Metal Mouth Message Board

I imagine that the placement went par for the course. Reading links provided by this site prepared me for how it would be. After the brackets were first glued on, I was told to go to the sink and rinse. That was when I first felt them in my mouth. Well, one knows that one is going to feel them, but when it actually happened, it took me by surprise.

Just having the braces is enough excitement for one day, so I got silver ligatures instead of a colour. 'Maybe a colour next time.

So, the teeth are sort of sore. Mostly there is just the feeling of pressure and sort of an itch. Unfortunately, I dropped my wax on a dirty floor the first night, so I have been toughing it out sans wax. Ortho's office is closed today, so 'am faced with a weekend of lips and inner cheeks being jabbed and bitten. Things are working themselves towards becoming sores, though, so I guess I will wash off the wax and scrape the outside of it and use it anyhow.

We had fajitas for supper last night. I blended mine in the blender so my supper was a light brown blob (meat) and a yellowy blob (onions) in a bowl. It wasn't bad, considering.

How this compares to the braces experience 39 years ago: Better. When a teenager, each tooth had a metal band around it. When the ortho was putting them on, it felt like he was going to squeeze the tooth to bits - and that was on every tooth! 'Much less metal in the mouth this time because the inside surfaces, except for two rear molars, are bare.

No regrets, yet (and not expecting any).

Jean

It has been 2.5 weeks. Things seem to be going well. Incisors sore and seem to be loose.

The wire seems to have made the incisors more crowded than they were, so far. 'Can't get floss inbetween.

I want to go on record as having had enough of this biting of the inside of my mouth. It's not just biting like a "normal person" would. But, it's biting with those attachments on the back molars which makes for quite a "sharp" bite. Guess it's time to get out the wax, though it tends to come off when eating.

Jean

Jean-I understand what you are saying about the biting the inside of the mouth. Right now my teeth are really sore and that's all I seem to be thinking about.

Nanhut,

Six days into it, eh? I'm at 19 days and thought the teeth would have settled down by now, but no, they are still sort of throbbing.

It is a huge adjustment to have this stuff in our mouths, isn't it? I understand why it seems that it's all you're thinking about just now. One thing for sure, I am going to be more emphathetic when I see any kid I know who has just gotten new braces.

Do you have both arches braced?

Jean

It has been almost a month since the braces were put on. Today was the first appointment to adjust things.

From my ignorant perspective, all that has happened in the first 4 weeks is that my incisors are crammed more tightly against each other and they are somewhat loose. Today they took out the wire that was in and put a different one in. I cannot envision how this is going to straighten out my crowded teeth, but of course, eventually it will, somehow. Next adjustment is in only 2 weeks time.

My nephew's wedding is in 3 daysand the colours for the reception are pink and green, so I had pink and green ligatures placed alternatingly.

The only movement I detected in my teeth for the first 5 weeks was that they were more crammed together than before - so tightly, in fact, that it wasn't possible to get floss between them. Last night I got floss between two of them, and tonight, through the rest of them. So, somehow that little wire has moved the teeth some. I still don't understand how, but there it is!

Hope you have a great time at your nephews wedding and your colour coded ligs don't go unnoticed! What a magickal idea!

Hi Karen. I showed my relatives the pink and green ligatures because since they are only on the lowers, people wouldn't have noticed them. They seemed to think it was good fun. Next change, I think I'll try white or clear (before we get into the holiday season with it's black and orange; brown and orange/yellow; red and green and so forth.)

Jean

I chose white ligatures this time. I love the look. I have heard that they tend to stain easily, so we'll see if I'm still loving them in two weeks' time.

Jean

The white ligs did turn brownish quite quickly. The front 4 weren't too bady, but the next two on each side turned brown more. I guess it was soy sauce that did it to me. Who knows. They still weren't too bad and I'd do white again sometime maybe.

The last adjustment, I got rainbow ligs. However, I am so dull-witted these days, that I got the order of colours wrong and so my rainbow is not a rainbow.

Now I am faced with the decision of whether to do the top arch also. The top teeth don't look too bad. I do have a large overbite, but I think that the braces won't fix that. It would require surgery to really fix it and maybe if I were 20 years old, I might consider it. But at 53, it is not worth it.

The braces would only straighten the top up a bit, I think. The right central incisor is a bit more "forward" than the other, and I'd like to have it pushed back to be even with the other, but is it worth $2000? Two thousand dollars would cover the airfare for a trip to Newfoundland (what a gorgeous place that is - 'been there once before) for two, and pay some of the other travelling expenses. But frankly, if I don't get the braces, it's not like I will actually take the trip. I won' do anything.

Well, I'll post again sometime and state what I finally decided.

Jean

Hi Karen. Thanks for your input.

I got powder blue ligs this time and ate a hot dog with mustard and relish a week later and instantaneously had green ligs. I can well imagine that your clear ligs were a raunchy colour after 6 weeks.

I decided to not get braces on the top. I wish I could, but they just aren't bad enough to justify it. Although, to tell the truth, thinking what it's like having them on the bottom, to have them on the top too, wow, that would be a strain.

I get a toothache sometimes stemming from the molar that has the band on it. I wonder if other people do. The ortho said it is a normal thing. I wonder if it's normal to have it this strong. If I have a heating pad with me, I put it on. The pain lasts about 5 minutes; usually sometime after I've eaten, but not always.

'Got my first power chains - one side to straighten a turned tooth and on the other side, to close up a space so that the space will eventually be moved to the front to make room for the crowded out tooth.

Jean

The quote thing didn't seem to work right, so let me just say that this is the quote: "Hope your tooth ache goes quickly ... it sounds really horrible! I don't have bands ... so I can't feel your pain ... and I think I'm grateful for that!"

This is my reply:
You don't have bands! Yes, lucky you. We each have different problems and teeth needing to be moved every which way so that our treatments are so different. What I don't like about the bands is that there is something rather pointy on the interior side and it hurts my tongue quite often. The other thing is that they make flossing harder. There is a teeny space between the band and the bottom of the tooth and I think that plaque must accumulate there because the regular floss just skims over it. I did try the thicker, foamy floss once - tried pulling it through so as to sort of scrub/rub/clean that particular area, but it made my gum bleed a lot, so I quit that. The *dentist* told me to just floss regularly, so let's hope it does the trick.

I like your ceramic brackets. I think that that kind looks nice. I have metal myself because they are cheaper and the ortho said that they would work better in my case. Karen, are you the person whose post I read where they said that they are going to get changed out to metal brackets because the ceramic ones are getting stained so much? I think it was you. Let us know when that happens and your assessment of the difference.

Jean[/i]

I asked the ortho if the [such a strong] toothache and pain when drinking even room-temp drinks are appropriate. He said that the hot-cold sounds like maybe a "root-canal" in the offing. Anyhow, he released the pressure on that banded tooth and so we are going to see if 2 weeks of no pushing and pulling on it makes the pain stop. 'Sure hope so. 'Don't particularly want a root-canal.

He also saw the wax on those pointy structures on the lingual side of the bands and bent them and put ligs on them to make them not be so pokey.

'Got the black and orange ligs for Halloween.

Jean

I liked reading your story, it would be cool if you had pictures to share too

CelestialVoices wrote:I liked reading your story, it would be cool if you had pictures to share too

Hi CelestialVoices!

I like to see people's pics, too. I have been taking some along the way - though they haven't been turning out as nicely as most of the ones that people post. I had a go at putting some up on Monday, but it didn't work. I will have to take some time again later and take another stab at it.

I like reading people's stories, too; but, I seldom take the time to make a comment because of the time-issue. So, it strikes me as really nice that you took the time to make your comments. Thanks.

Jean

KK wrote:Great news Jean ... hope your tooth is fine and excellent they've been able to make your bands more comfortable!

Love the sound of orange for October!

Good luck

I like to have fun with this experience. Anyhow, since the braces are on my lower arch only, they don't show a whole lot, so being daring with the colours isn't really being too daring afterall!

"Halloween" is a North American custom only, isn't it? I didn't know how many people on this international board would know that orange and black are the colours associated with it. Do you have any holidays in Australia besides Christmas and St. Patrick's Day that have a colour theme associated with them? Are you planning to colour coordinate your ligs with them? Do you do Valentine's Day down under?

Jean

You're welcome and I hope the picture taking works out for you