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Do salt water rinses work for pain caused by the PRESSURE from the braces, or just the cuts and sores in the gums/cheeks? I got my bottom braces Friday, and the tension and pressure hurts a LOT!
P.S. icepacks seem to work well for awhile when you need a little relief, along with tylenol!
I thought this was a very interesting question because it points out that there are two types of pain associated with braces. The first is the mechanical one, because your brackets and/or your wire are irritating something in your mouth or poking your cheek. The second one is the pain of having your teeth move around - I think Lynn refers to this as feeling like you were hit in the mouth.
I must admit that I can understand how salt water rinses would help the first kind of pain, but I'm not sure how much they could do for the second type of pain.
As well as painkillers, my ortho recommend ice cold drinks and ice cream for pain. Apparently the wire softens when cold which eases the tension. I find a tall glass of gin and tonic with lots of ice is the best remedy!!
Good luck and definitely do the salt water washes too. I've had my braces on a week and a half and the tension pain is gone but my mouth is still getting used to the metal invasion so the wax and salt water helps with that.
I have one of the wires activated by heat, but I find taking a shower with heat and steam helps a lot with discomfort...but so do my ice packs, so I'm not sure temperature has a lot to do with either in my case.
