Metal Mouth Message Board

I've always been very self-conscious about my smile. Past consultations typically concluded that I needed surgery to correct my mild underbite and a few misaligned teeth. But after doing the research, I decided that I was unwilling to go through the lengthy, painful recovery associated with the surgery. So I just resigned myself to living with a smile I wasn't proud of.

Lucky for me (I hope!), one of the surgeons I consulted with reviewed my x-rays and suggested that I consult with another orthodontist to see if my bite could be improved without surgery. So I got a referral from my dentist and went to see a (third?) orthodontist who took several additional x-rays and photographs. To make a long story short, he concluded that he could significantly improve my bite with about 15 months of braces.

Well, I've been braced for about three days now. So far, not quite as bad as I expected. The pain is tolerable -- just a dull ache. The worst part of it is the ends of the arch wires rubbing the inside of my cheeks raw! (I guess I need more wax.)

Eating is a drag, of course, and I've lost a few pounds. This is particularly troublesome to me because I'm a bodybuilder who typically eats 5-6 times a day and the braces have made it difficult for me to get my normal calories and protein. It takes a LOT longer to eat, I have to brush after every meal, and many of the chewy, protein-rich foods I took for granted are no-no's now. To make matters worse, when I bite down the brackets on my top teeth somtimes touch the top of my bottom teeth, which again discourages me from eating as much or as quickly as I usually do. I've been doing my best to maintain by drinking lots of protein shakes and eating lots of finely cut up chicken with rice.

Anyone else out there have an underbite and braces story to tell like mine that ends happily? I could use a little encouragement about right now. Thanks in advance!

If your wires are rubbing, go see your ortho. After battling the same thing for two weeks (my only real irritation so far), I called my ortho. The next day I had an emergency appointment. She looked at my mouth and said I see exactly where its rubbing. In three minutes the offending wire was ground down and I have been painless since.

Arch wires aren't intended to poke you. If they do go have it checked out.

Mike

Hi brianrex, from another underbiter.

My underbite wasn't too bad, with teeth hitting each other square on rather than top teeth sitting behind bottom teeth. The bigger problem for me was a decent sized open bite on each side. My second molars made contact (sort of) as did my front two teeth up and down. The rest did not.

I saw an ortho at the age of 18 (more years ago than I care to remember) and he condemned my bite as being untreatable. That sort of kept me quiet for the next few decades then I thought, hang on, science must surely have moved on since then. So I went for another consult last year.

I was offered two options, one including surgery. I did not want to do that, so am doing braces alone. I'm 8 months in and the underbite has gone. My top teeth sit nicely in front of my lowers and I'm very happy with the way they're looking. The open bite is progressively closing (with elastics) but there is still work to do there. My ortho reckons we can get 80-100% satisfaction with braces alone and that is OK by me.

So hang in there, buddy, and you will soon see results.

And like iborg says, go in and get those wires clipped.

And btw, I don't know what protein rich chewy foods you eat, but I manage very nicely on steak, lamb, chicken etc. There is very little foodwise that I've sacrificed. Try and reintroduce chewy food into your diet if you can. Your teeth will appreciate the work out not to mention your body. I know what you mean about your top teeth sometimes hitting your bottom teeth - I had that problem for a while, and it's a bit uncomfortable. But it will disappear in time. This is something for you to look forward to!

Good luck with it all.

Welcome BrianRex, I also have the prob of biting down on brackets on my right premolars and I did lose about 2 pounds overall because it was such a pain and it was difficult to chew on one set of back teeth. I didn't go back to the ortho as I kept hanging in for it to get better and it really has.

It doesn't hurt anymore and even though I still won't try to fully bite down or chew too properly on that side of my mouth, I can chew quite well now. I've also regained my weight - which is extremely important to me because I lose weight very quickly and its extremely difficult for me to gain weight.

I will have my first adjustment in a few days from now and I intend to mention it to the ortho and see what she says, but it has stopped being a big problem as it was when I was only a few days in like you are now.

If it really bugs you, see what your ortho can do about that, but if you hang in there, it may just get a lot more bearable too