day one with Damons.. the bite turbos are driving me insane!

[ashenk224]

Believe me the turbos were not fun...but I promise it does get better. My lisp is nowhere near as bad as it was. Most people tell me they don't even notice it now. And eating gets better. I can pretty much eat anything. Bread tends to get stuck on the turbos but its not that bad. I hardly even notice my turbos now. I know it sucks right now but give it time!

[auco99]

Believe me the turbos were not fun...but I promise it does get better. My lisp is nowhere near as bad as it was. Most people tell me they don't even notice it now. And eating gets better. I can pretty much eat anything. Bread tends to get stuck on the turbos but its not that bad. I hardly even notice my turbos now. I know it sucks right now but give it time!

Thanks for the encouragement. My lisp is awful. I don't even like talking to myself (let's call it "practicing" so I don't sound weird) because I can't stand to hear it. My wife keeps telling me she doesn't notice, but she is just being nice because it is DEFINITELY there, and it actually makes me mad that she won't admit it. I am a 6'4" 35-year old grown man and sound like Cindy Brady.

I can't see how on earth eating will get better given how far apart my uppers and lowers are from meeting but I hope you're right.

[ashenk224]

I only talked when I needed to because my lisp was so bad. I didn't think I would be able to eat either, and at first I couldn't really chew because my back teeth didn't meet, but eventually I was able to. I've had my braces for two months now and my teeth line up enough to eat normally. I even eat foods from the no list except nuts. The only other thing I can't eat is pineapple (unless its chopped up into smaller pieces) because I bit into a piece once and it pulled my wire out.

[OldBikerBag]

I have Damons, too, with bite blocks (turbos) on my first upper molars. The lisp is about gone and I've figured out ...sort of... how to chew. I'm finding I don't really chew rice so much as separate the kernels from each other. I swallow my food less ground up than I'm used to. Doesn't seem to make any difference to the rest of my body, though.

I'm thinking I will be getting a scowl from the ortho and new bite blocks next time, though. It feels like I've ground these ones down to nubs. It was very difficult for me to resist clenching hard on them the first week. Cool thing about them, though, it's the first time my molars have actually lined up in, well, ever. My TMJ is almost gone and I don't have that ache in my jaw anymore.