Metal Mouth Message Board

I am SO happy to find you.

You have been an enormously helpful source of info. for me during my orthodontic pre-journey that I feel obligated to express my appreciation. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You :)

After 2 weeks of putting on seperators, I had my braces AND transpalatal arch put on roughly 10 hours ago. The braces itself is not bothering me quite yet but the arch is SO hard to handle. I'm having a hard time swollowing water, let alone trying to chew anything. It is so hard to chew food when your tongue cannot move around freely. Mind is pressed against the wire and it is getting a little sore. And food seem to get stuck in between the wire and the top of my teeth, even a soggy piece of bread I put in my puree corn soup. It is also affecting my speech, I now talk even funnier with my Thai accent AND the arch. But at least I know everything will be better as my mouth gets adjusted :)

I hope I'll get used to it soon. Meanwhile, I'll keep browsing here...

Welcome to the board Martinian,

I also found this board very helpful in reaching my decision to get braced. Sharing your experiences will help others in due course.

I have no personal experience of a transpalatal arch so can only say that most aspects of braces get easier with time, so hang on in there.

Good luck with your treatment!

Jem

I just got mine put on this morning and you are correct it is so hard to manage. I tried to eat some noodles and I found myself fishing them out of the TPA. Ortho said I'll get used to it. I have to keep it on for a year.

I have had TPA for 7.5 months now and i'm totally used to it now. Don't worry you will be fine. When I 1st ate noodles with my TPA on, I almost choked because a noodle got stuck in TPA while part of it was already swallowed (so the noodle was hanging from my throat to my TPA)... so just be aware of that.