Celebrating 3 weeks with Damon Braces (metal)

[steph56]

Hello. I have had my braces 3 weeks (as of 3/7). I'm going for the 1st adjustment, 3/13. All I can say is that after no progress made, my teeth have begun to loosen up yesterday. I can see spaces between the upper middle teeth and some of the lower also. My teeth are severely crowded. (I am 55.5 yrs old). This is the 2nd time with braces; the first being in 1970 (13). They were so loose yesterday evening that when using my proxy brush it actually passed through the teeth. I can now floss (finally). They seemed to tighten up at first (the first 2 weeks).
I believe getting my wisdom pulled (also 3 weeks ago) have made the obvious necessary space for the braces to finally begin working. The pressure is also increasing, especially after I eat. I still, however, can only eat soups and yogurt or smoothies and cottage cheese. I still can't manage solid foods because I can't chew in the back really yet due to the healing of the extractions. And eating anything still makes my lips swell up (which looks I had collagen injected in them). Even soups.

Anyone else have this experience?

Does anyone use an electric toothbrush? My dentist recommended the Sonicare (phillips).

My orthodontic tech disagreed; said a regular toothbrush was adequate. I researched online and found a regular tooth brush recommended is the Oral B orthodontic brush.

Any advice would be appreciaetd.

Stephanie

These braces are fantastic (Damon metal) : there is virtually no pain; a little discomfort and pressure but nothing I can't handle. This is so much better than my 1st time around. Back in 1970, you had to wear spacers, then got banded and by banded, I don't mean just on the molars but I was banded on all the teeth. THe wires back then were also heavier and everything was more painful in those days.

[Tobilei]

Hi Welcome to the board! I'm no help with the swelling lips but it took me about 4 weeks to be back to normal food.

I have a disposable sonic toothbrush my orthodontist gave me, a regular electric brush (the one with the round spinning head), the oral b orthodontic brush and an extra soft one (can't remember the brand, nothing special though). I use my extra soft one the most. When my teeth are sensitive the electric one tends to hurt so I use the regular one at those times. I alternate most between the orthodontic brush and my extra soft though.

[steph56]

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

[Duncan5]

Hi Steph,

I usually use a hand toothbrush, a softer one than I used to use, and clean in small circular motions right up onto the gum and angle the head to get into the crevices. Then I floss and finally use a small headed electric brush (dipped in mouthwash) to get behind each bracket's hook and under the wire. Seems to work, as my dentist was really pleased with my gums' health and said I scored better than a lot of unbraced clients. Good news, but it does take a while - 20 minutes plus to do it properly.

Brush after eating, even lunch, (in the office restroom, yucky horrid and even worse since having elastics as I have to take them out while eating and cleaning then put them back in, and my nightmare is having my hands stuffed down my throat when a colleague walks in), just a quick 5 mins with a manual brush so as not to taste lunch all afternoon.

D.

[Funsizee]

Hi Steph!

I'm glad I found your thread! I will be getting my damons (metal) next week and I'm scared/nervous. This will be the first time I am getting braces at the age of 26.

How is the pressure so far? I'm not really looking forward to soft food diet, but on the other hand, I need to lose a few pounds lol.

Good luck on your journey and I look forward to reading about your progress

[steph56]

More progress: this is the beginning of the 3rd month. My bite on the left side is improving and so much more becoming; meaning that my teeth line up. And on the right side, I really do not notice anything yet except more space between the rotated tooth and a molar. There is space developing between my upper teeth so much so that you can see between them and they are so loose that the floss easily glides between. Not sure what that means but they are loose. It's fun to see the progress in such a short time.

Think of what I have to look forward to!!! Only 2 years left to go!

Funizee: there is more pressure but no pain (really). Hope your brace day went well. I found that to be painless.

On the soft diet: I tried eating some Easter ham and cut it up in baby sizes but it did hurt to chew in the front and as I have no wisdom teeth - it wasn't worth it. Then I saw lasagna on a list of approved foods for brace-wearers but I had to abandon that also.

Back to creamy soups and cottage cheese and yogurt. I can manage rice, though. I have lost 18 lbs. (It was needed anyway).



I find that talking alot during the day (unavoidable in my job) makes my upper lip and above swell including the tissuies
inside the mouth and the gums also. That's what Motrin is for.
Let me know how you did.

[Dee17]

Hi steph56,
I just found your thread today. I'm about the same age as you. Got my braces at the end of October when I was 54. Haven't had much pain to speak of but I also have not seen a lot of movement in the past six months so it's been pretty discouraging. I'm sorry to hear that you're having so much trouble with swelling. I've never heard of anyone having that problem before. Have you talked about this with your orthodontist? It might be worthwhile to mention it to him the next time you go in for a visit. Do you have any allergies that would normally do something like this? Are there any other symptoms of an allergic reaction?
Anyway, just wanted to welcome you to the forum. It has been an enormously helpful community for me to be a part of. Everyone is super supportive and very helpful with questions and concerns. Good luck on your journey!

[quentin]

Hi there! Congrats on "surviving" 3 weeks! I am pleasantly surprised by my Damon braces too, and have heard far worst horror stories from others about adjustments with traditional braces. Maybe we're just lucky!

I use the Oral-B electric toothbrush that I already owned pre-braces and had the orthodontic attachment on it for the first 8 weeks of having braces. As the brush head started to fray a couple of weeks ago, I switched to my pre-braces brush head, the "floss action" one, and despite initial fears of the brush head being too harsh and will hurt and/or knock the brackets off, it works just fine.

I also have a manual toothbrush for quicker "in between" brushings (e.g. after lunch) that I carry on-the-go.

I've written about my experiences with the electric toothbrush and other supplies on my blog, hopefully it's useful for you!

(I do really, really, really love my Waterpik though....)

[Kurisu]

Hi Steph,

Aww I hope the swelling eases with time. How strange that it continues to happen despite being 2-3 months now.

I have experience with both the oral b spinbrush and the sonicare. Both are great brushes, however if you have sensitive teeth, I would recommend the sonicare. It's more gentle since it vibrates (good for disrupting plaque along gumline), while the Oral B spins back and forth (think of a pendulum). My teeth feel really clean using both of them. Best to check out the models in real life and see what fits your needs best. I believe oral b often has coupons or rebates of some sort, more common than sonicare, so that's also a plus.

Not sure if you live near a costco, but they almost always offer brush heads, which is very cost effective (especially if there's a coupon!), and with oral b the heads fit on most models. I notice different heads for sonicare models, so it's a bit tricky. I currently exclusively use the sonicare but have a slightly older model, although it was quite luxurious for its time.