Metal Mouth Message Board

Haha so it only took me this long to figure out that there is a separate "Our Braces Stories" forum!

Today was brace-day! I'm 5 hours in and feel the pressure and some cheek poking so far. I arranged to work from home tomorrow to get used to new eating and brushing routines - got my first waterpik to try out tonight. I also am finding the bite turbos annoying because at the moment when I bite only one of them touches the lower teeth! I guess I'll be chewing on one side of my mouth until it wears down a bit.

The background of my braces story started on this thread as a plea for help on what course to take: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=53881 To summarize, my teeth still looked straight enough from my braces at age 12-14, so I never worried about them. When my dental insurance switched in June, my new dentist pointed out that I now have 3 teeth in a crossbite and a class III bite (my incisors are currently end to end), which was causing some gum recession, and recommended braces.

One ortho this past July told me I needed jaw surgery to bring the lower jaw back (my mother had it in the 80s and calls it the biggest regret of her life) and in August, two others said 12 or 16 months in braces would do it, so I went with the 16 month braces sentence in a nearby, high rated office. I have a coworker who goes to the same one, so I have a good personal reference for her too

Before actually starting braces, I had to do two gum graft surgeries on lower premolars where my bad bite had led to loss of attached gums, and the periodontist recommended having the gums thickened and attached before moving the teeth! Those surgeries were in August and then December. I also have one lower incisor with some recession, but because there is enough attached gum we will just watch it for now - I'll have 3 month appointments with him during treatment.

My dentist is having me come every 4 months for cleanings and recommends adding in-office flouride treatments for $41 - anyone else doing this or is it overkill? People keep saying that my teeth are very clean, but my gums are thin and weak from the bad bite, so I'm willing to go the extra mile to keep them healthy.
Can't close teeth together because of bite turbos.
The left side you can see the crossbite of the canine and premolar - these guys have a lot of moving to do to fix my bite!

Six weeks until my first adjustment!

Congrats on getting started! All the best for your journey. Cleaning every 4 months is ok, I did that too when I first got my braces. My dentist subsequently told me to only come back every 6 months when I next saw her because my at home care was good and my teeth were very clean. In fact, at my last appointment, she only took 10mins to clean my teeth. She has since changed my cleaning frequency to every 10 months.

I'll say the in office fluoride treatment is an overkill unless you are someone with dry mouth problems or are just in general prone to cavities. For me, I only used prescription strength fluoride toothpaste and fluoride mouthwash. I get compliments on my oral hygiene from both my dentist and my ortho so I think those are good enough.

I guess I’ll try using Flouride mouthwash for now then! My lips barely close around my braces so I must have been sleeping with my mouth open - very dry mouth this am.

My first waterpik experience last night was exciting... I can barely tell where in my mouth the water is going haha! I bought the cordless one to be able to travel with it and it took 3 tank fills to do my mouth. Between waterpik, brushing, and a thread flosser my routine took 30 minutes!

Also, the vibrations from my electric toothbrush and pressing the floss in between my teeth started to hurt! I took an Advil right after.

I’m up today for some conference calls now and feel a lot of pressure in my canines especially. They seem to be banging into each other on one side now with the way the bite builds are changing how I bite.

Haha only day 3 and I’m already back here scouting the boards for reassurance that everything I’m feeling is “normal”.

I’m not chewing at all yet, just swallowing soup, scrambled eggs, and yogurt. My two crossbite teeth are killing me to the point that I can’t put my electric toothbrush on them and use a manual to gently clean. I assume it’s because they’re the most out of line and are being pulled the most intensely.

My crossbite canine also kept banging into the lower one so I got some added bite turbo material in my molar to keep the teeth apart today. I hope I’m not already on some “high maintence patient” list for coming back in after only two days

I’m holding out hope I can chew by Christmas for a beef tenderloin... cut in very small pieces!

One week in and happy to report that the beef tenderloin went down well for Christmas dinner!

I’m finding that my canines and premolars are the most sore part of my mouth, since they’re getting the most pressure to tilt out towards my cheeks. I still eat everything with a knife and fork cut into little pieces and stuck in my back molars to chew.

Also I’m noticing that when I floss there is space opening between the canines and all my molars! Its not visible but there’s no resistance at all to push the floss between them. It’s crazy to think they moved that much in a week!

My routine has become waterpik, brush, thread floss, and fluoride mouthwash. Waterpiks are amazing! Very rarely does the floss scrape anything out now - it blows my mind that dentists aren’t telling everyone to get one.

My first adjustment isn’t until January 29, I can’t wait to see what happens between now and then...

2 weeks in and feels pretty normal to be in braces already!

I’m noticing spaces opening up between my premolars and canines - gaps aren’t visible but when I floss there’s no resistance to slide between my teeth, crazy! Those are the teeth most sore as most are being tilted out plus a lower premolar seems to be bracketed to rotate it out. Chewing on back molars is a must for anything with some fiber to it!

I broke out some wax for a poking wire to let the crater in my cheek heal up. Feels much better now. I’ve also found the key is to stay hydrated and that helps cheeks from getting sores (Christmas/New Year drinking taught me the dangers of dry mouth!).

In addition, I noticed a brown stain forming in between my upper right incisors a few days ago, and I’m pissed! The only product I’ve changed in the last two weeks was adding in ACT Restoring mouthwash, which I've now learned has CPC in it! Also discovered my Crest toothpaste has stannous fluoride, but I’m almost done with the tube... Oh the joys of braces hygiene where you try so hard to be good and still mess up something

First adjustment today! And I had just gotten to the stage where I forgot I had braces on sometimes

They put in thicker 16 wires. A few of my teeth really did not enjoy the pressure of putting the new ties on, but so far I have just a small amount of pressure all around my mouth but no major pain... A headache seems to be building though.

My adjustment experience is that the tech takes everything off, puts new wires and ties on, then the ortho quickly checks and asks if you have any questions.

Today I asked the tech about the “white spots” I had noticed right under the wire of my lower incisors. She said it was just calculus and scraped it off for me. She said to get actual bad “white spots” you have to neglect your teeth! When the ortho came by I just told her that my second upper incisor hurt more than the other teeth, but she said that there were no gingival issues and that smaller teeth do hurt more as they move - and this one has been rotating quite a bit so far!

I go back in 7 weeks “to allow this wire to work”. I was able to also schedule a 3 month checkup with my periodontist in the same building back to back, so he can check how my gum grafts are holding up right before the next adjustment.

Onward!

Second adjustment today! The ortho said I have a stronger steel wire on the bottom and I think a 16x22 wire on top with some extra pressure on the last 2 teeth that need to straighten out more (a canine and incisor next to each other). At the next adjustment in 5 weeks, we will start to close the gaps that opened between my lower canines and premolars, and hopefully, the appointment after that will be elastics and getting to work on my bite!

Overall, I see exactly what she's doing and am satisfied with the pace of how things are moving. It's crazy that in only 3 months my arches are wider, teeth are almost all straight, and my midlines are aligned again! My bite is definitely pretty off right now, and I have a small underbite going on. I used to have to bite off to the left to compensate for my crossbite upper canine banging into the lower one, so now that my jaws are meeting straight again, I think my lower teeth just need to be pulled back and settled into perfect bite position. Hopefully, the gap closing can pull those lower incisors the right amonnt

I will also have a checkup with my periodontist on Friday to confirm that the teeth movement is ok for my gum graft areas and gums overall. I haven't noticed any additional recession or had any gum pain or inflammation, so I think all is well The waterpik has been amazing for keeping my gums happy! And actually my misaligned teeth were CAUSING the gum recession so hopefully, braces will put everything right and I won't need a perio at all after this process is over! (I hope, I hope, I hope...)

I just had a 4 month dental cleaning, and I wanted to ask others' experiences.

I was told at my pre-braces dental cleaning in December that my lower gums are swollen, especially around the lower front four, and I should get a waterpik and come in for 4 month dental cleanings (instead of 6 months) while in the braces. I have noticed that since using the waterpik, I never have blood in my toothpaste spit anymore, so I was thinking "yay I've solved my gum issue"!

Since December and getting braces, I've been to ortho 3x and periodontist once and both said my gums and dental hygiene were fine.

So today the dentist again said my gums are inflamed, especially in between the front ones where there is a lot of buildup! I asked what to do and got "well it's hard to clean around braces, so just use flouride mouthwash." I asked if any brands of toothpaste or mouthwash are best for gums, and the dentist says they're all the same but he personally uses ACT. Does flouride mouthwash even help with gums or is that just a general suggestion for cavity prevention?

Right now I'm frustrated to be told I have an issue by just 1 of the 3 dental practices I'm going to, but not being offered any solutions... Does anyone have tips from their gum issues? I waterpik and brush in the morning then waterpik, brush, threader floss at night. I can add mouthwash easily, but should I bring everything to work to brush after lunch now too??

Also, does anyone else generate an insane amount of spit after mouthwash? Like I either walk to a sink 20 times or keep a spit glass with me for the 30minutes after using mouthwash because it entirely fills my mouth up over and over! I tried blue ACT and purple non-alcohol Listerine and got the same effect...

A month with just slightly stronger wires flew by - I went to my 3rd adjustment today, and I'll be in this configuration for the next eight weeks!

The ortho did a quick check in the beginning and said my bite was already coming together nicely on its own, who would've thought?! Different from my ortho as a kid, she just tells the techs what to do rather than changing wires or bands herself and moves on to the next patient.

I ended up keeping the same bottom wire but got a new top wire. The ortho assistant was training a new one today, so I overheard a lot of things as they hovered over my face She said that with class 3 bites, they're trying to widen out the upper arch more to fit over the lower (right now I have a bit of an underbite too, gah!), so with her fingers, she actually massaged the new upper wire to be a bit wider before putting it in.

Then, I got full powerchains on both uppers and lowers - there are gaps around my lower first premolars on both sides that should be closing up shortly. The last new thing is elastics from my upper furthest back molar bracket to my lower canines, changing them at breakfast, lunch, and dinnertime. They're 6mm (1/4") super heavy

And wow I already feel the pressure building! The powerchains as soon as they put them on felt tight, and now the elastics are definitely making my upper molars and my whole lower jaw achy.

I'm in full braces nerd mode now!

Fourth adjustment today! The ortho didn't even check my mouth - the tech did everything.

Same wire on the bottom and a wider one on top. Still in all powerchains and the same rubber band configuration from upper molars down to lower canines to pull lower teeth back. I asked for darker grey powerchains because the lighter ones sometimes stained and looked green

I also asked for my left bite turbo to be added to/evened out - I was having a lot of pressure biting on the left, and it turns out I was biting down on the corner of a lower bracket! So if you have even a little discomfort, bring it up! It was a super easy fix and my jaw is already happier

Next appointment in 6 weeks. It's amazing that with the elastics I went from an edge to edge bite to upper incisors in front of lowers in under 2 months - can't wait to see what the next stage is to align my bite.

Comparison photos!

Other comparison - edge to edge bite to a bit of overbite!

Fifth adjustment today. I had posted on the general Metal Mouth forum on July 1 about how my upper lip was sticking out quite a bit and it was hard to press my lips together - I went from an underbite to an overbite since starting with class III elastics in April. I ended up not trying to get an earlier appointment and waited until my regularly scheduled one, but now I kind of wish I had spoken up because my teeth have definitely been OVERcorrected by the bands! Apparently, they do not assume that people will wear their rubber bands correctly and build in lots of extra time between appointments for elastics to work, bah!

The ortho showed me my original photos from last December and pointed out that my crossbite and underbite are completely fixed now. The good news - I am way ahead of schedule and should finish earlier than my 16-month estimate! The bad news is that my top front teeth have really flared out and need to be brought straight up and down again. That will fix my upper "duck lip" situation.

I got new "tighter" wires both top and bottom and am back to regular ligatures instead of full powerchains. My top 6 teeth also have this clear band stretching across them below the brackets to help pull them back. I'm VERY nervous about the staining of this band and the tooth area under it - it is resting directly on my teeth... Such is braces life! Also, no more class III rubber bands, for obvious reasons.

I go back in four weeks to check how my upper teeth are moving back. Once they're in place, it will just be a matter of settling my bite

Not having rubber bands right now feels amazing - my cheeks feel so free! There is a lot of random pressure on different teeth right now, especially my lower canines which were rotated back a bit due to the pressure of the class III elastics. Pain is progress, I guess!

Ok once I got home this evening and properly inspected my very sore teeth, I found there’s a lot going on!

Steel tie around lower canine that had been super rotated by the class III elastics. Then figure 8 ligatures on all the other bottom teeth.

The top is actually a light grey powerchain that is normally placed from the back teeth to canines, then the powerchain is stretched across my front four teeth lying under the brackets! Those 4 teeth also have normal square ligatures over them too.

Wow all my teeth hurt like they did at the beginning!