26/female/bartender tomorrow will be week 1 with braces

[manna22]

Ok. So I'm a bartender by night....and tomorrow will be 1 week since I got my ceramic's on. I'M GOING NUTS. I'm still on soft food....it doesn't seem to hurt AS much but it seems I'm having more problems breaking the food down and getting use to the brackets while chewing than anything. I can't even eat Pork BBQ

When can I eat sandwiches??? When can I eat salad??? I just want regular food....I get ortho surgery as early as Nov/Dec for my overbite. NOT looking forward to that...but they say beauty is pain.

Can ANYONE relieve my fear that I'll never eat like a regular human again? LOL

And when do I get rid of my speech lisp.....please tell me I get use to them in the next couple days....

[sashamax]

it does get better. I have only just begun to be able to bite into a sandwich with very little filling - it took me 8 weeks to do this. Otherwise I have been cutting the sandwiches into very small pieces so that i could get the food to the back teeth for chewing. salad i have eaten since day 1.

some people here though seem to have eaten normally since their first week, it does seem to be a very personal experience when it comes to getting back to you normal eating habits.

keep going, it does get better. My personal theory is that I keep thinking of the end result and all the inconveniences then seem worthwhile.

[aschelkin]

Don't worry! You can eat normal food again so soon!!

It is funny to see what you have to say and remember that I said the same thing when I got my braces on the last week of March. By the 5th day I was convinced that I was going to be eating mush for the next 18 months. I cried a couple of nights after trying to eat chicken and getting frustrated.

It gets better VERY soon. Within 10 days I was eating sandwiches, pizza, steak, chicken, granola bars, salad, gum(shh don't tell my ortho!). I can pretty much eat anything I want now, but I have stayed away from chips, for some reason I have a fear of breaking my brackets off, probably not a bad thing. I DO have days where a certain tooth or two hurt (due to movement) but with little effort my mouth automatically adusts to avoid those teeth.

I will say, however, that I haven't been enjoying burgers and sandwiches as much. I prefer to cut things up to avoid getting food stuck in my front teeth, and sandwiches do not lend themselves well to cutting. I haven't missed it much though, and when I want to eat it, I do. Although it is probably just a personal preference.

Hang in there!! You'll be back to eating normal foods in a few days!

[manna22]

Thanks everyone!! I appreciate it..Last night, I ate crab legs...and for the first time....got full!! I've got quite a canker sore on one side of my cheek so I'm eating more with one side of my mouth which just sucks!! I really need to start doin the warm salt water rinses.....I heard they help in the healing time.

[KateEd]

I love mexican food and have found that enchiladas are really easy to eat early in braces treatment. As time goes by, and I've only been in braces for two weeks, lot's of things are easier to eat. Patience and chew carefully are great advice. This forum has helped me alot. Good luck!

[allysakiss]

hello!
I have to agree, the first few days were hard for me too... im one week in braces (tomorrow) and im doing well. the worst part for me is still salad which is terrible because im normally a salad feen! i did however find that cabbage on my fish taco was ok... suggestion: chop your salads. as for the sores in your mouth i have those too. and much like you are only on one side. i have found that by sleeping with the wax over the part of the bracket that is rubbing my cheek has time to heal over night. the tought part is keeping it on during the day so that by night time your sore is not back! ANYWAYS, good luck with the salad i know i miss it the most!

[shellycul]

Hi Manna,

You mentioned a lisp - which makes me wonder if you got bite turbos? I did, and I don't think I would lisp without them. I've had my braces on for almost 4 weeks now, and just this past week began to eat salad again - tender greens only, nothing too crisp. The issue with the turbos is that my teeth don't touch (except when my bottom centrals hit the turbos, and that hurts!) so most of what I swallow is poorly chewed. I don't actually think I'm chewing any better now than at the beginning, I'm just more accustomed to swallowing bigger pieces. Still, it's better than no salad at all!

Here's a suggestion - skip the lettuce and make salads of diced tomato with VERY finely chopped basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Tomato is pretty easy to handle if diced small so the bits of skin aren't too big.

My lisp started diminishing week 3 - longer than I was told, and I was worried it wouldn't improve at all. It's not completely gone. It's most noticeable when my mouth is dry...so stay hydrated!

[Samantha19]

Ok. So I'm a bartender by night....and tomorrow will be 1 week since I got my ceramic's on. I'M GOING NUTS. I'm still on soft food....it doesn't seem to hurt AS much but it seems I'm having more problems breaking the food down and getting use to the brackets while chewing than anything. I can't even eat Pork BBQ

When can I eat sandwiches??? When can I eat salad??? I just want regular food....I get ortho surgery as early as Nov/Dec for my overbite. NOT looking forward to that...but they say beauty is pain.

Can ANYONE relieve my fear that I'll never eat like a regular human again? LOL

And when do I get rid of my speech lisp.....please tell me I get use to them in the next couple days....

Believe me, you will get used to braces (If you haven't already by the time I have posted this.

I have only had them on for 6 months but I remember how weird it was when they first went on.

It will get better