (and especially when you start seeing similar changes in your own mouth), you'll realize it was worth it. Try not to dwell too much on the present and instead keep your thoughts on the final results.

Aww kbelle hang in there!! I've had mine for 2 weeks now and can fully relate to what you are going through!! I had a good chuckle reading the responses too though!! I have a fairly serious overbite so when the ortho was finished mucking about putting them on I thought he'd forgotten to take something out as there was no way my top lip was going where it was supposed to - was NOT happy to discover that was how they were going to stay....this is added to by having a nice spring from my front tooth to canine which my poor top lip gets stuck on. But hang in there - mine aren't quite right yet but they are certainly getting better. Well at least colleagues have stopped asking me if I'm having an allergic reaction to something - so much for my ortho pretending no one would notice Your face will get used to it -I think it is harder for those of us with protuding teeth as it does feel like trying to wrap your lips around a second set of teeth but you'll be amazed after a few weeks how much better you feel.