Just braced today - and none of my teeth touch!

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#1 Post by **mulligan23** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 3:10 pm

Hi all,

I just got braces put on today -- full (ten brackets) top and bottom.

Because of my incredibly deep overbite, the ortho. was worried I would snap the bottom brackets off when I bit down. I'm not sure if there's an additional device on the bottom bands to prevent this from happening (I think she mentioned something, but I can't remember what she said), but right now none of the teeth in my mouth are touching other teeth when I bite down.

I told my ortho. this and she seemed unconcerned; I asked her how long my bite would be like this and she kind of brushed it off, saying "a while" and she also said that I would be able to eat "whatever I wanted" soon.

Right now I can't imagine how that's even possible -- my teeth don't hurt at all but I can't physically chew anywhere because I can't make any of my teeth touch except for the very front ones.

Has anyone else ever dealt with something like this??

#2 Post by **Blossom** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 10:13 pm

Yup! It's some sort of bite blocker and it wears down gradually over the first few months. At 3 months it is virtually gone. It feels weird and is uncomfortable at first but it gets better so hang in there

I was more freaked by this stuff than the actual braces, it is supposed to try and change the way that you were biting before.

Enjoy your soup and yoghurt!

#3 Post by **Donna** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 4:43 am

I got my braces on 2 weeks ago, and went through the exact same thing. No pain but my back top teeth hit the bottom brackets, making chewing impossible. For the first few days, I couldn't eat anything except yogurt and soup, and boy did that get old FAST.

I complained to my ortho and he said it would take about 2 weeks for my bite to adjust. Well, it's been 2 weeks and I don't think anything has adjusted but I have been eating 'harder' food. I'm just getting used to chewing using my brackets. Probably not the best idea but I got tired of being hungry all the time.

Hopefully you'll see a change soon. Good luck!

#4 Post by **Jim C** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 3:16 pm

I was the same at first. My top and bottom teeth didn't meet (paper would easily slide in and out) when I hate my teeth (semi) clenched. But sure enough after a month everything settled down and they now meet just fine - again. Seems like the lower jaw actually floats and it will realign all by itself. Don't sweat it.

#5 Post by **braceface418** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 4:57 pm

You may have bite turbos attached to the back of your upper incisors. I believe those are usually metal or another hard material, so I don't think they wear down. Bite blocks, on the other hand, usually do.

I had to go in and have my bite blocks built back up at least six or seven times. I may hold the office record -- it was kind of a pain, but I also chipped a tooth on an opposing bracket. I would have liked to get turbos, but my bite is a bit too deep for them still.

I think it took me a few weeks to get used to chewing, but some of my teeth were too sore to use anyway, so it wasn't as great of a hardship as it could have been.

#6 Post by **MrMetalMouth1029** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 9:41 pm

Yeah, it sounds like you got a bite guard of some sort, as the others have said. My orthodontist placed them on my teeth. They are some very hard blue things that were glued onto my back teeth. For the first few weeks, my teeth wouldn't touch either, but they wear after a while and you can eat normally again. For the first week or two, though, it's particularly annoying because you have to either eat non-solid foods or you have to use those guards to do all the chewing for ya. With time, though, the problem will take care of itself.