Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi - I'm 42 and have had braces for 4 days. I am having no problem with braces themselves. However, I have upper and lower expanders that are causing mild to moderate discomfort, slurred speech, problems eating, drinking and swallowing. Please - Any advice is appreciated - greatly. I haven't even tried to floss and dread doing so.

Hi there,

I don't have expanders but when I got my braces, it took about a week to feel normal again. My speech was off in the beginning and I think it just took time for everything to "work" together in my mouth. Give it some more time and hopefully things won't seem so bad.

As for flossing, look into getting a waterpik. I recently bought one and love it. I would assume that it would help you get a lot of food/particles out better than flossing alone consdiering you have expanders.

Expander buddy! Wow that's a lot at once though.

Your speech WILL get better I promise!! You'll have some speech problems but most will go away as they move. Try and avoid stringy food in public because it isn't worth the effort (shrimp, strawberries) and getting a pick or something to carry with you in case something does happen to remain is a good idea. It's easier to drink straight out of a bottle than bother with straws and drinking fountains for sure. You'll get used to just kind of tipping you head back to swallow and sucking in to swallow.

Rincinol is great for sores because it while lots of things work on the walls of your mouth the Rincinol will coat your tongue effectively too.

Hi Darlene - I feel for you! I have a trans-palatal arch, which goes across the roof of my mouth, and I thought that was bad enough.

As the others have said, avoid stringy food - not worth the hassle. Another thing that can help, in my experience, is chopping your food up smaller than usual, so you don't have to move it around your mouth so much as you chew.

If you have a sore mouth, a saltwater mouthwash is really effective - mix half a teaspoon of salt into some warm water, let it dissolve, and swill and spit about 5 or 6 times.

I'm new to the world of braces. I got brackets today...what are expanders?