Metal Mouth Message Board

I have had my braces on for 3 days now. I decided to go with the ceramic brackets on my top 6 front teeth and the plastic brackets on my bottom 6 front teeth (the ones in the back are metal). I was pretty nervous at 1st but this is something I wanted to do since I was 11yrs old. I have been very self conscious about my teeth and barely ever smiled with my teeth showing. Now that I have my braces on... I smile all the time for 2 reasons... 1-I'm really excited and no longer self conscious bcuz I know they will be fixed soon and 2-It's less painful to smile than to keep my mouth shut! When smiling, my lips are not rubbing against the brackets!! I was super excited on B day. I had spacers put in on 7/2 and had the braces put on on 7/9. The whole procedure was pretty painless (thank god) the only part i didn't like was having my mouth stretched open by the seperaters (pretty bad gagging sensation) and the fact that my mouth was SUPER dry!! All in all... it took about an hr for them to be put on. When my dentist gave me a mirror....I had this overwhelming feeling of OMG I wish I didn't do this. I felt like my lips were huge and the ceramic brackets stick out a bit more than the metal ones! I immediately noticed that my speech changed and I was having a hard time with the letter S! I went home and waited for the pain to come. They said w/in a few hrs, I would begin to feel some pretty bad pain & pressure. I must say, I have been lucky thus far. I definately have some tenderness but I know people that were in excruciating pain. The worst part for me is getting used to the feeling of the brackets against my tongue/lips. I have been using some wax in about 4 areas to help relieve the pressure. The hardest thing for me is learning how to eat with them on. It's like tying your shoes with a pair of mittens on! I have been sticking to a pretty soft diet so far. I feel more comfortable eating at home because I can immediately brush my teeth after eating. So, I went to work on Friday and to my surprise...most of my co-workers did not notice my braces or my speech at all. I had to point out my braces to everyone!! I ate some soup at work on Friday, thinking this is a piece of cake... I won't get anything stuck in 'em.... YEAH RIGHT!!! I had to brush my teeth in the med room with a bottle of water! I was kinda grossed out by the idea of using the restroom bcuz I work in a pediatric office and we share a bathroom with our patients. So... I go back to the dentist on 8/20 and I'm super excited to see the progress that has been made. It was estimated that I will be wearing them for about 10 months. I will continue to update everyone as progress is made...Pic's are to come soon!!

Congrats! I'm another 26 year old who has recently been braced (July 8th). Hope you are getting along okay as you adjust to the new hardware!