Newly braced with an RPE

[SunnyO]

Hi everyone. I've been lurking here for a while reading everybody else's posts and finally decided to speak up. I just got braced last Thursday. I'm 36 and had braces as a kid, but like many of you, it didn't stick. So here I am again. My braces are fine (clear on top, metal on bottom), but this RPE is driving me NUTS!!! I can't speak with it and food gets stuck in it all the time. I bought a waterpik which is great at getting all the "leftovers" out of my teeth and brackets, but if I'm not home to use it my mouth is pretty gross.

My question is - will I ever learn to speak with this torture device in my mouth, or will I slur my words for the next 4-6 months until it is removed? Hopefully someone has some encouraging words because I am really starting to regret this.

Thanks.

[jfcortez83]

is that an fixed appliance? I am getting braces this Thurs. and am getting "spikes" glued to the back of my front teeth to keep me from thrusting my tongue, or should I say to break the habit. Dunno how long I will have "spikes" but have wondered alot if it will affect my speech

[walkabout]

Hi SunnyO

I am 30 and I have had my RPE (no sarpe) a month and only now am I beginning to talk better. My K's and G's still give me issues at times and when I am tired I have a more pronounced lisp. The waterpik has been my best friend through all of this and I use the little interdental brushes (the ones where the brush tilts) for when I am not at home.

Hang in there! It does get better. I got the gap between my two front teeth and had a little bleeding from my nose but nothing to severe. No pain in my molars (just pressure) but horrible pain in my two front teeth and nose a few hours before I noticed I had a gap. But since then no pain. I ate sushi the other night with and was quite amazed I could handle that.

H

[bracefac3]

i just got RPE today. i cannot talk properly..and the excessive saliva! aaah! Unfortunately, i work in customer service, so how do i deal with this??

[walkabout]

i just got RPE today. i cannot talk properly..and the excessive saliva! aaah! Unfortunately, i work in customer service, so how do i deal with this??

My excess saliva decreased after about 3 days. To help with word pronunciation do a search online for "The Rainbow Passage". Saying that many times helped me speak a little clearer. My tongue hurt a lot from rubbing on the RPE while talking and the only thing that helped were salt rinses.

It does get better.

[esmeraydances]

I have had rpe's top and bottom since last September. I was braced on my lowers about two months ago.

Talking with the rpe *will* get easier! Eventually, you will notice that there is little difference from the way you used to speak. Others won't notice at all!

I enunciate very carefully (I did before orthodontia) and speak quite often. I feel it took an awfully long time to really get used to my mouth again. I want to say about a month.

Truly, though, everyone is different. I've heard of folks on here who got used to it in a week! Good luck!

[SunnyO]

Thanks everyone for the light at the end of the tunnel. I did notice that the massive amounts of saliva stopped after 3 days or so. And walkabout - my tongue is also hurting a lot from rubbing against the RPE. On the bright side, I don't have any pain in my molars from it, just some pressure when I turn it.

jfcortez - yes, it is a fixed appliance. I hope you adapt well to your spikes. Isn't all of this fun?

[BrandonH]

I had an upper and a lower for 45 days or so. The speaking gets better after a week.

Trust me, it sounds worse to you than it does to everyone else.


Just wait til it comes off. You'll be amazed at the newfound space in your mouth

[SunnyO]

That's what everyone is telling me. Some people say they can't even tell a difference in my speech, but I think they're just being kind.

It has been a week and I do notice an improvement. 4-6 months to go. I really hope it's closer to 4!!