Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi, I'm new to braces. I'm 29 and from Arizona.

I made the decision to get braces about a month ago. This was because of my pretty significant overbite. My job has been utterly stressful these last few months that I've been grinding my teeth at night and waking up with a sore face and jaw. I have a few misaligned teeth and my ortho says I have a slight crowing problem w/ my lower teeth.. which i didn't consider an issue.

In any case, I'll be in braces for 18 months. My ortho placed metal on bottom and 'clear' on top last wednesday. I'm still getting used to having these "appliances" in my mouth and have never been so diligent on cleaning my teeth after consuming or drinking liquids. (is it bad to over-clean? i just kinda freak out that i might get tooth decay if I don't stay on top of cleaning).

Anyway.. my issue as of late is my lips hurting! i wear TONS of chapstick but it doesn't seem to help. and by the end of the day, i feel like i have cotton mouth. no matter how much water i drink or yogurt i pack in my mouth (haha).. my mouth feels completely dry!! is this normal or a part of the whole "callousing" the inside of my mouth process?

I've been pretty diligent w/ the wax because this whole cotton mouth issue seems to easily make the inside of my mouth "stick" to my brackets.

I'm open to hearing from what you all remember when you first got your braces.. any food suggestions? i've lost like 8 lbs already. The only foods that I feel comfortable eating are protein shakes from jamba juice or pureed soup. it still hurts to chew as i've painfully experienced with cut up soft pizza bits earlier this week.

Hi there,

I am from Arizona and I just had my braces put on this past Wednesday also. They should be on for about 18 months. I have metal on the bottom and clear on the top. I think we might be the same person as we seem to be having the same issues. I will not go anywhere without my vaseline lip treatment, it is amazing how often you have to use it. I am constantly reapplying it and I am also very thirsty all the time. I woke up one day afraid that my braces were going to come off because they seemed to be stuck to the inside of my cheeks.

One Wednesday after they went on, I was shocked at how heavy they felt, they seemed huge and I felt like my teeth were now sticking out 5 feet from my face! No one told me these two little facts. I immediately thought, "What did I do?"

I am still getting used to my slight, occassional lisping and haven't quite figured out how to move my mouth when I speak. As for food, I have had soup, soft bread with butter, yogurt, milkshake, scrambled eggs... anything I could easily swallow without chewing, which I am sure it isn't good to not chew your food for too long of a period of time.

Today, Friday, I had a grilled cheese for lunch and cole slaw, again, very easy to just let slide on down. My dinner was a bean and cheese burrito, enchilada style. There is a jamba juice close to my work, I thought about going there but so far, I haven't had any real issues with food.

I immediatley brush after eating also. My hygenist suggested I use Pronamel toothpaste and the ortho suggested I use Act mouth rinse once a day. So far those have worked okay. I am a bit disappointed that my teeth don't seem to be a white as they were before, I assume this is because of the material they put on to prep the teeth?

Let's see what else...the floss threaders seem to be a waste of time, it seems to take longer to thread the floss than it does to just slip it behind the wire. I am having an issue with a wire polking out but the ortho went out of town to a convention, I can't call until Monday. The wax has been helpful but I find that I can't get it to stay in place for too long. I think my next shopping trip will be for floss and wax.

I also seem to like the supplies I bought at Walmart better than the ones the ortho gave me. I bought a sonic care toothbrush but have yet to use it.

Overall, my experience has not been as bad as I thought it would be, pain wise. Of course, I still feel ugly and won't let my boyfriend see me yet. I am not comfortable with them yet but I am sure I will be soon. My co-workers commented that they looked great, I looked great, they looked cute, one person had to ask if I actually had them on. My lower teeth don't show too much when I speak and they placed the brackets pretty low. Of course, I feel like everyone is noticing them and I hate that. I have also had a few people ask why I got them, they said they didn't think I needed them but I have to explain it is to fix a bite issue, not so much to straighten stuff out.

I am getting a bit annoyed at all the stories I have to listen to about when so and so's kid had braces back in the day. I guess they are just trying to make me feel better. I went to work today for the first day, everyone wanted me to open my mouth and smile everytime they saw me. I just told them it hurt too much to smile. They also treated me as if I just found out I had a terminal disease because they kept asking how I was. I guess that would be normal because I am a very happy person who is always laughing and today I just wanted to crawl under a rock. I couldn't wait until 5 so I could go home.

Okay, I have rambled on long enough.

Allie

LOL.. Allie, its great to have to not feel alone!!

I got a lot of the "why?"s too!

I'm still sticking to foods that don't require lots of chewing.. except for today. i felt like a hound dog chomping on my food today.

I'm not sure what part of AZ you're from but it was Oktoberfest this weekend in Tempe. I went and HAD to have a brat. It was a challenge to eat but managed when I "cut" it up into little pieces and removed the skin. It took forever to eat that thing.

As for speaking, I have issues w/ "F" words. So, words I normally use like phone, frankly, french fries, finally.. etc, i've had to be more creative in how I communicate. I feel so embarrassed when I catch a lisp. I know people are only trying to be polite and not say anything, but i catch that little "haha" smile on their face whenever i do it.

I think this week, if i'm feeling better, I'll give the grilled cheese a whirl... i didnt have much luck w/ cut up pizza since the cheese was melty & stringy and a pain in the butt to clean.

Ohh! And I agree about the threader flossers. I got the glide flossers from Walmart too w/ the one end thats stiff. Its made flossing a breeze. I'll check out the toothpaste & rinse your ortho recommended.. as mine didn't really suggest anything except the sample pack of phos-flur which tasted NASTY!

I'm currently using the stuff I have been, crest prohealth.