Metal Mouth Message Board

I am a 32 year old mother of one who was braced March 26th, 2010. I’ve wanted braces for a few years now and have been seriously considering braces for the last year. After consultations with two orthodontists I found one that I felt very comfortable with and decided to take the plunge!

I have an overbite, bottom crowding, a rotated tooth in the front, and two baby teeth that are going to need to be extracted a few months down the road. My adult teeth are still up in my gums and those will need to be pulled down. I’m definitely not looking forward to that part but I’m hoping in the end it will all be worth it.

I have clear ceramic on top and bottom and bite turbos behind my two front teeth. Getting the braces on went smoothly – it took about an hour and a half for the whole visit. The braces look much better than I thought they would. From a distance you can barely notice them.

I’ve had no real tooth pain yet – just a dull achy throb – nothing advil couldn’t take care of. I do have lots of sores and cuts in my mouth and tongue where the braces are rubbing. I’ve been using lots of wax and orobase and now 4 days in my mouth is feeling much better.

The worst part so far are the TURBOS! Since they are right behind my front teeth they give me a lisp and its driving me nuts. I sound ok except when I try to say words with the letter “s”. My ortho said I would only need them for about 4 months so hopefully the time will fly by and I’ll get used to the speech issue. My husband says I sound fine but I think he’s just being nice

Overall treatment time was estimated at 1-2 years…it all depends on how long it takes for my adult teeth to be pulled down….pix to come ….

Morning before braces

http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab35 ... _26_10.jpg


Brace Day

http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab35 ... -26-10.jpg

HI Julie
I got braced last thursday so i can feel your pain

My braces are the same as yours. It s hard to get used to them but i dont think they are as bad as I thought they would be. They are hardly noticeable from a distance.

I have a bit of pain in my 2 top front teeth. I cant bite down into anything.
Are you having the same trouble.

Good Luck in your journey
Maggie

Congrats on your braces! I have bite turbos behind my front two teeth which make it so I can't close my mouth. So chewing has been completely impossible...I've been eating lots of yogurt and pudding and slimfast shakes. Luckily no pain though....good luck...I'm sure it will get better in time

So I survived my first week in braces! The cuts and sores in my mouth are starting to feel much better. I can't chew at all with the turbos so I've been having slimfast shakes, yogurt, pudding and mac and cheese all week. I've lost three pounds without even trying!

Congrats on your baces!! I just got mine a couple days ago....needless to say...eating hasn't gone well as of yet. The "hardiest" thing I've had to eat yet, which did make me feel full, was some stove top stuffing. Other than that, just like you...pudding, mac n cheese...yogurt...I'd do just about anything right now for a chip. ANYTHING!!!!!

Week 2

So I made it thru week 2! I actually think it was worse than week 1. I can't believe how many canker sores I have in my mouth! The constant taste of blood is nasty so I'm hoping they will clear up soon. I've been using a ton of Orajel mouth sore antiseptic rinse and Colgate Orobase. Both are definitely helping. I'm using wax only when I absolutely have to. I'm hoping to toughen up my mouth faster that way but we'll see.

I'm used to the feeling of the Turbos in my mouth now...I've figured out where to put my tongue so its not constantly rubbing...I still can't eat anything that requires chewing because my teeth still can't touch enough to chew....the upside is that I'm down five pounds since i'm on a liquid diet (thank you chocolate slimfast skakes!)...the estimate for my turbo wear was around 4 months but hopefully they can come off at my first adjustment which would be at the two month mark..fingers crossed!

Overall i'm still very happy with my decision...my lisp is still there with the letter "s" but it has improved a lot....now if I could just get rid of these canker sores I'd be good to go....

Week 3

So week three was worse than week two...I'm not liking the pattern that is starting to form. I was hoping things would start getting better not worse. I'm not sure how to even describe how many sores are in my mouth!

I have a couple against each bracket and a couple in the front of mouth. The worst is that my tongue has four big sores on it on the tip. It keeps rubbing against the turbos behind my front teeth and there is really nothing that I know of to do about it. Yesterday I started putting wax on my turbos but its tough to keep it in place.

The worst is when I wake up in the morning. No matter what position I try to fall asleep in I always wake up with my tongue between my teeth as though I've been biting it all night. Maybe its just so swollen it has nowhere to go!

My teeth don't hurt at all which is making me wonder if anything is really happening. All my problems are with my mouth.

I still can't chew anything because of the turbos - I'm still on the liquid diet so I am down 6 pounds now.

Let's hope there is an improvement in week 4!!!

Week 4

I'm pretty much at the same place I was last week. Lots of sores in my mouth which I can deal with but I HATE my turbos. My tongue is so raw that it hurts to talk and it even hurts to drink out of a straw. Thanks to my turbos I'm now down 9 pounds. I'm considering calling the ortho to get rid of the turbos and do molar build ups instead but I don't want to slow down my treatment time. So I think I'm just going to suck it up until my first adjustment appointment which is May 22nd....

Thanks Ken! I definitely think I am going to look into the molar buildups ...

Week 5

I think my turbos and I are getting along much better I can now somewhat chew on my right side...I chewed ravioli and very undercooked pizza this week! The million cankers on the bottom of my tongue have thankfully healed up and each morning when I wake up my mouth is less sore. I am really hoping that I have reached a turning point. I still have cankers and random sore spots but they are manageable. Lets hope week 6 is even better! Oh and I'm now down 10 pounds which is pretty cool...

WEEK 8

So I've survived two months in braces. I've figured out how to get the wax to stick to my turbos so I've finally figured out how to live with them. I still can't really eat much so I've lost 13 pounds so far.

I had my first adjustment this weekend. Pretty uneventful. All she did was "tie-in" (whatever that means) three of my most crooked teeth to get them more in line. One on the top and two on the bottom. And she changed my elastics which up until that moment I didn't know that I had.

I asked about my turbos and she said i had "a long way to go with them"...bummer...average wear is 4-6 months but she said it will cut down on my overall treatment time which I'm all for....

Here are my before and after pix..I definitely notice a difference in the front...the tooth that prompted all this has moved pretty well I think....


B-Day



Adjustment 1