The Story thus far:
So, 4 months ago, my dentist told me that I need to get braces and I fell for the soft sell! Dang! Then I setup an ortho appointment, and he tells me that I can get clear braces both upper and lower, and I further fall into the trap (since I didnt want to look like Metal Teeth Man from MoonRaker of 007). Contrary to most people, I decided to wait till January since I would be able to use Pre Tax dollars through the "FSA" Flex Spending Account.
Before getting my braces, I had to get my 4 wisdom teeth removed, a nightmare by itself. I went thru that hell in January, and finally scheduled my first ortho visit for Jan 31, 2007. Nancy, the lady at the ortho office took my impression. THey had me bite into some plaster of paris mould, and took the impression. Not painful, not yukky. Perhaps, a wee bit yukky, but doable.
I scheduled a date for my second "install braces" appt yesterday, Feb 5th, 2007. I went into the office and was asked to brush myself with some ROUGH, minty toothpaste. Then, they opened my mouth wiiiiiide open with some device so that it is easy to install. One by one, the braces were installed and "bluelighted" into their place. The pain level was about 5/10, since my mouth had to be kept open for the whole time, causing some pain. Plus, the air jet from the device on my mouth was annoying, to say the least. The process took about an hour or so. Now, for the SHOCK.
The mirror! I looked at the mirror and I am like WHOOOOOOOOOA what the heck!!!! I couldnt close my mouth easily, and i felt like there is a whole pound of metal sitting inside my mouth. But, no pain, just discomfort.
Then, the wire-install. The ortho assistant installed my wires, tightened them, and cut off the ends of the wire. Instantly, I could feel the pressure and my teeth being pulled in. Memories from 15 years ago started coming back. This SUCKS!!!!! The silver lining was that there would be no elastic/rubber-bands, just wires and tightening, at least for the next few months, I was told. After the whole run-down on how-to-do-this-and-that, I was let go, after my next appt was booked for April 2nd, 2007.
Then I went home, and after a while, tried eating some oranges. No trouble there. Just sticky. I had to brush to get some fruit off the wires. UGGGH!!! Then I slept for a while, and tried eating some fruit cake. THe cake was ALL OVER my mouth once I finished eating. Felt like I only ate half the cake. ( I guess you cant have the cake and eat it too
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
The pain was constant, and annoying. THe side braces (metal) started bruising the inside of my cheeks and I couldnt take it... Next morning, I could brush without any issues, just took more time, thats all.
I called my ortho and they said that ortho mint wax. I put it on and the irritation went away. Now, here I am, Googling for braces-experiences and trying to convince myself, "This too, shall pass". And to my surprize, I found this post - http://www.public.iastate.edu/~lora/bra ... ision.html
Read the "Living with braces" part. It was somewhat encouraging.
Now, I decided to start writing down my experiences too. I plan on buying more ortho wax, and just dealing with it. I guess the weird feeling will go away in about a week or two.
Wish me luck!
-IHateBraces