The things we don't realise we do without braces

[rhibee83]

I am just sitting here after finishing my ham, cheese and pickle sandwich (eating it by tearing it apart and basically trying to chew on the molars but pretty much swallowing hole lol) and it has come to my attention about all the things I used to do before I had braces, and now that I have braces, i cannot do. for instance:

- Getting bits of food stuck under my finger nails - I am unable at the moment to get the food out with my teeth lol and have it try and pick it out with my nails. (as i am tearing bread and stuff apart, i am getting alot of food stuck under my nails lol i.e ham and pickle lol)
- my nails have gotten so long cos I am no longer able to bite them!
- I used to close my top lip kinda over my top arch and pull my teeth back with my upper lip (yes, i thought maybe if i applied force with my lip somehow magically they would stop getting so crookered haha right... lol!) I cannot do his anymore - which is a good thing lol
- I cannot get food out of around my lower molars, as my tongue cannot reach around the bottom molar bands lol
- my tongue no longer reaches my gums up the top of my top arch to get food out of the teeth lol

its just really weird what you take for granted and then when you can't do it, it is just strange you even think of it! and when I talk sometimes at the moment, or even just sitting here, my mouth will spasm and i will hit teeth with other teeth and it will hurt BAD.. i am sure i probably would eat or talk and hit other teeth with other teeth before braces, but now it just seems to hurt so much that I am wary of it.

what about you? anything that you have noticed that you used to do and now can't?

[Tobilei]

Oh I know!! I really hate it that when I get one of those little loose bits of skin next to my fingernail, I can no longer just bite it off. I have to go find clippers to snip it off.

I too miss getting food out from under my nail with a tooth

I miss cleaning food off my teeth after a meal with my tongue. I feel like I might slice it off now I have braces.

I miss flossing easily most of all.

[TMJJill]

For me, it is chewing lettuce or things with skins like pickles. My teeth used to touch. As they are changing my bite, I've had a long period of time where the molars and premolars on both sides haven't touched. It makes chewing 'flat' things pretty much impossible.

I also used to eat bigger bites. Now, everyting is cut up in small bites...even most sandwiches. It will probably be wierd when I get the braces off. I think I'll have to re-learn how to eat some foods.

It is strange when you find out others have noticed your new eating habits. I was having a conversation with someone at work last week and she said something about a meal we had eaten at a group work function a couple months prior. She didn't say anything then, but mentioned she thought it was odd I was cutting up my sandwich in tiny pieces. In my defence, there really weren't many things on the menu that I could have ordered and eaten normally.

[Timetoshine]

[quote="Tobilei"]Oh I know!! I really hate it that when I get one of those little loose bits of skin next to my fingernail, I can no longer just bite it off. I have to go find clippers to snip it off.

YES - I did that today...almost... then I remembered...

[Timetoshine]

As I am only 7 days into treatment, I have fond (and recent) memories of just being able to CHEW my food

[rhibee83]

Yes chewing flat things is a thing of the past for me too, lettuce, ham, anything like that, i would really really do anything for a nice lettuce and chicken sandwich, and to be able to BITE into it!! lol.

Or a hamburger, a big hamburger with the lot and take a big chunk out of it with my teeth! Lol

I pretty much "chew" with my mouth open and I try not to but I cannot help it. I am not even really chewing just kinda barely biting the food and then swallowing. The things we do for a nice smile! lol

Mmmmmm i am hungry now haha!

[kt87]

Or a hamburger, a big hamburger with the lot and take a big chunk out of it with my teeth! Lol

THIS!! One of my managers had the biggest burger yesterday, arghhh want.

I miss candy.. I like to crunch them and rubbing my tongue along my teeth

[beckyboo0205]

Yes I do find myself eating with my mouth opened too for some reason. I hate that too. I hate when people eat with their mouth opened but I was doing that today when I was TRYING to chew the steak that didn't end up working out.

Also the skin on the finger thing. I do that all the time to try to bite them off and it just never works... but I still try!

Hey a burger is do-able! I ate a burger last week I think! Though I definately took small bites.

[Tobilei]

I keep trying to gnaw the skin off my finger too, so very frustrating.


I want to be able to eat something with crunch! I saw a salad on telly today with Hoisin pork belly and a capsicum/tomato/macadamia nut salad and then another one with chicken and an asian salad with coriander and carrot......it all looked so good and so crunchy! My mouth hurt just thinking about it

[isthistaken]

I used to be able to talk. Tonight I was trying to change an airline ticket. I was arranging for payment of the exhorbitant fee, and I was told by the agent that my credit card was not going through. It turns out she misheard my expiration date no matter how clearly I tried to enunciate. Woe ith me.

[peppy]

I used to have the habit of biting my lips if I had a bit of skin to nip off. Can't do it with my bite guards in! Same goes for finger nails.

If anything, having braces has solved some of my bad habits!

[debinator]

How about opening cellophane packages? I never realized how much I used my teeth as an all purpose tool until the braces went on. It's a good thing, now I can get rid of those habits that aren't so good for my teeth

[Bikerchick85]

I chew with my mouth open now, too! I hate doing that, it is so disgusting! But I cannot help it! I just put my hand over my mouth! I also used to use my teeth to open packaging not anymore! No biting the skin around fingernails or using your tongue as a toothbrush.. Who knew that such a large percentage of people do all these things?! I used to love salads... but I'm finding that I HATE lettuce now! It is so yucky around wires and brackets! I cannot wait to get these torture devices off so I can stuff my mouth full of food and still chew gracefully and ladylike!!! I used to be able to hide the fact that I am a PIG! Braces make that really hard to pull off!

[sablequeenie]

GAH, this is so true!!!

After getting braces I realized how much I took for granted eating beforehand. My biggest frustration is in having to either cut up everything (like right now for example; I'm using a fork and knife to cut up a freakin DONUT because if I bite into it, the gooey-ness will get caught in my front teeth and I'll have to pick at them at my work desk, yuck ) or in having to maneuver food to the back of my mouth when I eat because it's easier to chew back there as opposed to taking a simple bite. Sometimes I'll just turn down certain foods altogether because I know I'm just not gonna feel like picking it out of my teeth (and I'm not one of those people who can just leave it there until nighttime when I brush and floss, doubleyuck )

I think when I finally do get my braces off, I'll be like Gilbert says his sister Ellen was in the movie What's Eating Gilbert Grape: constantly running my tongue across my teeth and saying "Ooo, ahhh," like I can't believe the feeling of real teeth lol

[plugnickel69]

Great topic.

Eating is the biggest difference as that is the time I always am aware of my braces. I now cut up hamburgers and pizza, and don't order sandwiches when I'm in public so it will be easier to clean up afterward even though it doesn't hurt at all for me to bite into things.

Fruit-wise I only eat bananas and grapes. Too much trouble to cut up other things. I find that even oranges are a pain. Unraveling the strands wrapped around everything is annoying.

Went to a baseball game last night and kept being offered pretzels, chips, candy, etc. Even though I usually don't eat those things as a rule, all I could think of was getting the remnants out of the crevices wasn't worth the effort, so it was easy to turn the offers down. I ate when I got home.

For the obvious reasons, I think I gave up biting my nails 50 years ago during my first braced experience.