Finally got round to my appointment to see an ortho about linguals (for anyone that's interested the price quoted was £2500-£3000 for labials or £3500-£4000 for linguals).
Was told treatment time would be 24months and any sooner will be a bonus, (my sister had normal labials a few years ago and was told 18months but was finished in 9months, think it's more to do with having small teeth meaning they're easier to move, I hope anyway).
But I have a question about this though, will having a small mouth/narrow bite make speech more of a problem? as currently on my lower set of teeth there's only 2¾cms for my tongue between my middle molars but with brackets and a wire it will probably only leave 1½cms, which is a massive difference nearly 50% less clearance!
So speech and needing to change my whole diet and eating habits are my biggest concerns.
I've also been told after treatment I'd be given a lower retainer & upper mould to wear every night for the foreseeable future and if my teeth move back it's not the Ortho's responsibility, is that the normal practice?
Some lingual questions
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Having a narrow bite will probably make speech more difficult. I dont have lower linguals, only upper so I guess Im not the bes person to answer. However with my linguals I have 2.5cm at the top between my second molars on each side.
For me speech was a problem for about a week and then after I was sure I was still speaking funny but everyone else told me I sounded normal. I have now had them for three months and my speech is normal to me and everyone else. At times I can trip over some words, but I was expecting that and it doesnt bother me. I am a teacher so I talk for about 6 hours a day in front of teenagers. I have told them about my braces and they said they havent noticed any difference in speech.
My eating diet is pretty much back to normal but it does take me slightly longer to eat. Of course I dont eat sticky lollies or popcorn or nuts or any of those other things people with braces shouldnt eat. Because my front teeth are moving I am not able to bite into anything but I am now so used to cutting everything up it doesnt matter.
Eating was difficult with linguals to begin with so much so that I was not happy with my choice of getting braces, however within a week it was back to normal. I was told I woud adjust quickly and really did. If given the choice I would always go with linguals. I forget I have them most of the time (even when talking), there are no staining issues and no one has any idea what is going on in my mouth.
Let me know if you have any other questions!!!!!!
For me speech was a problem for about a week and then after I was sure I was still speaking funny but everyone else told me I sounded normal. I have now had them for three months and my speech is normal to me and everyone else. At times I can trip over some words, but I was expecting that and it doesnt bother me. I am a teacher so I talk for about 6 hours a day in front of teenagers. I have told them about my braces and they said they havent noticed any difference in speech.
My eating diet is pretty much back to normal but it does take me slightly longer to eat. Of course I dont eat sticky lollies or popcorn or nuts or any of those other things people with braces shouldnt eat. Because my front teeth are moving I am not able to bite into anything but I am now so used to cutting everything up it doesnt matter.
Eating was difficult with linguals to begin with so much so that I was not happy with my choice of getting braces, however within a week it was back to normal. I was told I woud adjust quickly and really did. If given the choice I would always go with linguals. I forget I have them most of the time (even when talking), there are no staining issues and no one has any idea what is going on in my mouth.
Let me know if you have any other questions!!!!!!
Thanks for the feedback dkt3 your experience so far seems a pretty good one, I am about 70% sure to get them now, but I'm just thinking if the speech problems will be considerably worse for me (having an already narrow bite) then I won't get them done.
Has anyone else with a narrow bite/small mouth got linguals and able to tell me if speech got better as with most cases?
Has anyone else with a narrow bite/small mouth got linguals and able to tell me if speech got better as with most cases?
linguals
Yes, I have a pretty small arch on both upper and lower and have linguals on both. I really had no problem with speech after only a couple of days. I should note, however, that I have Lingualcare braces, which I understand are often much smaller than traditional lingual brackets. For me the main issue was the top brackets, since you articulate words against your upper palate, and your tongue generally rests on top of the bottom linguals. So the bottom linguals were really not an issue for speech for me, just the top.