Clinching teeth and first adjustment

[lilwinno]

So just an update on whats going on with my braces. Its been two months since I gotten my braces. Im already seeing changes and movements throughout my mouth. My bottom teeth have straightened out alot but theres more movement that needs to be done. One thing that I have noticed since I have gotten my braces is Im clinching my teeth alot now, I didnt do this before I got braces. I understand that my bite are changing because of the movement of the teeth but I am worried it will cost more problems. My ortho said that everytime I clinch my teeth together it prolongs the whole treatment. Does anyone else have this problem?? If so, what did you end up doing to stop clinching your teeth.

I went for my first adjustment monday. My ortho ended up repositioning one of the bottom brackets to twist inward to straightened. They added a powerchain in the first premolar to make some room and to straightened that tooth out. They also took out the spring between central incisors and canine and added a longer piece of spring to make more room for the lateral incisors. Also, they put a "button" (a metal bracket) on my lateral incisors to connect to the spring so the tooth will be pulled to the front while the spring make room for that tooth. My mouth did not feel to bad after my appointment; it was just a little sore but the next day was totally different story. The whole right side of my mouth was killing me. Touching those teeth with my tongue was aweful. I even tried to chew sugar free gum to get rid of the soreness a little bit but as soon as the gym touched my teeth on the right side, almost brought me into tears. I wasnt expecting for it to hurt that much. I have to stick with soup for right now until the soreness die down a bit. I just tell myself the pain will be worth it in the end. =)

[Crazy4Snow]

Same here. I never clenched my jaw or ground my teeth until I got braces. During the day I just made myself relax my jaw and thankfully at night, after about 8 weeks, I stopped grinding my teeth. Had I not though, my ortho was going to fit me with some type of night guard. He told me this often happens and usually people who don't grind initially will start, for those who don't stop it on their own they wear the night guard.

[lilwinno]

I will try the same method and I hope it will work for me also... Thank you. =)

[Jannie]

I just asked my ortho about this two days ago when I had my first adjustment. He told me that wearing a guard would slow down the process and that clenching is a typical response in these early stages of change in my bite. Essentially, he said not to worry about it

[Jenn B]

I went through the same thing with clenching. I asked my ortho about this and he said it's perfectly normal to experience this. He said it's your jaw muscles trying to find their new comfort spots.

[lilwinno]

Thank you all. Im glad im not the only one going through this.

[bracketeer]

I as well am glad to hear I'm not the only one going through this!

[AM21]

Same here! It's been driving me nuts! Especially when I have my teeth clenched and my upper teeth slip off my lower teeth and I end up biting the inside of my cheek... Not a great way to wake up... So glad I'm not the only one dealing with this!

[sweetembraceable]

I clenched my teeth before braces. I asked my ortho if it will hurt my treatment and he said no. (And my dentist said he'd make me a night guard when my treatment is done, perhaps in lieu of a retainer, if my ortho agrees.) So I wouldn't worry too much about it.

[klobird]

I used to wear a VERY expensive night guard before braces. Ya, the clenching,grinding got even worse after getting the braces on.

On this website I found though that online you can look up under Plackers Grind No More and order a free sample. They are small but fit perfectly for me because I wear elastics, and any other night guard makes it impossible to wear the elastics.

The big bummer for me--I spent an additional $300 to get the night guard I already had tweaked to fit even better--and then I decided to get braces..... And this night guard is never going to be useful again........ Oh well.....

[sibilla]

Happening to me too! Driving me insane, I wake up every morning with my teeth tightly clenched. Never experienced anything like it so it's good to hear it's normal. It's so good to have this forum to get answers to questions you might feel a bit daft about asking the orthodontist!

[ArchWired28]

I do. But probably I have done it before, albeit never noticed. When I feel like clenching, I try to relax my jaw.