What Have I gotten myself into?

[bracemyself]

I made the mistake. A Second time. Yes, I already had braces when I was a teenager, and now, I am 32, and by some twist of fate, I have been somehow led into believing that I can get through 18 months of hell all over again.

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 )

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

[Sumendoza]

Ihatebraces,

i am sorry to hear you hate your braces... the discomfort will pass and you'll get use to having food everywhere
I am pretty new to the brace-thing but i have followed a lot of the advise written here and it has helped me a great deal! Use the wax as much as needed, do warm salt water rinses and have some ice cream!

I hope you can get use to the braces in the next few days; it will all be worth it at the end!

[bbsadmin]

"Buyer's remorse" is a very common feeling in the first week or two after you get the braces on. I remember also thinking "Oh God, how am I going to deal with this STUFF in my mouth for 2 years?"

Well, you do get used to it. And most of the discomfort becomes very bearable after the first week or two. Use lots of wax as needed.

You can come here any time to complain and moan. That's part of what this board is about....commiserating!

The link you provided.....yeah, she is a member here at ArchWired.com. I remember reading her journal a few years ago. I don't know if she's still around on the board, but it's neat that her story helped you to feel better. That's why it's good to share stories and experiences....it makes it easier for people going through the same situation!

[maryjay]

hi ihatebraces,

welcome to this wonderful world of braces! and well done for going though with it, you have made the right choice, a few months of grieve for a lifetime of perfect teeth... i think the pay off will be worth it 10 times over.

i am 30 years old and its certainly a talking point explaining to people why as an adult you are wearing braces, you have courage for doing it, and should be proud of that.

as for eatting,... i spend most of my time, trying to pick food out of my braces, you can either get annoyed, or you can laugh it off, which i think is the better way to go,
i make a joke out of i when i eat a salad at work, and after ive finished most of the leaves are tangled about my brace! not a cool look...! but just dont get too mortified, and anyway you will get the last laugh when its all over, and youve got a wonderful smile

good luck with it

[Kevin]

Everyone has given you good advice here, but maybe I can add one more... Chage your user name. I'm not trying to be rude, funny, or sarcastic. In all seriousness having braces is as much how you feel about having them as it is actually having them in your mouth. However you feel about them, braces will do the physical job they are made to do, but how you view your time with braces is 100% mental. It will be very hard to change your feelings about your braces when you constantly remind yourself you hate braces simply by looking at your user name.

It does get better. If you let yourself, you may even enjoy having braces. I know I did. It made the time in braces much more pleasant than it could have been otherwise. Remember, the braces aren't going to do one thing to help you start feeling good about having them. They can't. They're simply pieces of metal/ceramic doing the job they're designed to do. THere are no emotions involved because they don't have any. 100% of the emotional impact of wearing braces comes from the person wearing them.

I really wasn't making fun of your username. But, it's hard to feel good about them while professing to the world how much you hate them. You put yourself into a catch-22 situation. You may indeed start feeling good about your braces, but you'll be stuck defending the identity you've chosen.

[ladylee]

I agree, change your user name. What your experiencing is about the same for everyone. SHOCK My first thought was "How did I get myself into this?" Yet time does fly and before you know it, 1, 2, 3 and more ....... months will go by and it does get better. Lee

[bracemyself]

So folks, how do I go about changing the username (unable to find it).
Sounds like every "braced" guy and gal is against me

[bracemyself]

Ive survived 2 days, and today is the third. A quick report card:

My mouth, although, feels full-of-metal, the intensity of the feeling has diminished by about 30-40%, ie doesnt feel "sooo full" anymore. THis is a good sign!

The MOST annoying thing is that my cheeks are getting abraded (is it even a word ?). I ordered a 10 pack of ortho wax from Dentakit.com and it is due in a day or two. However, I already ran out, so I had to run to Walgreens to pick up a couple more in the meantime. Removing the wax everytime I eat and putting it back on ABSOLUTELY SUCKS! But I gotta do it tho.

Further, this is a recent phenomenon - my cheeks are slllliiiiightly roughening and toughening since last night, as many told they would. So, the level of discomfort when I dont have wax has decreased VERY slightly. This is also good!


I did salt water gargle once a day for the last two days, didnt notice any visible effects, altho it felt somewhat better to swish yourself.

I went out and bot PhosFlur from Colgate (I think). Cost a fortune! ($12+ for ~475ml). So, I told my wife - no Phosflur for ya! . Plus, I only use it like once every night before bed. Rest of the time I use good ol Listerine.

Food gets stuck in the mouth, and I cant eat anything that is not soft, since I am not able to chew properly. WHEN WILL THIS GO AWAY????!!!! I AM SO TICKED OFF


Finally, I dont feel SOOOOOOO BAD anymore like I did in the first day after braces. So I feel like changing my nickname as some had suggested. How wd I change it tho, and any suggestions for a new nickname?

[Lisa65]

I'm not sure if you can actually change it. you could PM bbsadmin (the site owner) and ask her, or you could just set up a new account with a new name.

And we're not against you. There's loads of support here, but feeling like the whole braces thing is nothing but an ordeal, will make it so much harder for you than if you try and see the positives.

[emily25]

Hiya, like lisa said we are not against you, theres some lovely people on the board with great advice


Maybe you should read a few more journals and see how amazing other peoples progress is , thats what i do when i feel that i cant do it anymore


What your feeling is perfectly normal , most people have felt this way at some time or another, we are all in the same boat so to speak.In time you will feel better, heres some advice someone gave me the other day. be kind to yourself because its early dayz! goodluck with your journey.

[lionfish]

Glad to see that things are improving for your, I****braces.

It's not necessary to remove the wax when you eat, btw. I found that even when only 2 teeth made contact, I still found a way to chew. Have a try of something more solid and see how you go.

[Joanna20]

Hey! This is my second time too. And when I first came to this board I hated braces as well. But then I went to my consultation and I was shown why I needed them. Seriously, the first months are the worse, once you see some progress (which will happen very soon, for sure) you'll feel more excited and more confident!!!
Feel free to vent, we're here to help!

Joanna

[bracemyself]

I cant believe I survived one full week of braces. Not only is it getting easier to deal with the feeling of metal in my mouth, but eating, brushing everything is as well.

I developed some sores on my cheeks (insides of the cheeks), and promptly went to the dentist, they gave me an Orajel suggestion. I used it and Lo Behold the pain was gone!

Then I went to Dentakit.com and ordered a bunch of waxes ($9.99) for 10 cases. Not a bad price considering Walgreens charges $2.99 for one case.

I also bot Phosflur at Walgreens, and paid like $12. Saving it like GOLD, it is only for the braced, not for everyone else in the family like I said

The eating is becoming much better, altho I am annoyed when food gets stuck. That is the only real problem. Moreover, I am able to eat a lot more of variety, barring HARD foods like apples. Brushing is but a breeze these days.



BTW, I use 1 FULL CASE of Ortho Wax per day, although in general, I noticed that I didnt need as much as time progressed. Is this normal usage or am I using too much?

Secondly, is the wax water soluble? If so, I dont have to worry about clogging up my bathroom sink when I dispose the wax into it.


Thanks!!

[Lisa65]

Glad to hear things have improved for you, IHB.

The amount of wax you use is up to you really. At the beginning I used it a lot more but I rarely need it now. It won't be water soluble though, otherwise it would dissolve when you had it in your mouth!

You might be better disposing of it in the bathroom bin rather than down the sink. I guess if enough went down the drain it might eventually clog the pipes - I'm not sure really, but I wouldn't risk it especially if you are using a pack a day!

[bracemyself]

I cant imagine its been like 6 weeks already. I dont have issues doing any of the things that I normally do. In fact, Ive even had chewing gum once !!!

The one thing that REALLY bothers me is the CONSTANT brushing that I have to keep doing. I brush like 10 times a day and my toothbrushes get worn out in like a week. This is esp true since I have to apply and remove the wax whenever I eat/brush afterwards. Is this pretty normal?

Moreover my first adjustment is coming up in 2 more weeks, bit weird my ortho asked me to wait 8 weeks instead othe usual 6 weeks. I guess Ill find out!