UK products and lessons learnt so far...

[RunningMad]

Hi all

I had my metal uppers and lowers put in on Tuesday 23/11 and had 2 teeth removed the Friday before.

I'm 41 and live in the UK and thought I would share what I've learnt in the past 3 days.

Firstly, I've learnt to keep taking the ibroprofen tablets as I tried going without and only got myself upset yesterday when I was trying to eat my dinner and it was so painful.

I've got an oral rinse wash from Boots today called Difflam. You need to ask for it over the counter from the pharmacist section but you don't need a prescription. Its an antiseptic wash and numbs the mouth which is good for the sore ulcers from the rubbing. I also like something called Anbesol as this also numbs the sore bits as well. I tried Boots own Mouth Ulcer Patch but wasn't impressed as they're very fiddly and don't seem to stop on. I like a numb mouth

Anyone else got any tips?

[BraceFace2o1o]

Hi RunningMad,

Oooh Difflam, I'd never heard of that before! Thanks for posting about it, because after I just Googled it I might get myself some. It sounds good!

Although most of the pain was actually in my teeth (boy did it hurt to chew!,) I did have quite a bit of rubbing going on with my tongue. I have molar bands and on the inside are the little nodules for future elastics and they were rubbing like mad on my poor tongue... it got red raw in those spots and started to bleed. It was quite painful.

My brackets/molar bands rubbed ever so slightly on my cheeks, but not enough to cause a sore/cut so I didn't even have to use any wax. Maybe as my teeth move I wont continue to get away with it!

So yeah, other than that, I don't actually have any tips ops. I mainly just took paracetamol for the first 4-5 days then after that the pain/aching in my teeth had pretty much gone. Right now I have 0 discomfort anywhere in my mouth.

[RunningMad]

Lucky you! I think mine is wearing off a bit now (thank goodness). I ended up in tears on Thursday night because like you say it was so painful to eat and I like eating! My hubby was saying I ought to go back and it can't be right etc but I said its normal and I had warned him prior to the braces I might get a little tetchy with him...

Someone at work said does it feel like having a cheese grater in your mouth and I said yes thats a really good way to describe it but now I keep thinking to myself I HAVE got a cheese grater in there!

I've also got some tablets called Nuromol which are actually paracetemol & ibroprofen combined (brand new apparently). Again you have to ask for them but don't need a prescription. They're supposed to hit the pain in 7 seconds and I don't know whether it's actually psychological but I think they are pretty quick acting!

Oh well - 4 days done of the 2 year sentence x

[Kittykins]

I found personally that paracetamol or Ibruprofen didn't work I had to result to Voltarol :/ Which worked a wonder (even though its a anti-inflam) but in my one Boots I found a god send! I managed to find assorted sets of interdental brushes for getting inbetween the brace And it was 3 for 2 as well so got some orthodontic toothpaste, even though it's cheap it still does the job But will defo enquire about that Difflam

[RunningMad]

Yes I got some 0.4mm brushes from Boots which are good for geting in between the teeth. I looked at the toothpaste but decided it was expensive and couldn't see what the difference was between that and 'normal' toothpaste. Think I got 2 packs of wax instead and the brushes.

Do you mean you rubbed the voltoral gel on your teeth?? Didn't know you could do that?

[Kittykins]

Ah no I mean I took Voltarol tablets They started working within half an hour So was really good, meant I could get sleep that I hadn't had during the night XD Only downside is I was only allowed 1 every 6 hours

[Sandpiper]

You can also get Difflam in a spray form, which my ortho recommended after I had my quad helix fitted - it's great for a sore tongue.