Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi everyone!
I am 33. I have retained a baby tooth (canine) and have a overbite. It did not bother me that much. But now, cavity has formed around the baby tooth & needs to be extracted. So I was reffered to ortho to determine the treatment plan to close space & correct my bite.
After consulting 4 orthos, and thinking through for 1 year, I finally decided to get braces. The treatment would be to extract baby tooth & one other permanent tooth & close space & correct bite over a period of 20-24 months.
I got braces on june 19th (first time). Anyone can imagine how I feel now. It feels odd with braces on. I cannot chew anything. My problem is that even when I try to chew very soft foods such as pasta, the molars at the back of my mouth do not meet at all for the food to get crushed/mashed. The upper & lower braces touch each other & hurt. I have been having only liquids such as soup/smoothies/juices since last Thursday. Is this how I have to live for the next 2 yrs?? I am worried. Please help!!
Thanks,

Firstly, congratulations on investing in yourself and deciding to get treatment.

I'm very new to braces myself, having had my uppers put on yesterday. However, I've been reading this forum for quite a few months, and what you are describing is very, very common, and the response is always the same - its totally normal and WILL improve, it just takes a few days to get used to all this new stuff in your mouth.

Use an over-the-counter pain reliever, and DO try to chew through the pain. Chewing actually helps things, as it stimulates your teeth and gums and promotes more bloodflow.

Things WILL improve in the next few days.

Good luck

The pain will subside very soon and you will adjust to eating even though your molars don't touch....trust me. My molars have not met since getting braces 8 months ago. The tubes on my upper molar bands clang against my lower brackets and that's the only contact point in my mouth. Oddly, I find it easier to eat larger food rather then small flat stuff. For example, my husband made fettuccine last night and threw in tomatoes, asparagus and zucchini. The noodles were nearly impossible to eat but the veggies---no problem. Tragic really. I do love pasta. I did manage to swallow whole some of the pasta, but left most in the dish. He knows flat pasta is an issue with me, but just forgot, since I eat most everything else with no problem.

Hang in there, and try to chew even though it hurts. Take 2 OTC pain killers a half an hour before eating--that helped for me in the beginning.

I know exactly what you're going through, and the feeling is absolutely miserable. Someone asked what it was like to eat in braces, and I told them to stick all their silverware in their mouth and then try to chew. And never mind the awful pain the first week!

But I promise the pain will end, and you'll get used to eating with all the hardware. When my molars couldn't touch, I ended up manuevering my tongue somehow to help crush the food. The mouth finds a way!

Thanks for all the reply. That is encouraging. I'll keep posting my progress.
Thanks again!