I am having two problems, though. The first one is the deal with the upper teeth hitting brackets on the lower teeth... it isn't really an issue until I try to close my bite when I eat/chew. Effectively, even soft foods that need mild chewing have to be swallowed whole because I can't close the gap fully, biting down, to chew them. I try to compensate by breaking up food with my tongue and the roof of my mouth, but...
The second problem is even worse, and happens whenever I try to use my tongue to chew or talk. There are sharp ridges on the insides of my metal molar bands that lacerate my tongue when I chew or speak. I have found a way to talk with a strong lisp that minimizes the tongue-cutting, but, obviously, I would prefer to speak normally. I am to the point now where I also don't eat more than once a day because my tongue gets too cut up. I had an Ensure drink for lunch today but after trying mac & cheese and mashed potatoes for dinner tonight, I am even more frustrated. I know I have a very small, narrow mouth (every dentist tells me so), and probably a regular or wide sized tongue... so this is a huge issue now that the metal molar bands are there scraping it at every move.
I have tried using half-inch long rolls of wax and molding them over the insides of the molar bands, but they don't seem to want to stay on. Please, does anybody have an idea of how to stop this tongue-cutting?
I ordered tons of wax online today... my ortho only gave me a tiny little sample box, and I went through most of it last night on my molar bands alone... to little avail, since it fell off or I ate most of it while trying to use it to protect my tongue while eating. The brackets don't bother me at all by comparison. Anything short of getting cut up would be great now. The peroxyl rinse last night BURNED like the dickens on my swollen/red tongue.
As long as I don't eat or speak, everything is acceptable. *sigh*
Bracedagain -- Thank you!! I am getting happier with the lig colors as time goes on. They add just a *bit* of fun to the whole thing. I am going to ask my ortho about the bracket when I next go in, I figure I ought to see if it is something I can adjust to first. I can't *wait* until all of this is over with! 1 day down, 809 or so to go! Oh my...
Kell -- Hey, you are in NC too! Awesome! I hope you weren't near that big chemical plant explosion yesterday I heard about. I'm going to ask my ortho about the bracket-hitting on my next appointment too (March 21). I'll let you know what he says... if you find out first let me know! The bottom is metal (ortho said it had to be) so I guess the ortho knew this would happen...
Jennielee81 -- Maybe there is some hope! Assuming I can ever bite into stuff again, if corn on the cob ever becomes safely possible, I might go for it at least a few times a summer.... despite the nightmare cleaning afterwards. At this point anything of any substance would be welcome... right now I am dreaming of Taco Bell soft tacos and pizza, but I don't think I'm there yet. Plus the ortho's office said no biting into pizza crusts! I hope there is still a way to eat pizza.
Karen -- You were right, those little colored dots wore off after my first brushing! What you say makes sense. And I'm glad you like the lig colors, yours were kind of my inspiration for getting Lilac
![Wink ;)](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
Boy, I hope this gets better. Or should I say, "bwoy I hwopth thuss guths buthhuh."