Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi Everyone

I had braces 5 years ago (ceramic uppers, metal lowers) and had them for a whole 2 hours before I had them removed! I couldn't bare the way they pushed out my lips ( barely able to close my mouth) as well as the way they looked on my teeth (absolutely awful!!)

I have very crooked and unsightly teeth though, so have decided once again to take the plunge, but this time go for lingual uppers and metal lowers. I am having them fitted on Friday morning.. eek I am really extremely worried about the speech issue, I bought some dental wax and put a long line of it behind my top teeth to see how it would effect my speech and the result was terrible! My mom could barely understand me The worst of it all is that im guessing that talking will be even more difficult with the braces and not just the wax.

To top things off, i have a very small mouth which i fear will make matters even worse. I am a very anxious person and spent the entire night last night wide awake and stressing about my braces, so much so that I made myself nauseous with worry and was unable to eat at all today without being sick. I am so worried about talking that I am starting to question my decision to get the linguals! Does anyone have any advice for me PLEEEAAASE? DO you think the wax thing I tried was a good assimilation of how the braces will affect my speech?

The other thing I am worried about is "flaring". I have a huge overbite (completely hides my bottom teeth) and the orthodontist said that without jaw surgery he cannot correct this. He says my teeth will straighten out but they will stick out a bit?! This sounds a bit dodgy to me.. any opinions?

Thanks everyone who decides to read this, and sorry for being so pathetic about all of this. I suffer from panic disorder and am extremely self conscious so this is a huge step for me.

You are very brave for taking the plunge once more!

Try not worry too much about the braces, however, I am not sugarcoating it for you. You probably will have speech issues at first and yes, the braces will feel gigantic on your teeth.
Keep in mind though, you will get used to this and you will learn how to speak with them like you normally do. (I know since I just have braces fitted for the third time in my life). Given, I don't have lingual braces, just regular damon (metal) ones. The first few days I had some trouble with certain sounds, but this has (almost) returned to normal by now.

The first week or two will be hard, getting used to all the stuff in your mouth, sensitive teeth and all that, but please keep your end goal in mind. You can do it! After the first few weeks are over, you will likely even forget that they are on at times.

About the teeth sticking out, I am sure your orthodontist will do the best he can for you. Maybe it is a bit more like a compromise solution, since he can't fix all of it with braces alone. Don't worry too much though, the orthodontists job is to give you a beautiful smile, so I am sure it will work out for you!

You are not a pathetic; I have not yet managed to get them on my teeth… The thought of braces is terrifying, but luckily I have the most wonderful ortho so if I only can take the big step and actually get them on my teeth I know that he will take very good care of me. My anxiety is just toward braces, but that does not make it any easier lol

If you read my journal “can I do it?” you will discover that you are braver than me, you have managed to get them on (twice). I’m still debating if I can do it or not (get them on my teeth).

It might help to create a journal to post your thoughts, concerns and progress, you can get very good advice from the peps on this forum

Good luck with your braces!

I have a narrow upper jaw and (used to have) an overbite, and my ortho told me that while jaw surgery would do things that just braces couldn't, I would get a very good result with just braces, which is what I chose. I didn't want jaw surgery.

I am halfway through, and my teeth look great and my upper arch is slowly expanding under the force of the steel wires while they compress my lower arch. It's fine.

Linguals are the choice you made and I'm sure you will adjust in time, but yeah--braces make it hard to talk for a while, and linguals are even worse than regular braces, from what I hear.

If you have a bad overbite (I did) at first it's kind of awful trying to close your mouth, but as your teeth come in the lip problem disappears.