When did your braces stop feeling "bulky"?

[Amanda88]

Not sure if there has been a post about this already...I'm on day 7 of having braces put on, and I'm still SUPER aware of them. Feels like I'm wearing a big mouth guard all the time! I know they don't look that bulky, but I still feel them there all the time...Just wondering if this feeling ever goes away, and if so, when did it go away for you? I know when I got contact lenses for the first time, it took my eyes a few weeks to adjust and now I don't even feel like I'm wearing them. I'm really hoping that braces are the same!!

[brooks]

For me it probably took about a month before I stopped feeling like I needed to take them out. I felt like you said, like wearing a mouth guard. So I kept feeling like I had something to 'take out' when I would leave the house, take a shower, etc etc. I also kept feeling like I needed to pry my lip off them. It is much better now, and I'm about 2 months in. It will get better but it wasn't super fast.

[mapleleafman888]

...when they came off. ..

[orchid]

...when they came off. ..

Lol.

I thought I would get more used to them than I have in the last three months. I do think about them a lot. I hate that. It's better than in the beginning though.

[coolcat35]

I've had mine on for 6 months now and I can still feel them and notice them when I think about it. After the first month you get more used to them being there and you won't want to rip them out every day.

[WiredWeaver]

I've had my braces on for just over two weeks (Speed braces) and after about a week and a half I was on my commute home from work and realized that I'd forgotten I was wearing braces. They feel much more comfortable now than they did and shoe I still stare at my teeth every chance I get, they don't bother me anywhere near as much as they first did :)

[newbite]

10 months and the top still feel bulky everyday. Sometimes it's a real effort to enunciate. The bottom never felt bulky, though. Can't wait to get them off!!

[NeilH]

Mine have never really felt bulky but I guess I became less aware of them after the second month. After then, I pretty much forgot about them until it came to eating.

[tartanhabit]

Following this thread. I'm on day 6 and I keep wanting to take this mouth guard thing out of my mouth and go back to feeling normal. And I only have the top braced so far! I'm hoping it feels less bulky as time goes on. I hate the constant feeling of pressure. Hate it because, well, it's constant pressure but like it because it must mean something's going on.

[MrPlenty]

I keep getting the feeling like I have to suck my teeth in and pull my lips over the braces on top. It's weird and sometimes annoying. 2 weeks in.

[lazarus]

I'm 5 weeks in, and I feel like my brain is finally starting to tune them out. They still scrape the inside of my upper lip if I talk or smile or laugh too much, but I don't notice them at all when my mouth is "at rest."

[deblo]

I'm a year in and they still feel bulky. It is mainly the ceramic brackets on top. I don't feel the metal lower brackets as much since they are smaller and smoother. It does get better with time though, since the stretches of time you forget you have them get longer...you just get used to the feeling and it becomes 'normal'

[autumn9285]

When I first got mine in 2 months ago, it felt like I had a mouth guard. They felt huuuuge! I'd say 2 weeks in I was finally getting used to their size. They're less noticeable to me now but I still feel at times like I have to force my lips over my top braces. Also when I first got them I couldn't say any f words without whistling haha. I don't know if anyone else has had that problem.

[Amanda88]

Autumn9285....I had the same problem with the whistling for "f" sounds! Glad it eventually went away!!

[autumn9285]

Amanda88 you and I both! It was super awkward to talk to people while whistling at them haha