And my six month smile journey begins...

[braceykay87]

In less than 24 hours I will be at the dentist getting my six month smile braces fitted! I'm extremely nervous and Im hoping that they feel and look a lot better than I'm expecting as I do not have high hopes! But all the same, I'm looking forward to getting them on and starting the process as I feel its the anticipation that's partly to blame for my nerves.

I have hated my teeth for a long time, the front bottom 4 are uneven and all seem to lean to the right, and the top front 2 overlap and one is slightly longer than the other. I wasn't offered braces in my teens until I was 17 and at that point I was looking forward to heading off to uni and considered myself to be far too cool to have metal train tracks on my teeth! Biggest mistake ever as I have regretted it ever since! So now at 25 Im finally financially stable enough to justify spending a large amount of money on my six month smile braces, lets just hope they're worth it!

So, my fridge is stocked with soup and yoghurt and for the last few days I've been eating anything crunchy/chewy that I know I wont be able to eat for a while! Like I said, I am extremely nervous and anyone who has any comforting words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated! Wish me luck! x

[peppy]

Best of luck for your fitting. I have 6MS and have got on great with them so far. Do you have an estimate for how long it will take?

Key things are to make the most of your wax and just trust that it will feel weird at first but you get used to them quickly!

[braceykay87]

Thanks Peppy! Glad to hear you are getting on with yours ok, how are you finding eating? Are there loads of things you cant eat and does food get stuck in your braces easily?!
My dentist estimated that I would have them on for 5-6months so fingers crossed it doesnt take any longer than that!

[peppy]

You'll be fine. I had two of the back metal brackets break off at different times because I was eating a cereal bar that had nuts in. The second time I really should have known better!

You can pretty much eat anything eventually as long as you're careful. The only thing I would say is that sometimes it's impossible to eat things that you to need bite down on with your front teeth (apples, bananas etc...). You'll probably want to break things up into chewable pieces in the early days!

Sometimes food gets stuck. I always swill my mouth out with water after eating and then go and brush them as soon as I can. Having a litle interdental brush is useful.

You'll probably get yours off just before me as I'm predicted 8 months treatment time!

[braceykay87]

So I had my braces fitted yesterday afternoon. The fitting itself was a very strange experience, it didn't hurt but was very uncomfortable. The worst part was when my dentist had to shave some of my teeth down to make room for movement, it felt like he was flossing my teeth with a nail file! I was nearly in tears as it felt like he was removing large parts of my teeth! But when I looked in the mirror afterwards you could hardly tell that he had taken anything off, thank goodness!

I was back at work today, initially I was nervous about what people would think but everyone was incredibly supportive and I even sparked a few discussions about people's experiences with braces as teenagers as well as a few people discussing what they didn't like about their own teeth! It was comforting to hear other peoples experiences with braces, even if they were teenagers at the time!

I didn't have much discomfort after the braces were fitted but as today went on they started to seriously rub the inside of my mouth, I've just applied some of the wax I was provided with so hopefully that provides me with some comfort overnight. It wasn't as easy to apply as i had expected but I don't know if it was because it was cold and needed to be warmed up a bit. Does anyone have any tips when it comes to applying the wax?

My initial feelings about 6 month smile braces-

PRO'S
- They don't look as obvious as I thought they would, people who know about them have commented on how discreet they are which is great!
- I thought they would affect my speech or give me a lisp but they haven't!
- A little part of me is very excited that after almost 5 years of wanting braces, I finally have them on and i am on the way to a perfect smile (hopefully)!

CONS
- They feel HUGE! Talking and smiling feels very strange but I'm sure I will get used to it
- I physically cant eat anything that isn't practically liquidised, today my diet has included porridge (lots of millk!), tea, soup, hot chocolate, yoghurt, mashed potato and baked beans (mashed) and ice cream (it is Friday!). Not sure this is very healthy! Hoping my ability to eat will improve
- I feel horribly self conscious, being a single 25 year old means my life pretty much revolves around going out and socialising, at the moment I am dreading going out tomorrow evening to meet some old work friends and contemplating ways to get out of it!
- Relating to the above, I am feeling extremely unattractive! Cant imagine any man wanting to go near me. I have read the 'braces and romance' section on this site which was comforting and I would recommend it to anyone in a similar position to myself!
- Brushing my teeth takes forever, I use both my electric and manual toothbrush and have some peroxyl mouth wash. However, before my braces were fitted I flossed daily and i am not sure on the best way to go about this now they are on. Does anyone have any recommendations?

So despite the cons I am still feeling positive and still think I have done the right thing by getting 6 month smile braces. Just keeping focused on the end result as I know the pain will be worth it!

[braceykay87]

Day 3 with braces and I am in so much pain I have ulcers all over the inside of my mouth and on my tongue where the brackets have rubbed. Dont think the fact that I went out last night and consumed a large amount of alcohol helped much as i must have dehydrated myseld, wont be making that mistake again!

So today attempting to eat anything means I am in horrible pain and all i want to do is rip the braces from my teeth!!! Ive bought some bonjela as i remember my mum using it when we had ulcers when we were little so will put that on plus the wax before bedtime.

Does anyone have any useful tips on dealing with painful ulcers? Please also tell me this wont last for the whole six months?!

[braceykay87]

1 day later and im still in pain! Worked from home today as its painful to even speak so thought i would rest up at home, back to the office tomorrow though! Been washing my mouth out with salt water every hour and topping up the wax, plus using bongela and neurofen but they still hurt so bad! Plus I am missing proper food, soup is just not doing it for me anymore! Hoping I am able to eat a bit more by the weekend, dont want to miss my mums roast dinner on Easter sunday!!

[braceykay87]

11 days into life with braces....

Feeling 100 times better than I did this time last week, the ulcers have cleared up and the rubbing has subsided apart from a couple of brackets which I put wax on. Am also getting a lot more confident with eating which has been great what with all the food and chocolate over Easter! The only thing Im suffering a bit with is dry lips and mouth so I just need to remember to keep hydrated throughout the day.

Back to work tomorrow and Im very much looking forward to being able to do my work without being in pain for the whole day like last week! I am feeling a bit nervous though as I still feel a bit self conscious about talking with the braces, especially to people who don't know I've had them fitted. After (nervously) asking a colleague a work related question last week she asked me when I'd got braces and went on to talk about her experience with Invisalign and how she'd rather have had six month smile braces! It made me feel alot more at ease as I would much rather people ask me about them instead of staring blatantly at them with a confused look on their face which is what some did! So I think my confidence with my braces at work still needs to improve but apart from that my braces and I are currently getting on just fine

[Tobilei]

Glad things are getting a bit better! Sorry I missed your first posts! Best thing for ulcers is wax + bonjella + salt rinses. I can never get wax to stick, especially on the back so jam some cotton gauze between my bracket and cheek and that helps too.

[braceykay87]

24 days into life with braces! Cant believe how quick it has gone! Hoping the next 5 months fly by as well but at the same time I don't wan to wish the year away!

I feel like I have got used to them now, sometimes I even forget they are there until I get an odd look from someone or I go to eat something, as some foods are still proving difficult. I think there has been the tiniest bit of movement as there is a gap opening up between 2 of my bottom teeth. It doesnt look great but I guess the gap is needed so the front tooth that was sitting slightly behind the others can move into it. Another thing that bothers me is the slight staining on the brackets. They are looking yellow compared to my actual teeth so I try to avoid anything that could cause any staining! I have my first adjustment in 10 days, very excited but I just hope that the ulcers that I experienced in the first week don't return!

Thought I would give a brief mention to something else that was bothering me at the beginning- Six Month Smile braces and singledom! Thankfully the guy that I had been on a couple of dates with previously to getting braces fitted is not bothered by the braces atall, happy times! This has helped me to feel a lot less conscious about them and I am feeling a lot more confident than I was at the beginning.

[braceykay87]

Had my first adjustment yesterday, cant believe the braces have been on for over a month already! The adjustment wasn't painful, it was just slightly uncomfortable what with the pressure the dentist was applying to my teeth whilst changing the wires and the bands. Plus my teeth are now more sensitive than before I had the braces fitted. Worst part once again was when he shaved down between my teeth some more with that horrid nail file/sand papery feeling metal thing! The sound and feeling makes my skin crawl, a hundred times worse than dragging nails down a blackboard! However he seemed happy with my progress, especially the top teeth which I am hoping can come off sooner than the bottom, but I wont get ahead of myself as it has only been a month!

Bring on month 2!

[paulas1]

I'm right behind you, having my first adjustment on Tuesday. Can't wait to have the bands changed, they're looking pretty mirky now.

[paulas1]

Just wondering, what exactly is involved in the first adjustment? Do they move the brackets or clean the teeth? Is it just a change of bands?

[braceykay87]

My ortho changed my bands and my wires, was lovely to have clean non-stained ons on again! He also had to shave a bit more off some teeth to make more room. That was about it to be honest and it only took about 50 minutes.

[paulas1]

Had mine shaved on Tues too. It's a really weird feeling. I hope it doesn't damage the teeth.

I think my wire grew over night. It's digging into my cheek now so will have to go back in today to get it clipped.