In need of decent food!

[face of braces]

Just got my braces on last Friday, Oct 16, 2009, along with a turbo that keeps my teeth from touching. Sooo...I get the braces on and immediately think, Hey, this doesn't hurt AT ALL. What's the big deal? THEN, 4 hours later, I ATTEMPTED to EAT SALAD and SPICY PASTA and moist BREAD. I can honestly say I felt almost like I was smothering because I couldn't chew and swallowed with great difficulty. (Now I understand the stories of teens who take their own braces off with pliers the day after they get them on.) It was AWFUL, this realization that I cannot eat what I want. It makes me very cranky to watch my husband munch into meat and pizza--savoring the taste and joy of mastication!

I bought this book today: http://www.dentakit.com/bracescookbook.html
and this one: http://www.dentakit.com/brco2gore.html
I'll let you know if this eases my eating angst.

[Snowglobe32]

Don't give up! I have had my braces for almost three weeks and I was eating regularly, and carefully, before the end of week 2. Having to cut up certain foods makes me feel like a toddler but it will get better.

[catsteeth]

This is my sixth day and I'm already eating some of my normal foods again. I can't really bite or chew either. Last night I had chicken, potatoes and peas. I had to mince the chicken up - it didn't look good but it worked! Surprisingly, the peas were the worst. If you cut things into really small pieces, it is amazing what you can eat (even it takes forever). Good luck!

Cat

PS. I really miss crunchy things like fresh fruits and vegetables. I tried to eat a finely sliced plum - not pretty!

[Saysee]

After my TMJ surgery I had three months of no chewing, and then three months of soft chewing. I now have braces so I'm still seeking soft chew foods. The Braces Cookbook was helpful more for the advice it gave than the recipes. I survived on meal replacement drinks, mashed potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, bread soaked in soup, apple sauce, and fish. My oral surgeon handed out recipes after my surgery, but they all started with two scoops of ice cream!

Tip: In a restaurant, if you ask the wait person to have the chef puree your soup, he or she will say, "no way." If you ask the manager to have the chef puree, he or she will say, "sure."

[daffodil]

I was doing fine until I got lower lingual arch cemented in (which, because of the shape of my mouth, means there is a wire right under my tongue) and two premolars extracted yesterday. Now I have exactly two teeth that meet --my first molars on one side!

I'm not sure what I'm going to eat for the next two years until after jaw surgery corrects this situation. I'm thinking about getting a Vitamix blender or something similar. The whole situation is kind of upsetting --I only thought I'd be completely unable to chew for a few days after getting braces, and then a couple months after surgery --not two whole years!

[braceguy1]

The ortho installed bumpers on two of my rear teeth to keep my top front teeth from hitting the lower braces. I was a little perplexed about what to eat after trying a few of my usual foods like salad and pasta. I now use my juicer to juice all my salads. I do this once a day and love it. Just feed in all the usual salad ingredients and you'll get a nice juice out of it. Because I usually use carrots in the juicer I also use a straw to drink
the juice with and it seems to keep most of the juice away from my clear brackets so they won't stain. At this point I am not so worried about a little color anyway.
I sort of miss the salad dressing, but hey I suppose you could pour it in. I am hoping to get the bumpers removed next week when I go to the ortho again- that would be almost 4 months with the bumpers!!