Have you learned to swallow barely chewed food?

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Sat Feb 25, 2006 1:05 pm

Its amazing what I can swallow now. Sometimes I put things in my mouth and decide I really can't chew it so I just swallow it. I feel like the dog !

Anyone else experiencing this ?

#2 Post by **genxsis** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 1:20 pm

I have to admit I don't chew it up as well as I used to now that I have different teeth bothering me each day making it painful to chew. I try to eat things now that don't need to be chewed, or at least not very much.

#3 Post by **Teigyr** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 1:22 pm

Me too. Things burn the roof of my mouth really easily because my bottom front teeth are meeting absolutely nothing at this point in my treatment. My back teeth barely can chew things. I worry about choking! Seriously, I do worry about it sometimes. I wonder if I actually eat too much now because I eat quickly due to not being able to chew.

#4 Post by **genxsis** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 1:27 pm

Teigyr:

Yeah, that choking thing sometimes happens to me too. I can't move my mouth the same way anymore, so when I want to swallow, I'm not doing it quite right, and I come close to choking, even when I'm just drinking.

#5 Post by **Flora2006** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 2:12 pm

I have a phobia of choking because I've gotten food stuck in my throat twice in my life. I didn't end up choking but I had many visits to the hospital and throat specialist because of it.

With the braces on, after a month and 2 weeks I still can't chew hard things because of a crossbite so I am still only eating soft food...but even then I am scared of getting food stuck in my throat.

#6 Post by **Teigyr** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 3:03 pm

I never worried about choking until braces. Stay away from spinach! I was at a restaurant and ordered creamed spinach. Between not chewing well and the fact it'd wrap around my brackets in the back and partially hang down my throat, it was not good.

The worst thing is deciding I can swallow something partially chewed and part of it gets stuck on a brace. BAD, very bad.

#7 Post by **Granola** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 4:11 pm

Its amazing what I can swallow now. Sometimes I put things in my mouth and decide I really can't chew it so I just swallow it. I feel like the dog !

Pam, I got a good

from your comment. I guess because I have a dog and I immediately pictured how he will do that.

I am doing this too (especially with the little wraps I made for lunch. No matter how small I cut them, I still end up swallowing a lot of it whole.

#8 Post by **vanilla** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 4:38 pm

The worst thing is deciding I can swallow something partially chewed and part of it gets stuck on a brace. BAD, very bad.

- Teigyr

That used to happen to me a lot at the beginning. It still does now and then. You're stuck between a choke and a wretch. Never good.

#9 Post by **CLAmom** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 5:41 pm

I had rice pudding today and thought for sure I would get a stomach ache from swallowing it down whole. I am eating nothing but soft foods and when I mean soft it's pudding, milkshakes, mashed potatoes, and soup. I'm so hungry but I can only chew with my front teeth and that is so irritating to me. I'm so hopeful to one day get back to chewing normally. I could go for ribs and corn on the cob right now.

#10 Post by **ingyandbert** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 7:12 pm

It's not only a choking hazard to swallow unchewed food but can also be hard on your digestive system. I find that eating takes longer but I can chew practically anything if I just take my time.

#11 Post by **Brandyleigh35** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 9:03 pm

Funny you should mention this, as I was just talking with my husband about this today. I got spacers put back in my top molars on Thursday so they are sore, and for whatever reason, instead of my upper teeth bothering me, my bottom front teeth feel like they are moving again so all of my lower teeth are super sensitive in front today. My bite feels like it changes daily so I have gotten to were I barely chew stuff. I chew it just enough to get it down and then swallow it. I know its not good for you, but I have to eat, and it just hurts to much to chew some things. Even if they are soft foods.

I get an RPE appliance put in on Tuesday and hear that it will most assuredly add more joy to my new eating disfunction. IN addition to having sore teeth, stitches from the SARPE etc. I will also have to worry about stuff getting caught in my appliance. As if all of this wasn't enough, I also have to wear a sleep appliance on my lower jaw at night that moves my jaw forward so that I can sleep without my airways becoming blocked. I'm just wondering how much more metal I can get into my mouth these days.

I'm really trying to focus on the positive though. I've lost 5lbs since getting braced a couple of weeks ago. So, I guess it could turn out to be a really good diet plan. I keep telling my husband it will be like extreme makeover. I will have beautiful teeth, a bigger smile, and at the rate I'm going I will be as skinny as a fashion model. I told him it will be like cheating on your wife with another women, without all the guilt! LOL..

Brandy

#12 Post by **hannah164** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 9:09 pm

I totally feel the same way! Sometimes I do feel like the dog by not really chewing my food! That's exactly what my dog did!

My bite keeps changing, usually for the worse making it quite hard to chew!

Especially when I tried to eat a huge hamburger from In 'N Out yesterday! I really felt like I wasn't chewing hardly at all!

Kind of hurt going down your throat!

Hopefully this all gets better for us!

~Hannah

Top braces: 4/28/04
Bottom braces: 11/16/05
Last Adjustment was 2/1/06 where they bonded a bracket to my cuspid, which was impacted!!!! OUCH!
Next Adjustment: February 28, 2006

Sat Feb 25, 2006 10:08 pm

Hannah, I LOVE In-N-Out burgers. And I do have a really hard time biting into them. I always bring them home so no one sees me eating them, it isn't pretty!

KK, I ate a tuna sandwich with a knife and fork the other day. Sandwiches are one of the hardest things....I have found grilled cheese dipped in tomato soup are pretty easy to bite into!

Brandy, I have lost 25 pounds due to braces (and also trying to lose weight). I am finding ways to eat more so I've kind of stalled on my weight loss. I have even mastered apples with peanut butter (my favorite night-time snack). I cut the apples into pretty thin slices the put the peanut butter on the skin...mmmmmm

#14 Post by **Teigyr** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 10:27 pm

In 'n Out animal style!!! I am originally from Calif, have only been in WA for 2.5 years or so. I work for an airline so I fly down regularly. I'll be in SoCal on monday/tuesday...might just have to swing by In 'n Out!

And yes, I have been known to fly down just to eat there.

Dang I'm hungry!!!!

#15 Post by **Carmella** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 10:34 pm

I have this weird swallowing thing when I try to eat oatmeal. I think it's the consistency, kinda like I need to chew, yet it's soft enough to just swallow. It's strange and totally brace related. My co-workers and I usually all eat oatmeal each morning and they make theirs semi-watery and they appear to chew it. Yet I have to make mine the consistency of concrete so I can "chew" it. They tease me about my "concrete oatmeal" but I do feel like I'll choke if it's too watery. Weird, I know, but at least I'm not the only one with swallowing issues.