Metal Mouth Message Board

I got partial braces on Dec 4, full braces on Dec 13, so I'm VERY much in the "soft foods only" mode. I'm a lady in my late forties, have needed braces for many years. Finally took the plunge in order to have better dental health.

I have a deep bite which has helped cause me to grind my teeth for most of my life. This has caused some friction with my jaw joints. Also has drastically worn down my teeth. I have a lot of work to be done, braces being the first thing. Gotta get all my teeth moved to their proper positions. Then will come restorative work. Oh, well, it's only money. LOL!

I have a lower tooth that just popped it's bracket for the second time in five days. The tooth above it keeps hitting the bracket. I just had the bracket reattached this afternoon, three hours later, it popped off. Geez, I sure wish the old "around the tooth" brackets were still being made, this tooth really needs one of those! Sigh...looks like I'll be at my dentist's office again tomorrow. Yes, I have all metal braces, top and bottom.

I'd love to hear from other folks who are "middle aged!" I'm VERY happily married, am not looking for anything but friendship with other "bracers."

Jembrace

The first week I had my braces on I bit one of my brackets off... if I was you I'd ask the orthodontist to put some build ups on the back molars to prevent you from bitting down all the way... they work really well.

Welcome Jem ! We have lots of middle-agers in this forum so join the club. I'm 50 and going on my 30th wedding anniversary! Time flies...may the clock speed up for you while you are in braces! Good luck!

I have restorative work ahead of me too. Its all part of the deal.

Hello jem, another one here with lots of "life experience".

Quite honestly, I'm pleased to have escaped the full banding experience I'd have had if I'd been treated as a teen. A friend went through this in the 1960's and said that after every adjustment she used to manually slacken off the wire to ease the pain. Compared to that, I've had virtually zero pain and very little discomfort.

Good luck with treatment.

Better late than never right? I think its great your doing it now

I too am in my late forties, and just got braces yesterday. I'm having a difficult time adjusting to them. I got ceramic on top, which feel like I have these HUGE rough things on my teeth, and metal on the bottom. I can't seem to thoroughly chew my food because the top teeth are hitting the braces on the bottom. Do you think I need to ask for a molar buildup? Also, the inside of my top lip is very sore. So i've been rinsing with warm water and salt. Has anyone else felt that the ceramic braces were really huge and made them look sort of buck tooth when they smile?

Jembrace,
Welcome to the board. I'm 54 and I've been in braces for more than a year.

I was just curious - was there something that gave you the impression that this board was for people looking for people looking for something beyond "friendship with other "bracers." "? I've been following the board for most of the time that I've been in braces, and there has been absolutely NO HINT of anything like that - Lynn (bbsadmin) has been very, very good in watching the conduct of the board. I think we are all pretty good around here![/quote]

Welcom!

Hope your ortho can solve your deep bite-biting off bracket issue! Funny you mention that they don't use the old banded brackets on the incisors any more.... just a few years ago, my son knocked a lower bracket off once (just once!) and his ortho put a band around that tooth. It was a lower front and it did show a bit. He was a little mean about it and suggested that he'd do it to all his brackets if he wasn't more careful!!! It was the only one that came off in 2 years for pete's sake! My daughter's have gone to him and he's nice as can be to them when they knock one off...

You will find lots of folks here to support your braces journey, I've been here for almost 2 years and have had NO unwanted posts or pms. It is made very safe by Lynn!

Welcome aboard! I am in my early 40's and getting ready to begin my journey, we are all friends here and the support is amazing....

I'm engaged to be married in late 2007

I'm also in the close-to-50 club and new to the braces game.

The biggest issue for me right now is sleeping. I'm either clenching my teeth like a vise or sleeping with my mouth open and waking up with a very dry mouth.

I'm also newly engaged and planning to get married in 2008 (hopefully after the braces are off). It took us 4 years to get engaged, so 18 months to plan a wedding is in character.



Elle

Sorry, made a mistake...post below! Jembrace

I've been reading all the admin notes about "no trying to get dates" and the like! I just wanted to be sure about the whole thing!

I finally was able to eat a good meal tonight. I've been gingerly snacking on soft foods and had lost some weight. I'm trying to keep weight ON, so I wasn't happy with my situation. I still can't bite with my front teeth, they are sensitive about being moved.

I knocked off that one bracket again on Tuesday evening. My ortho went on holiday vacation on Wednesday, will be back in his office next Tuesday. Gee, Murphy's Law surfaces again. LOL! Maybe my ortho will have some good answers for keeping the bracket on my tooth once he's back from his break

Thanks for the warm welcomes, it's so nice to have other middle aged folks with whom to talk about having braces!!

Jembrace