Time off work with new braces?

[donatella]

Hi all

New here sorry if asked before or stupid question. I am a 33 year old lady who is getting braces and then maxilla surgery in 12 months to correct an over and cross bite.

I am a cosmetic nurse and my job involves consulting people all day that means talking talking talking. I am booked to have the braces on in 3 weeks (lingual top normal bottom) and I was considering having a few days off after work to get used to them and speaking. Is this a bit dramatic?

[angelina]

I went to work the following day after having braces put on and had regular braces so didn't have to worry about speech issues. It probably wouldn't hurt to take a few days off if you have some available to you to practice speaking as well as in general for the discomfort. I sort of wish I took a couple of days off because I was miserable and I think everyone knew it, too!

[donatella]

Thank you so much I appreciate the response. I might tell work today I will be mortified trying to stumble my words and explaining myself the next day

[carrieann]

I took one and a half days off work when I got my braces. So glad I did. My cheeks were swelled and my teeth hurt so bad. I'm on the phone a lot so needed practice speaking. The worst day was day 2 actually. I feel it also gave me opportunity to get my bearings. Just going through daily tasks took longer with braces. New eating habits, well smoothy habits. Even washing my face was odd. Getting used to my brace and teeth cleaning took a minute. It was all foreign. It seemed everuthing I did took a little longer and life was different. But I'm a HUGE creature of habit and have some anxiety so it took me a bit to adjust. It was nice to do that without work stress. But that's just me.

[carrieann]

I forgot to add, after a week life is normal...your new normal. It's not so bad at all now! Adjusting comes very quickly.

[jaime]

Personally I think a few days off is a little much. I went back to work after getting mine on but I wish I had taken the rest of the day off. I was in so much pain that I was nauseous (painkillers did not help) but certainly the next day and then on, I was fine.

[iob]

It's totally reasonable to take the rest of the day off just so that you can get used to speaking with the new lingual uppers and get your head around the inevitable thoughts of "omg, I actually went through with this...now what?"

Honestly, however, I'm not sure what you'll gain by taking off several days after that (not referring to your later surgery). The odds that your speech is 100% back to normal in 2-3 days is, unfortunately, pretty low. I'm not trying to scare you, just being honest. It will take more than a couple of days to adjust, but you'll get there.

My best advice is to try to have a bit of a sense of humor those first couple of weeks. Fortunately for you, you work in a medical setting, so your colleagues should be a pretty empathetic crowd. Also, experiment with putting a little bit of wax/silicone wax above your upper front teeth. I found it helped tremendously with the initial lisping/slurring, even if it felt annoying.

[emily0709]

I got mine on and went into work the same day. In my opinion, the 3rd day was the worst, pain-wise but nothing to miss work over.

Everyone is different, though

[JCloNY]

I got mine on and went into work the same day. In my opinion, the 3rd day was the worst, pain-wise but nothing to miss work over.

Everyone is different, though

That is pretty close to my experience. The day of did not hurt. The second night of sleep though I was through the roof. That being said I pulled the trigger on getting ceramic braces without doing research so I was not prepared as I walked in with the intention of getting Invisalign. If I had the right foods handy and took pain killers like others recommended beforehand I would have been fine. The third night I took pain killers so I could sleep and was much better. I'm on the phone all day long with clients and a few weeks in I'm still slightly adjusting to them.

[whitney555]

I went to work right after getting mine on, and it was definitely awkward but I don't think taking a few days off would've helped me personally. It took me at least a week or two (hard to recall the exact amount of time now) to start sounding normal again. Even seven months in I'll still occasionally lisp or stumble over my words, I'm just less self-conscious about it now.

[occamsblazer]

I didn't think I would need to take time off, but the first day I really struggled to speak with them on! The ward sister where I was on placement literally laughed at me and told me to go home and take the day off! Everyone is different, but if you have the option I'd say give yourself a day or two just to get used to them

[CCinBraces]

I recommend getting them put on close to a weekend or whenever your "weekend" is...but I don't think a day off is needed.Its awkward a bit at first but I think its more in your head than what anyone else is noticing....

My biggest issue was eating and getting food stuck in my braces. My recommendation is to pack some softer lunches if theres some pain and also food that won't get so messy and caught in the braces---soup is great and so are bananas.