Metal Mouth Message Board

Okay - my first week with braces is about over... and I have survived!

I've figured out how to eat with a TPA (very carefully), how to brush, and basically how to live with braces. It no longer sucks really really bad.

But now I am impatient. After getting over the trauma and the fear of how this will impact my world, I am totally excited about having braces. I can't even visualize how my teeth will look in two years, how my face will look, and I am so very thrilled to finally see what I will look like.

So it's been one week.... and nothing has visibly changed yet! I know, I know, it's just been a week.... but I want to know something has changed!

Did anyone, when they first got 'em on, wonder just a teeny tiny bit if maybe the ortho made a mistake and really nothing is changing?

Argh - these feelings will pass... I just want to know what the end result will be, and I want the end results NOW! (does this remind anyone of Veruca Salt in that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie?)

Just venting, as my husband is probably getting tired of talking about my teeth and that just leaves this board!

Bianca - You sound just like me! I've had braces for 9 days now and haven't seen any change...I was actually expecting change the next day! lol. I also thought that maybe my ortho made a mistake or didn't fit the wire properly but I guess it's just because i am soooo impatient to see some kind of change

Hey! I got braced on the same day! And I still wish I would die! LOL!!

I have build-ups on the left side that make it virtually impossible to eat solids. And, I keep biting my cheek on that side. Ouch! You can't put wax on that! But, on the plus, I've lost the 6 lbs. I gained over the holidays.

What makes me mad is my teeth are about 85 percent straight. They're trying to correct a bite problem, which is hard to explain to people who ask because my teeth no longer fit the same way with braces on (I can't completely shut my jaw).

And, yes, my husband, family and co-workers are all tired of hearing me talk about it. If I hear "Get your hands out of your mouth!" one more time, I'm going to lose it! It's my mouth!

I haven't *seen* many changes in my mouth, but I can sorta feel them. It's frustrating when I think it's going to take 2 years! I've had my braces on for 11 days.... we just have to be patient.... and take lots of pictures!

Here there everyone.. It's been exactly 1 week since I had my top ceramics and a palate expander put in.. The first few days, I wanted to march right back there and have them take the stupid expander out! I don't mind the braces, but the expander prevents me from talking and eating, I hate it. But I've gotten a LITTLE used to it. i am back to eating almost all foods, but I still have to take painkillers before a meal

gypsydoodlebug, I'm in the same boat. All I have is crowding on the top and an overbite, that's it. Hopefully my treatment will last less than the 1.5-2 years the ortho estimated. It's only been 7 days, but I can see spaces appearing and my incisors are pulling in!

I'm at work now, but will post pics soon.. so glad to find a place with others who are in the same boat.. everyone who notices has either already gone through them or pokes fun at me haha

Count me in.

I think it's that we've always watched other peoples' teeth move with braces (either through pictures here, or friends/family). It's a lot easier to see the movement when we're not obsessing daily about it, because the relative change is easier to see -- i.e. a watched pot never boils.

There was a part of me that was actually expecting my crooked teeth to at least look straight within the first couple weeks, and then start moving into the correct bite positions after that.

So far, the only reason I know my teeth are moving is because my bite is even funkier than before braces.

I'm still excited about waiting for my last two brackets to go on and my four remaining teeth to get on my archwire. That's my current big goal.

It's been one week for me too. I am also always looking for the littlest change. For me it would be a closing of the extraction holes. I feel like my teeth are getting pulled together instead of apart --I have crowded teeth. I also have an incisor that sticks out and I want that to go back in. I ,like some others, have lost at least a couple of pounds--thank goodness something positive. Eating out in restaurants still isn't happening--I am self conscious about food getting stuck in the braces and my chewing is limited. At least I am getting used to having this hardware in my mouth. And yes wax is my best friend.

I totally empathize with your impatience. I'm just a little over a week and I feel the same way. I can't wait! I have just the opposite feelings when it comes to seeing changes, though. I'm totally exaggerating any little changes I *think* I see. I smile so much more now than I did before I had braces because my teeth look straighter to me. I know that they haven't changed hardly at all, but I feel like I'm done already. I'm totally nuts. =)