Metal Mouth Message Board

Chapter 1

March 16, 2011

Let's start as far back as possible. I must've been 8 or 9 years old when 2 teeth came in at once in the very front. The dentist yanked one of them out by hand, but the tooth left was already pushed back slightly. Ever since, my front teeth have overlapped (see Jay Rockefeller). The bottom is worse, but I feel it's not as noticeable. In any case, my folks never had money for ortho, so onward I went in life.

Flash forward to age 22. Looked into ortho, way too expensive.

Flash forward again to 29 years old. Still too expensive, but noticing my crooked upper and lower teeth more.

Now we're here at age 32, going on 33, and I have a rare financial opportunity to get braces.

The stats?

Upper lingual (awesome), lower Damon-3 metal (oh man). So I'll be half a brace-face.

The twist? I do improv and sketch. On stage. In Los Angeles.

And as I sit here tonight, ready to get records done on Friday, I'm freaking.

It's funny, I've told a few people already and they're like "don't worry about it, no one will care," but I feel like this board, this group of people, knows best what I'm going through. I worry that people I perform with will be uncomfortable. I worry the audience will be uncomfortable or will just stare. But I most worry that I won't be able to deal with it (I might have rubber bands involved)! It's funny, too, that in light of my performance concern, I'm not too worried about every day interactions. That seems easy in comparison!

Performing improv comedy, live on-stage, is 85% confidence and I don't know how I'll feel that first night when I have these on.

I have 20-24 months ahead of me where I am supposed to be doing web shorts, live comedy shows, and a 8-week sketch show (on top of a 9-6 job). Things are starting to happen and I am worried the braces will cause that all to go on 'pause.'

Yea, I'm freaking out.

But I also know, like all of you, I have to do this. I don't smile in pictures. I feel ugly towards the opposite sex. I know there's no way I'd get on TV with crooked teeth and I know the live audiences notice it. I always say, my crooked teeth aren't as bad as I think, but definitely are noticeable. I know once I'm all done, I'll be happier than I have ever been my whole life.

So, I want to do what I can to embrace it. I want to try and be brave, not just for me but for all of you as well. If I can go on-stage and "act", then some of the other worries should be a piece of cake, right?

I'm going to chronicle each step of the way here, for 2 years worth. I'm sure I'll have technical aspects to share, pain stories, other logistical things to worry about. But my biggest worry is the impact it will have on everything else. It might seem to be a silly concern to some of you, but I feel like this board allows us to be truly honest and vulnerable in our fears and insecurities in the safest place!

I've already gotten positive encouragement from this board, so I only hope to return the favor by sharing my story along the way.

Until Records Day on Friday...

- The Funnyman

Really??

Come on, what better material could you have to work with than....colored rubber in your mouth. I mean, I could go on forever on just the jokes I've come up with on that alone. You'll do great!!! These things are awesome!!! I mean, I'm not a real fan of the metal look, but I have always....ALWAYS got something to talk about in these. No matter where I'm at, what age I'm dealing with, what mood I'm in, these braces have allowed me to bring up conversations with people I would have never done otherwise. And I have found, the more comfortable I am with them...the more open people are to asking me questions about them. So, when I'm in an awkward situation, or just don't know anyone, or what to say.....all I do...is flash a big ol smile ....and my mouth full of colored rubber.....breaks the ice!!!!!

Good luck to you!! You'll do great. And if you've got a great sense of humor....which I'm assuming you do.....You'll be steps ahead of most on the comfortability level!!

Just wanted to say hello...I'm very new here and love all the support; and I love giving it even more! Good luck with your journey, can't wait to hear your progress as time goes along

Happy St. Patty's Day!

I think you should invest in some gold and ruby-encrusted grillz for the uppers as a prop. The audience would certainly remember that!

Seriously though, I don't think they'll be nearly as noticeable to an audience as they are to you. I don't generally make a habit of staring at others' mouths, so I like to think that no one else does either. (Although maybe I'm more observant now that I'm more focused on my own).

I look forward to reading your story in the future!

Yeah, I think that's the key - being confident and comfortable yourself allows everyone else to be confident and comfortable. And thanks for the replies - I'll be hunting the boards to follow your journeys as well!

Had the records today. Standard stuff: x-rays, moldings, etc... I gave them their money, which made them happy! In 2 weeks I have a final conference with the doc and I think another round of X-Rays and then we'll be ready to start.

Also, maybe it's like when you buy a red car, you then see red cars, but I saw another improviser with braces on her top teeth last night. I smiled and almost approached her to talk about it, but she went backstage with her team to start the show.

I'll post a "Before" pic this weekend sometime.

More to come...

Chapter 2

B-Day Part 1

Tomorrow (about 9 hours from this moment) I'll have my upper linguals put in (the metal lowers in 4 weeks). I think I'm getting some sort of things in the back of my mouth to keep my jaw up a bit so that the linguals don't hit my bottom teeth. When they told me about this, the Ortho person gave a face like even SHE thought it'd be unpleasant. Fantastic.

I feel on the eve of this change - a change many of you are already in - I am likely feeling what many of you felt. Frightened. Nervous. A little excited. Apprehensive. Hopeful.

I honestly don't care about the rest of the world. I see braces all the time and I always say to myself, "Huh, braces," and move on. So it feels hypocritical or downright nuts to feel so differently about myself.

But, as I talked about above, I am very nervous about my comedy performing life. I do sincerely appreciate all your kind words, but I don't know how I'LL feel. Will I be the same? Talk the same? Have the same growing confidence? A part of me feels like my whole life is going to be on pause while these things are in my mouth.

Obviously, on the other side, I'll be elated. Happier than I could imagine. I'll be able to smile in pictures. Laugh without covering my mouth. Feel attractive. Heck, I'll have my dentist off my back so that they can clean my teeth easier!!!

But I don't plan on dating while having braces. I don't know how I'll be on Tuesday trying to talk on the phone at work. I don't know if my improv or sketch teammates will feel weird about it. I don't know if I'll be the same.

There's only 2 things I know. 1) That it's happening. I prepaid for it and it's happening. I can't stop it now and the reward at the end will be worth it. Even though sacrifices might be made. 2) That I want document this.

Other than that, we'll find out together what more change this particular change sets in motion.

You're all brave and I hope throughout this process I can pull from your strength. Then, when the time comes, I can provide strength for those who feel like I do right now.

Wish me luck!

Wow Magoogs--you have had to wait since March to get braces?? I have had mine on for 10 days, after about 3 weeks from starting the whole process...my spacers were supposed to go in tomorrow and braces on May 17th..I stopped into the orthos office about 2 weeks ago to make a payment and walked out with spacers!! And braces about 4 days later!! Got that show right on the road..

Well Magoogs, I am 55 and I don't give a damn what anyone thinks about me in braces. In 2 years, I will be 2 years older--with or without straight teeth. I prefer straight teeth and no need for dentures in 20yrs.

Do you know how cool it is to be among the first adult trendsetters? I really, truly believe that braces on adults are going to end up being a fashion statement. But what is really weird is that I thought it would be awful to go to the ortho's with snarfy little kids running all over the place. Every single time I have gone so far, the adults outnumber the kids about 3 to 1.
So I asked the assistant how old their oldest patient is--she said 80yrs old!!!

Another funny thing---look up "FakeBraces.com". People are spending over $200 to get molds of their teeth done and then get fake braces!! I think they can get elastics and everything! How totally weird is that!!!

Well, good luck tomorrow. Take some Ibuprofen right when you leave--the discomfort starts a few hours later. Mine started the next day. And it was only the pokey wires for me...

Keep us updated--I am really interested in how you do with the "bite ramps". I am going to be getting "bite turbos" in a couple months.

I just want to quickly let you know something about your linguals that you may already know but I don't want you to get a shock. When you first get them, you will very likely have a lisp. I had been looking into getting them and every once in a while I read about someone who didn't end up with a lisp but most did and most said they felt like it would never go away. It always did. For many it took up to two weeks to retrain the way they use their tongue when speaking so try to avoid booking shows right after you get the braces, if possible. You may panic after a few days or a week when you don't feel there has been an improvement. Try not to worry. Every lingual story I've read pretty much goes the same way. That person believes they are going to be the one person who never gets over the lisp. Then a couple weeks later they return and say they can hardly remember what the fuss was about. Same goes for the sore tongue. Use wax and it will pass.

Good luck!

Hi magoogs!

I've been reading the forums for a while but been afraid to post until I read your story (this is my first post).

Like you, I'm also from Los Angeles and recently just got braces, linguals on top and damon 3 brackets on bottom. The linguals were installed a month and a half ago and the bottom brackets just 2 weeks ago and I would have them on for about 21 months. First I want to reassure you that they're not so bad. The people who I told I had braces couldn't even tell I had them until I mentioned them (even with the bottom brackets on, people really can't tell). People have been very positive when they find out and even think that it's so cool to have braces on the back of your teeth. Some even share their experiences of having braces when they were young. They're great conversation starters and like someone mentioned here, will probably provide you numerous materials for your improv.

Now they do take a lot of getting used to and I'll be honest, the first couple of days I wanted to cry and just rip them right out of my teeth because I couldn't eat and I sounded like a Daffy Duck when I talked. The lisp went away though and I started sounding normal again after about 3 weeks. I have fujis on my back teeth too to lift my jaw so my bottom teeth won't hit the top braces. They're kind of like cement or plaster on top of your teeth and aren't bad at all although I find that I have a tendency to grind down on them in my sleep. Right now the biggest challenge for me is just eating since I don't really want to lose weight during this whole process. Overall I'm glad I finally have them and looking forward to the day when the whole process pays off and my teeth and my bite finally gets fixed.

BTW, thanks to you, I think I'm inspired to document my journey as well. Good luck, it will all be worth it in the end!

Thanks to everyone who's commented so far and I am traveling the exact path all of you have laid out. So, I keep Chaptering it, soo....

Chapter 3 (Day 0, as I like to call it)

Again, thanks for the comments, y'all. The upper linguals went in and I'm almost exactly like braceydaisy. I have that weird cement stuff on my molars, although I thought they'd feel much weirder. My tongue, to be honest, is fine. I mean, maybe after a few days it'll get irritated and they gave me antiseptic mouthwash to use to numb the tongue, but my tongue seems to be cool right now.

It's that darn lisp.

I honestly don't know if I would've gotten linguals if I knew this lisp would be so bad. Well, to me it sounds bad. I did record myself and it does not seem to sound as noticeable as it does in my head. The slower I speak and the more I enunciate, the clearer it is. The more I concentrate on each syllable, the better it is too. My thing is, work will be sucky, but oh well. It's the shows that concern me. I dunno, maybe I'll be better by the weekend, I just don't know. But I hope I continue like everyone else and can talk normal very soon.

The other thing that shocked me - and thanks for the head's up, commenters - is the eating. It's like I don't have teeth. I foolishly gave chili a try when I got home and, man, that was a disaster. One piece of tomato floated around in my mouth and it was mighty frustrating. I'm resigned to pudding, yogurt and soup until things get better.

I'll check out your guys's posts too, but being on here is really going to help me through this. So thanks to all of you again. And I'll try to be there for you too. Any improvements that come, I'll be sure to share the good news!

Chapter 4

Day 1 - First Day at work

I'll keep this brief, but the speech impediment that I got with linguals is severe. Although, even as I type this, I feel like I'm getting close to sounding somewhat normal, it is very frustrating. Now, by reading all the other blogs about linguals, this appears to be normal. Not only is the speech impediment a typical experience, but also the temptation to tear these darn things from my mouth. Make no mistake brace-adventurers - these first few days seem to historically be the most difficult and I am no exception.

Work was tough - I felt, to be blunt, stupid. I felt I talked funny all day, moreso when I had to talk a lot or at my old pace (which is fast). I found myself tripping over words, and got more than a few "Huh?"s

So that was Day 1. On the positive front, I was able to eat some scrambled eggs and a little bread, but this is the first time I've realized how sore my teeth are. I don't have much pain, but I definitely notice pain when I try to eat.

Yeah, so to sum up this day - "Frustrating."

Let's hope some relief is coming...

Chapter 5

Day 4

Well, they had to put more THIS IS SPAM PLEASE REPORT TO ADMINISTRATOR THIS IS SPAM PLEASE REPORT TO ADMINISTRATOR THIS IS SPAM PLEASE REPORT TO ADMINISTRATOR THIS IS SPAM PLEASE REPORT TO ADMINISTRATOR THIS IS SPAM PLEASE REPORT TO ADMINISTRATOR in as a precaution - my lower teeth were slightly hitting the upper bracket on occassion. But, also the THIS IS SPAM PLEASE REPORT TO ADMINISTRATOR THIS IS SPAM PLEASE REPORT TO ADMINISTRATOR THIS IS SPAM PLEASE REPORT TO ADMINISTRATOR THIS IS SPAM PLEASE REPORT TO ADMINISTRATOR THIS IS SPAM PLEASE REPORT TO ADMINISTRATOR will come off one day, so I guess I have to try to avoid it anyway.

The worst part still is the lisp. Maybe it's just my perception, but I have no real improvement. I can barely talk. I just wish I had known the extent of this problem before getting the linguals. It's pointless to have braces that no one can see if you have a lisp so bad that you have to come clean anyway. For me, if I had to redo it, I'd just do the outer metals ones.

It's also got me quite depressed. Sorry, I don't mean to whine and complain, but it's definitely made every time I speak a disaster. It's the long sentences that trip me up. One or two words I can do OK. But give me 2-3 sentences to relay an order and I'm 'suffering succatash" all over the place. And my performing life is in serious jeopardy this weekend. If an audience can't understand me, I can't perform.

I hope I follow everyone else's path and see some improvement soon. I can't spend 2 years talking like this. I will seriously consider getting them removed. At this point, I'll take the crooked teeth.

On the bright side, I can chew more using the Fujis. Crustless bread and Chili, albeit slowly, can be eaten. Scrambled eggs is my new friend! Had some roasted chicken (again, patient eating is a must), but didn't dare try the skin. Teeth are achy only when I try to use them, so that's also a plus.

More to come...

If it were me, I would cancel any performances for this weekend if possible, just to avoid stress while getting used to them. Maybe you could tell them you have the flu and then spend the weekend reading to yourself out loud for practice? From what I understand about linguals, it is about this time that everyone thinks that there has been no improvement and they begin to wonder whether they made a mistake. I know it doesn't really help you right now, given that you have shows booked and it is frustrating just to speak, but try to remember that in another couple of weeks this will be a memory. When you feel like there has been no improvement, try to take some time to re-read lingual wearer journals and you will see how rapidly they went from thinking it would never improve to having the lisp completely gone.
Fingers are crossed for you that it passes quickly!

Thanks, lilone! I'll read those journals for sure for some solace! It is extremely frustrating. I feel like I knew this going in, and even read some of these journals, but maybe my ortho down-played it too much and I believed them.

This is a link to a video diary of someone with Incognito linguals. I found it helpful when I thought I was getting them. There are about 24 entries. I think she is a music teacher if I remember and a performer. A few entries in would be more meaningful to you at this point (maybe about entry 4+).
http://www.youtube.com/user/IncognitoBr ... a3X6zVyao4