Transpalatal arch appliance problems

[Ainslei]

I just got this today and I cannot even swallow my own saliva (tongue really hurts). My orthodontist is usually really good and tells me all the problems I'll go through but she didn't tell me anything this time. She just said "nothing hard sticky or chewy" and I might have a bit of a lisp.
My back teeth only very slightly touch (and that's when I have to move my bottom jaw weirdly) so I can't chew. If I do a normal bite, only bottom left molar touches with some metal at the top. I can't chew with my front teeth because that's an overbite and even the little I could chew just gets stuck in the roof of my mouth. I'm worried I'm going to be on the liquid diet and I don't want to lose weight because then I will be underweight. On top of that I have a cold so when I sneeze I need catch my saliva, I have a sore throat which gets worse with me not closing my mouth at night.
What's confusing is I have no lisp and I haven't figured out what sounds I struggle with but it's quite a few. This is hard to talk with, she never said that.
And finally, I'm against fluoride, I did not know the glue they use contains fluoride and I'm no chemist but I'm worried about what will happen. I didn't want to say no to the treatment so I went with it.
My bottom teeth are kinda crooked but I have no problem with that. Should I get them fixed? I don't know because I've already got some metal in them now (I don't know what it's called).
To top it all off I have exams this month and all I want to do is stay in bed ;( ;(
Everytime I try and eat a solid I have to poke my finger through the metal
I have some voluntary work organised with some kids who have a reputation of being very naughty and I don't know how I'm going to do it with this, they are not going to take me seriously. I don't even like kids :( should I cancel it?

This is just a major rant. Please give me life advice. I just don't feel like this is normal, the arch is not even symmetrical when I touch my tongue with both sides of it. But yeah this is ridiculous.

[sirwired]

You should call your ortho and ask about the pain and eating; I expect the advice will be: "Eat what you can, when you can, and in the meantime go for meal replacement drinks." Those drinks aren't the best for you, but a week or two won't hurt.

Don't worry about the fluoride; it is a naturally occurring ion that is utterly harmless in the doses used in dental products.

To help out your speech: Talk to yourself when you have time, enunciating as clearly as you can; this should speed up your "muscle memory" retraining itself.

[Ainslei]

Thanks a a lot man. You've calmed me down a bit but my t

[Ainslei]

Thanks a a lot man. You've calmed me down a bit but my tongue is really sore (it looks white and horrible I will Defo ring) Are you against fluoride?

[sirwired]

Thanks a a lot man. You've calmed me down a bit but my tongue is really sore (it looks white and horrible I will Defo ring) Are you against fluoride?

Your tongue should toughen up quickly.

And no, I'm not against fluoride in dental products. It's effective, cheap, and unless you purposefully ingest a whole lotta' toothpaste, harmless.

Part of applying brackets is "etching" your teeth with acid (this gives them a rough surface so they "accept" the cement.) The fluoride you got at the office was a "varnish" meant to re-mineralize your teeth afterwards. Again, at the doses used in dental treatment, it's harmless stuff.

[Gigi03]

I understand how you feel (I have had the trans palatal arch when I had a cold and it was difficult). When I got mine, the ortho told me it would take a while for my mouth to get used to it there. She said that my mouth will thinks it's a foreign object and produce saliva to break it down and wash it out. After your tongue and mouth gets used to the arch, the amount of saliva produced will stop. I had pain for a little over two weeks after the arch was placed and had to take aspirin to ease it. It was hard to eat and I drank protein shakes like Ensure to supplement my meals. (I had a lisp for a while, but found the more I talked, the lisp lessened.)

I still have issues with my jaw trying to align to chew (I used to chew mainly on one side because the back teeth met to grind the food), but I also had teeth extracted a few months ago. My hope is that once all my teeth are where they should be, my jaw will properly align again when I chew. Food getting stuck in the arch is annoying and I have avoided certain foods because of that. I have noticed meats, salad and pasta noodles give me the most issues with my trans palatal arch.

Everyone tells me to just remember the end goal, so every time I feel frustrated, I try to remember why I opted for braces. The pain is also a good motivator to make sure that I do everything the ortho says, so I don't prolong my treatment. I have had my arch in for five months now and other than food getting stuck in it and the mark on my tongue, I doesn't bother me at all.

[Ainslei]

Did your tongue ever hurt and that's horrible, does the mark ever go away? My tongue has gone all orange and white because of the bar. I put a clean rubber on my tongue at night so it doesn't touch the bar.

[Gigi03]

Yes, my tongue did hurt, but it also toughened up. A little after two weeks, the pain from my tongue stopped. Unfortunately, since I am still wearing the arch, the mark from the bar is still there. In fact, since my teeth have moved a little, I now have two marks on my tongue (one from when the arch was originally put in and the other is a lighter mark from my jaw alignment changing). The good thing is, no one can really see the mark, unless I stick my tongue out. (Hopefully, when the arch is removed, the mark diminish.) :)