Metal Mouth Message Board

I must admit after a week in upper braces, I am trying to be positive (I WANT STRAIGHT TEETH!!), however, there have been occasions where I've wanted to rip the darn things out of my mouth!!

Chocolate cake = endless teeth brushing
Coffee = staining
Crisps = hurting back gums cause can't crunch on front teeth
Talking = people saying pardon cause I'm concious of pronounciation

I fly for a living and trying to smile and talk endlessly for hours at a time 36,000 feet in the air leads to a very dry mouth and very sore lips!

Rubbing - I have never experienced anything like it and I keep wanting to pull the braces off just for a few minutes to give me a break!! (please, just a few minutes would be bliss!!!)

I've found that if I keep myself busy, I forget I have them. (well, for a while anyway!)

Thanks so much for this thread, knowing people are going through the same emotions is a great comfort.

It probably depends on how much you hated having wonky teeth. I didn't like them but had learned to live with them, so aesthetically there's not much difference between 'ugly' wonky teeth and straight teeth covered in (to me) 'ugly' braces. Yeah, sorry to say I do think they look ugly, and no combination of 'zany' coloured ligs is going to change that.

I have more problem with the fact that I'm often sore, one way or another, and can no longer talk clearly. I have problems eating because of my new 10mm overjet and the molar putty that has been stuck to my back molars for the last 18 months. Every time I visit the orthodontist, he seems to predict my surgery date as being a little bit further away each time.

Alas, there's no point me giving up at the moment because at this stage of my treatment I'm doing a Disney - teeth like Goofy, speech like Donald Duck. Only following through with the surgery can return me to anything like 'normal' now. I will just be glad when it's all over. That's the only positive I have to focus on, and at the moment it's too distant to see, let alone focus on it.

I guess i have a good sense of humor when it comes to my braces. I talk funny most of the time when i have to say certain words and my lips dont go over my braces right and it sounds like a lisp. I laugh at myself for talking that way but everyone laughs with me.

Jumping in here to say that I too am tired of these puppies. The "highlight" of my treatment was my mandibular advancement last June and now I am on the downward side of treatment.

Most days I am ambivalent toward my braces, sometimes it feels like they fill my mouth. I'm tired of chapped lips, poking brackets, dry mouth at night, spitting by day. Ah well. About six months to go, according to my ortho.

I don't HATE my braces, but I am definitely bored with them. I know I will be happy with the results. Everyday I think, "I can't wait to see the what they [my teeth] REALLY look like."

They say patience is a virtue. Unfortunately, I am not very virtuous. I feel like I felt in the last days of my pregnancy. I am just ready for this to be done. Still, I will be here to offer aid and assistance to the newbies. After all, I was one once myself.