Dying for some chips and salsa

[Lolo1073]

I am a 47 year old wearing braces for the first time. I am at Day 6. I am trying to get over the feeling that I've made a terrible mistake. It's just a year and a half of my life, right?

In the meantime, I am dying to eat some chips and salsa, but wondering if that will ever be possible. I tried yesterday, but crunching into the chips was just too painful. I didn't want to waste the salsa because it is my favorite, so I threw the chips into the bowl and waited for them to get a little soggy. Needless to say, it did not satisfy the craving. When might I be able to eat chips again?

Thanks,
Lolo

[Prometheus]

I eat chips and salsa all the time, it isn't a problem. Rest assured the pain will go away in one to two weeks and you will be just fine. The most annoying thing will be getting the food unstuck from the braces when you are done eating. A waterpik will come in handy for that. I'm 61 and been in braces for 2 1/2 years now with no end in sight. You can do this, the pain does go away pretty quickly.

[jole958237]

Coming up on 2 weeks for me and I'm going through the same. Eggs are about as solid as I can handle right now. It's supposed to get better soon, most people seem to take a couple of weeks, though there's an outlier of a couple of months! Can't wait until I can tackle some chips.

[djspeece]

Have faith, soon you'll be eating all sorts of sinful things. See the thread "Confess Your Orthodontic Sins." And you may want to premedicate with some ibuprofen if your cravings really are roaring. I'm a big chips fan so I feel your pain. Best of luck to you!

[Plainj]

I want chips too or anything crunchy or even chewy for that matter. It took me several weeks to really eat after getting my braces. I'm in 6 months & way too scared to even look at anything crunchy. Too afraid I might break a bracket or wire plus my contract says ortho will charge $25 each for "excessive breaks". Closest I've gotten to crunchy was puffy cheese doodles. *sigh*

[Lolo1073]

Thanks all! I appreciate the support!

[assertives]

I can totally relate to this. I tried eating chips after about 4 weeks into my treatment, my teeth hurt quite badly that I was only able to handle maximum 3 pcs, and it wasn't even enjoyable. So I ate 3 to 4 pcs everyday and it took me more than a week to finish that bag of chips.

I'm now 2.5 months into my treatment and things have gotten a whole lot better. So hang in there!

[Beckett]

Chips is one of the more difficult things for me to eat because they don't dissolve enough and all the little pieces get stuck under my wires. And if the piece is long enough it will get stuck but still stick out far enough to poke me as I bite down.

I've hardly bitten into anything for a year and a half. Practically everything gets cut up, so needless to say I'm looking forward to ending that little practice. Biting down with my front teeth still hurts, like everything is still loose. I hope that goes away quickly because we are having a popcorn and candy party when I get these babies off. Did it with each of my kids when they had theirs removed. We watch Willie Wonka and have popcorn and all those things they couldn't eat the whole time like Twizzlers and gummy bears. Also looking forward to a steak dinner out at Texas Roadhouse with my husband. Haven't had steak my entire treatment either.

[r1r1r12000]

This post struck a chord with me! I love chips; no way could I avoid them for my entire treatment. Eating anything crunchy was no fun for the first couple of weeks, but after that, I adapted. I eat chips all the time now. You just have to be very careful to arrange everything with your tongue before you bite down so you don't break a bracket or pop out a wire. Good luck!

[djspeece]

I smile with these sorts of posts, thinking how our goals and the orthodontist's goals are so different:
My Goals: Eat chips and popcorn at will; apply elastics in less than 3 attempts, especially in public restrooms; use the waterpik without shooting water up my nose
Ortho goals: malocclusion blah blah blah; tooth alignment yadda yadda yadda; tooth rotation yeah yeah whatever.

[traintracks92]

I think it took me about 5 weeks before I could eat tortilla chips without any pain. The beginning is always the worst but it gets considerably better!

[lambchop]

Eat the chips! Pretty much the ONLY thing I avoided during my 48 months (!) in braces was popcorn, fearing the hulls getting stuck and causing problems. I ate chips (maybe took a couple of weeks in the beginning) and then ate everything with reckless abandon, and pretty much everything except whole apples and carrots (cut them up). I work in a restaurant, and samples came my way daily. I ate EVERYTHING... including many elastics, lol. Maybe I was an exception to the rule, but I never once had a bracket pop off. They are very sturdy. After an adjustment when my teeth were sore, I almost viewed chewy and harder foods as a necessity, kind of like a teething toddler. Sometimes your molars hurt, sometimes your incisors...adapt, and you can live an almost normal life!

[EmilyTravels]

I was able to eat chips after the first week in braces. Just got new wires on Monday and was able to eat chips on Tuesday night.

[Snowglobe32]

I think you may be talking about the fact that your teeth are tender/sore or hurt so it is hard to chew.
From my experience, the more you chew when your teeth are sore, they quicker it goes away. My ortho also said it helps with the overall process to keep chewing. It keeps the blood flowing.
It may help to cut foods into smaller pieces, use the roof of your mouth and your tongue together to "chew" food...it works, I did it all the time.

[Aaeolien]

I won't be eating any of these tonight. Just had rectangular wires put in yesterday and today OUCH..... hurt more today then they did in the days following just getting my braces on. LOL I have a bag of Ruffles and French Onion dip in the fridge in there too. Just don't think I can chew them today. Oh well another day I guess