After a lot of thinking I had 2 extractions last week and my lingual braces in 2 weeks time.
I have read different experiences, some people seem to have real difficulties talking while others seem to adapt quite easily to lingual braces. I was wandering if the reason could be the type of lingual braces used. I asked my ortho and he will use braces from a manufacturer called Ormco. Anyone has these type of braces? I am dreading not to be able to talk properly.
But on the other hand I can´t wait to have my braces, the sooner I start treatment the sooner it will all be over (21 months later!).
The fact is that I had a lot to think as my ortho also suggested orthognatic surgery and I wouldn´t need extractions. In the end I decided not to have surgery.
There is so much information to consider before you decide to start treatment... I think this site is great as we can all share our experiences and support each other
I will update on my experiences once I have my braces on.
If you check out any of my posts in this forum, and some that I did before this one existed, you'll get some of my experience. I have the Ormcos. It's basically this or Lingualcare, so I'm assuming that's the comparison that you're looking for. I know one of the first like 3 posts in this forum were about this so you should be able to find it by searching. As for me, at my current state, and reading where the 1 or 2 people using Lingualcare are at, I think it has evened out pretty much. I have always said, and still agree, the only discomfort problems I've ever had w/ my braces has come from my lower, labial set. The linguals, on top, haven't cut up my tongue or anything else like that. It's really all about the speaking. It's something like 80% for a few weeks, 85% for a few, 90-95% for a long time, and right now I'd say I'm at 98. IOW, I had to be extremely careful w/ my diction for a while and gradually either mastered most words or learned exactly which sounds are impossible. So most recently, I was having an issue w/ ST sounds and my killer word was STATISTICAL. After about a week and a half though, it was perfect (I think I've trained myself to use less back of teeth, more roof of mouth). After reading this guy's post (I forget his username), who has Lingualcare, he claims that he only has 1 major trouble area, and it's the same place I'm at right now. MONTHS. It's that THS sound... TH is easy and so is S, but the combo kills you. The tongue is just too slow to use your speaking tricks for this one. I'm a few months shy of a year and can say anything except those words ending in THS. It's not a big deal at all as they aren't too common and are easily replaceable. So yeah, I'm functioning, at least, around 98%. I've been this way for a good while too. I'd say pretty much every word issue is resolved by 6 months in... that point is when I mastered statistical, but I must admit that I hadn't been using that word until around that time and it didn't take too long to master. So yeah, maybe 6 months to discover every single possible sound that you make and what issues you may have with it, but definitely almost completely undetectable by 3 months in. The progress comes in strides so don't freak if you think 3 months is a long time. It's not like before that point you'll sound borderline retarded. So as for the comparison? I can't say whether or not the gentleman with Lingualcare got to his point faster, but it def. seems like we're at the same place now. My ortho didn't offer Lingualcare, but if he had, I'd only consider it if it were VERY close in price to the Ormcos. Of course, everyone's experience is unique, yada yada... So yeah, don't worry, if you can be a trooper for a few weeks, you'll surprise yourself w/ how rapidly you improve and eventually get back to normal.
Apologies for rambling, misspellings, incoherency, etc.
I'm too lazy at this moment to revise.
Even if my speaking is 80-85% for a few weeks I think it will be worth not showing braces on the front of my teath for 21 months. I hope I don´t change my mind! But for what I can see I will have to be pacient for the first few weeks. Can´t wait to see the results though!
I have Lingualcare fixtures, but the brackets seem a lot smaller than those in photos people have sent in.... they look more like this than this. Strange since Lingualcare are in Germany and I am too, but my brackets are really tiny compared to the bling-fest on the Lingualcare homepage. Sidenote - gold brackets... what's that all about?!
Anyway, long story short talking is bad for a while but as FiMo said you really do get used to it quickly. Warning though, at the beginning you are really self-analytical but you have to overcome that. If you discipline yourself to fight the (temporary) pain and really elocute precisely rather than lazily as you'll no doubt be used to through years of practice, you'll be fine.
Linguals do require lots more effore and endurance than labials (I had labials for +/- 6 months before moving to Germany so speak from experience), but really, people DO NOT NOTICE the linguals at all, and the speech problems are overcome very quickly. Go for it.
I have to say I live in the UK but English is not my native language, I already have to make an effort to pronounce certain words properly. In a way I'm kind of used to do that already. I hope it is not too bad for my work colleages to understand me now with braces.
