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Sleeping with braces on

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 5:12 pm
by Clairey Fairey
Random question I know....

But do braces affect your sleep? I expect they will when they are first put on or adjusted because of the pain and weirdness of having them there.

But after that, is it awkward sleeping in braces or easy to get used to??

Thanks, Clairey:-)

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 5:46 pm
by lionfish
I've not lost a moment's sleep due to braces. Now, having the cats on the bed is an entirely different matter....

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 7:05 pm
by BlueeyedManda
Never been an issue for me either, but as lionfish pointed out...the cat is a different story, ours likes to lick faces at night and purr and paw you. If you dont get up for him, he knocks lamps over.

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 7:10 pm
by iBorg
If I can't take them off for THAT :():

Why bother taking them off for sleep?

Seriously, never ben a problem unless a wire is poking.

Mike

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 7:38 pm
by Tin Indian
Never gave it to much thought myself.

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 8:42 pm
by cowlypso
The only possible issue you run into is if you are dehydrated (or if you tend to breathe through your mouth). If your mouth is dry while you are sleeping, and you sleep on your side, it can press your lips onto your braces and they sort of get stuck there and you end up with a bit of a scrape that's sore the next day. But if you stay hydrated, it's not a problem at all. And that won't be a problem for you falling asleep, you'll just notice it when you wake up.

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 9:53 pm
by Nervous
I've never had an issue with Braces and sleeping

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 10:19 pm
by bbsadmin
Well I remember that it took me about a week to 10 days to get used to the pressure on my teeth. I kept having dreams about teeth and braces! I took Ibuprofen during those first days to make myself more comfortable.

Dr. Rick once said not to take asprin, as it can inhibit tooth movement, by the way.

Other than getting used to the feeling of pressure, it didn't really affect my sleeping, as I recall.

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 11:12 pm
by SDFD TSchott
I haven't had any problems with sleeping with braces on!

~Tim~

Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 12:45 am
by Natalie
i've had a sore mouth a few times because i sleep on my side...where my extraction gaps are there is just wire and that's managed to cut into my cheek. only happened a couple of times tough and not for ages so i guess my mouth has toughened up. also i used to do this wierd thing at first that i can't really describe very well, i must have been moving my jaw about and my top front teeth would sort of hit my bottom front teeth or vice versa whatever...and i got a very strange sensation. at first i was just getting the sensation and waking up...and didn't know what was going on...but then i woke up whilst the top hit the bottom and realised! that was at the very beginning though and has long since stopped. and like has been mentioned...the dreams thing! i've had a few horrible ones like i knocked a bracket and the braces somehow pulled the teeth out of my gums but they were still attached to the braces and were just sort of suspended in my mouth and i was trying to push the teeth back into my gums but i kept putting them in the wrong place and having to do it all over again, arghh! i started to clench for a while and maybe still do but i'm not sure...sorry all these things sound like loads of problems but honestly they haven't been! i haven't even really thought about it all until this post.

Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 6:04 am
by gunter8888
No problems except waking up in pain at 4am yesterday after a particularly extensive adjustment the afternoon before. Otherwise, never had any issues.

Now, having a small baby in the house... that'll mess with your sleep!

Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 6:23 am
by egocidal
Good to hear most of you have little trouble sleeping with braces on. Though I suppose it's just a matter of getting used to it. Tonight's the first time for me, and I forsee insomnia because the front teeth still hurts, and the paracetamol isn't kicking in :? Take care everyone :)

Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 6:25 am
by RightMyBite
I tend to sleep on my side, which puts pressure on the teeth on the "pillow" side of my mouth. I remember from previous rounds of braces (and am being reminded after getting them on again yesterday) that after adjustments when teeth are a bit tender that pressure can be uncomfortable. The wires/brackets themselves don't tend to be any more of a problem when sleeping than any other time.

Though, because it's harder for my lips to close over the braces, I do tend to drool more...

Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 8:08 am
by loulou123
Ive had a few issues on the nighttime front...

As said above the worst thing is if you are a mouth breather as you get dehydrated in the night and your cheek gets stuck to the braces, this is horrible but soon goes off the next morning if you apply a bit of wax.

I snapped my archwire one evening and had to wait until the next day for an appointement and my boyfriend woke me up in the night as i had finger in my mouth trying to pull the archwire right off as it had started poking into my cheek in the night! :shock: oops!

lastly natalie i do something similar to you, but i wake myself up banging my teeth together very hard-not good at all, this is usally worse after an adjustment just when you really dont want to be doing it.

Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 9:55 am
by Ives
The only problem i've had with sleeping is the clenching thing, though i've always done that even befor braces. The difference is now because of the tender teeth, clenching will wake me up a few times a night.