Finally getting bottom braces!

[njkonert]

On Tuesday, I am finally getting my bottom braces on. I got the top braces in April 2011 but because I have a deep overbite, I needed to wait to get my bottom braces until there was some room between my upper and lower teeth. I am a little nervous... as I will back to using wax… more pain. But at least my treatment is progressing…. Wish me luck!

[ArchWired28]

Good luck! It will be bad, but tolerable. Stocking on the liquid foods and ibuprofen will help you survive those awful several weeks. Funny enough, a little bit of alcohol with dinner helped me manage pain as well. I am not an addictive person, but a bottle of beer or a glass of wine was helpful. I have now stopped, but whatever works... Good luck again!

[drgnchsr36]

I agree, for some reason the bottom braces are worse than the top... but after a week or so, should be OK!

Hang in there!

[ArchWired28]

Maybe because they have shorter roots? Somebody mentioned that, I have no idea if it's true but bottoms do hurt a lot And it took me much longer than one week to have the pain subside. But it's been around 2 months and is ok now.

[EbonyQ]

That might be because the mandibular (bottom jaw) has a much harder bone tissue that maxilla (upper jaw).
Harder bone = need more force.

[njkonert]

So, the bottom braces are on. They also removed some of my top brackets (taking them off was quite scary... they just use pillars and pull them off) and they placed the top brackets in different locations on my teeth. And the added bite pads... What a pain! I thought bite pads would be soft.. but no, these are such a pain. My teeth don't touch any more.... how are you suppose to eat. The next couple months are going to be interesting. Any suggestions on how and what to eat with bite pads.... I think I am going to starve.

[ArchWired28]

Eat liquid foods. You might be surprised but bite pads may even be helpful, since for me, lower front teeth hitting the uppers provoked such a pain that I wanted to cry.

[drgnchsr36]

Eat liquid foods. You might be surprised but bite pads may even be helpful, since for me, lower front teeth hitting the uppers provoked such a pain that I wanted to cry.

Yep, teeth clashing hurts a lot. I've had that happen a few times ...even with the molar buildups.

You get used to the bite pads .. just takes a bit of time .. eat soft foods and it won't be so bad. You will get back to eating whatever you want, just in the beginning it's tuff to get used to.