Metal Mouth Message Board

How was it? What emotions did you go through? How did it affect the way you looked/spoke??

Many Thanks

My first week in braces was a nightmare, at least the first two or three days. I remember having to eat soups, soft things for about the whole first week.

It felt like my lips were visible 50 metres away. I just wanted to bite someone/something the first night! I had to take pills to sleep. Brushing my teeth was another nightmare, how could I imagine it would ever feel as easy as now?

Speaking was tricky as well. I teach languages and I still think something in my voice is weird (S, Z, F, V sounds), but almost everybody says it's just my imagination.

Some people were curious about my braces, but fewer than I had expected. In fact, some acted as if the brackets weren't visible, which left me puzzled, even more than if they had asked.

Apart from that, everything went smooth. After 5 days or so I started eating a little bit of everything, in small pieces, and I started not to care anymore. After two months I had my braces in the lower teeth, but that time everything went fine from the beginning, less pain and less attention from other people.

Don't let those first few days spoil the experience. It's been VERY easy since then, and in my case (VERY crooked teeth, I'll post pictures) after three months I looked better in braces than before having them put.

I truly think it's very different for everyone because their are so many different cases. Some people have many gaps,too much crowding,small mouth etc...
For me it was not the scary nightmare that I often read about. I think everyone's tolerance for pain is different also. I'm a very big chicken when it comes to any medical procedure being done on me . That being said , I can only say that the first 2 days were uncomfortable for me. I waited for the pain to come but it never came. I just felt the tightness in my teeth. I can describe chewing this way. Imagine you put a thick rubberband around your wrist and your hand was swollen from loss of circulation and it felt sort of numb and someone tried to squeeze your hand? It feels numb and wierd at the same time. That is how chewing was for me the first days. I slept just fine . I used the regular brush my ortho gave me because the electric one was too violent on my teeth. I now use the electric brush and it works great. I've only been wearing them for 7 wks .

Gennel

I know everyone tells you not to worry and everything will be ok. I was glad to get so much good advice but was still very nervous. My experience was very pleasant and everything was fine. I knew exactly what to expect and to me it felt like I was getting acrylic nails done. At least that's what the glue smelled like to me lol.

I have been put on braces for ten days. The extraction of teeth before bracing and the braces did not cause any pain, and I do not have any problem of lisp.

The major problem thath I've encountered is chewing/biting of food. I still stick to soft food like sponge cakes, ice-cream and congees, but I've tried to cut "harder" food into "bite" size pieces and grind with my molars or simply swallow them. In fact I can't really "taste" the food, but at least I can have some more choices. Other problem is the canker sore developed on my upper lips as the bracket on my left upper canine rubs.

In the first few days, I felt a bit regret to choose ligs in shocking pink (!!!), but this feeling faded soon and I speak/smile/lauch normally. Friends and colleagues think I look cutier. Even my big boss shows his kind support to me, saying that I'm brave.

I'm looking foward to my first adjustment in mid-August, hoping there will be more improvement on the teeth movement.

The food getting stuck and the mouth sores were a big deal for me. I took forever for me to put the wax on. I thought it would never end. This resulted in a bit of a depressed mood. But heck! I just don't have time to be depressed over such nonsense so I tried to not let it get to me. I ended up gong on vacation river rafting about 4-5 days after being braced. I had fun! I had to brush my teeth after lunch during the rafting trip. Luckily they had a bathroom there - I didn't have to brush with river water!

12 months later and I think I am over the food getting stuck. It used to bug me to no end that I would have food stuck in my braces and I would want to eat a piece of fruit or something sweet. I didn't want to mix the food up! So I would brush between the meal and the fruit. Ugh! Now I am almost over that too. Bring it on! Pasta with Pesto mixed with an orange. Wash it down with a bit of dark chocolate. Yummmmm!!!! Flush it all out with a waterpik and watch it all go down the drain!

I complained so much my mom told me to stop b****ing or go have them taken off!

The first two weeks dragged on for me, and emotionally, I was a wreck. I hated the way I looked and was very embarrassed even though I didn't have any speech problems and really, they wern't that noticable. I thought time was actually going BACKWARD... but after that two weeks I noticed them less and less, and once all my teeth stopped hurting (I had A LOT of movement at first and pain for probably 6 weeks on at least one tooth every day) I found I would totally forget about them.

The most important thing is to remind yourself you are doing the right thing, and each day that passes, you are that much closer to being debraced! Take pictures from the start to compare as well, seeing movement is very encouraging!