Metal Mouth Message Board

Ok well I got my bottom braces put on yesterday morning and let me tell ya, I was spoiled with the top ceramics! I thought that braces were cake and I did not get why everyone had trouble and couldn't eat etc...well I now know! Metal is NOT COOL!!!! I cannot eat with these things!!! Of course I was disappointed that I could eat w/the ceramics because I wanted to lose weight but still I now have what I want! I have eaten 3 times...I would have only been twice but I have a migraine today and needed to eat something so it was 3! It is soooo not worth it! I was able to eat out with my friends no prob with the ceramics but these things are a nightmare! I can't even do soup with out it getting stuck up in the grill! It feels so gross! They do not hurt at all but there are a b!tc# to floss! Oh well I am glad I will be losing a lot of weight! Nothing but fruit smoothies and veggie juice and yogurt at home for me...and then 30 mins for prying it out of the grill afterwards. I always thought the metals looked better which they do but oh my they not practical!!! Anyway that was my vent about the new bottom grill and I got new pics on my site.

You are scaring me!!!! I have ceramic on top as well and will be getting metal ones on the bottom sometime this summer.

Why are they worse than the ceramics?

Hope it gets better for you real soon! I'm glad your not in too much pain

My ceramics and metals are all about equal opportunity when it comes to trapping food.

That being said, my lowers trap more food because the teeth are smaller and the brackets are closer together, thus it seems like there is more equipment to snag food. I'm guessing this might be what you are experiencing.

I would have to agree. My upper ceramics don't catch near as much as my bottom metals. I keep a toothbrush in my purse, in my desk at work and my waterpik is my best friend! It is an awful feeling and I have learned to stay away from certain foods and I don't bite into things.

Gardnr

wow, Lucifina, i can see a huge difference in your top teeth after only 3 months. i hope i will be lucky enough to see results like those!

You're going to have lots of fun picking your teeth! Try a Waterpik if you don't already have one!

Be careful about staying on a soft diet too long. You'll run into problems if you don't get enough fiber.

ingyandbert wrote:Be careful about staying on a soft diet too long. You'll run into problems if you don't get enough fiber.

Yeah I am getting so worried about that. It's been 2 months for me and I still only eat mashed potatoes, soups, bananas and things like that. I am eating no vegetables at all

KK, my back teeth aren't too sore...it's more the ones in the front. My canine crossbite is what causes me troubles...my lower tooth hits the top tooth so I can't bite down completely. My ortho said that in about 3-4 months my canine will get into alignment so I really cannot wait.

Thank you so much for the veggies ideas. I will try it for sure

I have metals on both upper and lower and I've never had a problem with food getting stuck in them...hopefully you'll get used to them over time and the art of 'sucking the food out'-it always works for me!

I don't have ceramic uppers, I have metal uppers and got metal bottoms on last month (2/14). After being in uppers from 10/6/05, I didn't think bottoms would be that bad. But, as some of you have said, bottoms have been a lot more to get used to than the tops were. Maybe I'm sorer as I have crowding on the bottom arch and extra space on the top. Food gets caught a lot more in the bottoms, they are spaced closer together, and I also think gravity helps keep junk out of the top ones. I said the other day it felt like I had another meal stuck in my mouth for later. My wife laughed and said that her sisters had said the same thing when they had braces.

Also, for me, it feels a lot more crowded in the bottom than the top, I guess there's more space on the top for all the equipment. They told me I'm getting a spring or two on the bottom, and I really don't know where they'll find the space for that. The other new thing is catching the inside of my lower lip between upper teeth and top of the lower brackets. Ouch! But, the shock is that I actually have upper and lower teeth meeting in the front for the first time in, gasp, decades!!

LOL! Gravity! Well I have managed food but it is not fun! I have been sore a bit this weekend but I am doing better now. It is still way annoying! I have to brush immediately after eating! I just have to take small bites and I am back to my salsa on a spoon no chips
I am excited about all the progress though I can feel my teeth moving and it is driving me nuts Can any of you guys hear your teeth move when you jiggle them with your tongue or am I just crazy

Lucifina!

Congratulations on getting bottom braces! THat's a huge step in your treamtent! YAY!

Sorry to hear that they're causing you so much pain! I totally know what you're going thru! I found my bottom braces to be at least twice as painful as uppers! I was on soft foods for a while, partly because of my wacked out bite!

I totally agree with Dadio! They are so much harder to keep clean! You have all this old food stuck in there and its so embarrassing! I think they are spaced closer together too!

I also am seeing a lot more progress with my lowers even after only 4 months! I can too "hear" and feel and see progress with them so we must both be crazy! I can really "hear" my previously impacted canine move, its still pretty loose but its seen a lot of progress lately!

Hope you are feeling better especially with those nasty migraines! I have one right now but that has nothing to do with my braces currently!

Good luck and keep us posted!

~Hannah




Top braces: 4/28/04
Bottom braces: 11/16/05
Last Adjustment: February 28, 2006 where they gave me a new bottom wire and attached my impacted canine, newly bracketed, to the wire! OUCH!

Yes! Spongy! That is it! That is the feeling but there is a creaking noise that I can hear in my head...I know it is just in my head because my husband cannot hear it.