Metal Mouth Message Board

Table of Contents:
Page 2: "before pics" and B-day
Page 4: 7 week update w/ comparison pictures and 1st adjustment



Hi all! I decided to start my own thread here for moral support and to keep track of my progress myself - sort of like a little interactive journal!

For my first post, I'll give everyone a short background on myself and my progress thus far. I will post pictures later (I'm at work now - I work in a genetics lab so I have lots of down-time while I wait for samples to process and such)!

I'm 23 - almost 24 - and I got engaged on St. Patricks Day of this year (2007)! I called my parents to tell them the news the next day and they offered to pay for me to get my teeth fixed as an engagement present! Initially I was interested in Invisalign (aren't we all, lol), but at my consultation my ortho told me it wouldn't work for me, and strongly suggested Damon braces, and said I would have a better result in less time with them than with normal ceramic braces. I sucked it up and told him - lets go for it! I can deal with metal mouth for 2 years! (20-24 months, to be exact, hehe)

I've had all 4 of my wisdom teeth out plus 2 extractions - both of my lower 2nd bicuspids had to go. One was a baby tooth that never came out and the adult tooth was never going to grow in, and then they pulled the other 2nd bicuspid to even things out. My braces went on June 7th, and I had 1 week of spacers before that.

Thanks for reading my post everyone, and I'll update it with pictures and experiences soon! I'm so glad to have found this website!

Mindy~ If you have a Container Store near you they carry very small foldable cups in their travel aisle.

Good luck this Thursday on your B-Day!

I think braces are a wonderful pre-wedding wedding present!

Thanks everyone!! I did get some dental wax (mint! mm) the other night to add to my little kit. I think I may have to use the mouthwash cap idea instead of a foldable cup for a while - I looked at the one that the Dentakit site sells but the shipping price was almost double the price of the cup, so I'm going to wait on that one.

I can't believe its Tuesday afternoon already - only 1 1/2 more days left with my old teeth!

Question for the general public here - when the ortho showed you your braces for the first time after he put them on, what were your reactions? I'm kind of worried that I'm going to see them and start crying....I really hope they don't look as bad as I think they will!

I'll try to get pictures up soon - I'm posting from work again (I'm such a slacker, lol)!

well after my ortho's assistant was finally done and she took the lip spreader out it feels really wierd. All of a sudden your lips hit the new gadgets and you start to panic with the OMG is this what it's going to feel like!! And then of course she hands you a mirror and I panicked and said, "they look hideous I'm never smiling again!" she laughed and said sure you will I promise!

It took all of a day to get used to them (well for me) I couldn't believe everything that poked inside. The braces on the lips, the molar caps in the cheeks, the cleats hitting your tongue. I really thought this sucks and I made a huge mistake. But like I said about a day or two later I was completely fine.

I just suggest always having your wax handy with you. I wore it a lot in the beginning then didn't need it for awhile (until recently since the weather got warmer I just can't keep hydrated so thinks tend to bother my mouth more)

all in all my experience in the 4 weeks has been not too bad. I haven't felt much pain but a few days ago I had a really bad toothache...thank goodness it's subsided. I guess something was moving! It's funny bc I just get random soreness. I can go 1 day feeling nothing to the next day having to be careful of what I eat. Braces are def. an adventure! Best of luck!

Meryaten and KK: Yeah you're right, I shouldn't go into my b-day thinking bad thoughts - I'm a worrier by nature so if I'm not worrying about something I don't know what to do with myself! But I'll be ok

I'm actually not nervous about tomorrow at all, and I thought I would be. I'm sort of excited and interested in what they're going to do and what cool stuff will be in my mouth when I come out! I pretty much have the "let's do this now because the sooner they go on, the sooner they come off!" And since I'll be getting married only a couple of months after they come off, I have something really great to look forward to in addition to my new smile!

I'll definately post tomorrow after I get them on - my appointment is for 9:50am Eastern Standard Time so they should be on by noon! wee!

seriously: sounds great - we should definately compare pics! I'll probably end up posting from work tomorrow afternoon (I only took a 1/2 day off), then I'll come home and take pics and post them. I have a few "before" pics I still need to get off my camera too! Taking pictures of your own teeth is kinda hard though so I hope they turn out lol!

Good luck to you too! Tomorrow we will both look like this! -->

Hi Mindykatz-

I got my braces a month ago. The first 2 weeks is definately an adjustment phase and if you're like me you will feel them under your lips and they felt "huge" in my mouth. You eventually get used to the feeling, but it's weird at first. Then you will start to notice movement and it's gets exciting. The worst part of having braces is eating! I feel like half of my meals get stuck in the bracket.

I felt hideous with my braces up until a week ago when I decided that I'm going to embrace this time and keep busy with other things. I smile a lot bigger and more often now. I never thought I'd say that and my teeth weren't even that bad to begin with. I just feel more confident knowing my teeth will be improved in a year or so.

So enjoy your last few hours without braces and eat anything you want while you can. Perfect teeth are awaiting you!

I have some minorly exciting news already! I noticed today that one of my teeth kept catching on another tooth. The tooth was a little loose too. Then I realized that my spacers have already moved one of my teeth enough where it was pretty noticable! Thats so cool! I hope I have fast moving teeth!

Ok, officially excited now. Maybe I'll be so fascinated with the way my teeth move for the first few months that the actual braces won't bother me a ton! Here's hoping!

I just took my "before" pictures - here they are!! Last pictures of my old teeth! They look so much worse up close, lol!

Thanks Meryaten and linda21! I'm sure I'll be ok!

It's about 8:20am now. I'm too excited/nervous to eat anything solid so I drank a Boost shake with extra protein - that should do me well for a few hours. All I have to do now is brush my old teeth super-well for the last time ever (!!), shower, get dressed....and leave for the ortho at 9:30am!

EEEEK!

Here we go!!!

Good Luck today! I hope you have a great appointment

well it's over with. It was interesting...I am a little dissapointed because all of the Damon brackets shown on the Damon website are half-clear...and mine aren't clear at all. They also have tiny little dots of color on them - some red, some blue, some yellow....what is that for? Color coding for the type of bracket or something? Hrmm

I still feel like I drank a bottle of nail polish remover because of the taste of that adhesive. I got it all over my tounge because the assistant glued one of my metal bands on wrong and had to pop it out and redo it....so when she took it out it just saturated my mouth - ewww!

I GUESS they're not that bad...they are a LOT LOT LOT more obvious than I thought they would be. I also had to get various twists in the wires and I have some sort of spring too. I was kinda just hoping for cute little power chains but it looks like I have the entire metal section of the hardware store in my mouth.

I also feel really shakey...I got done with my appointment at about 1145, and I went and ate lunch (huge bowl of broccoli cheese soup), then came to work at 1...but I feel pretty "off". I work in a genetics lab so I do a lot of stuff that requires a steady hand, but mine are shaking all over the place. I also already messed up something really easy that I've done literally about 30 times before. It's like I'm not all here....I don't know, I feel weird. Any thoughts?

Congrats Lil Miss Metal Mouth! I hope your hands stop shaking. Feel better and I guess this means no big bbq's for you this weekend.

Its tough at first, I was such a worrier as well:) Your not the only one lol. When i first got them on, all I felt and tasted a metallly taste lol. And it took me a while to make my lip cover the teeth.

The color dots, I had them on as well, and questioned about them. They fall off or you can pick it off. Its just for the ortho to know which tooth that bracket goes on Mine were Easter colors lol.