Well, the honeymoon is definitely over! I've had my lower braces on for 24 hours now and have been in a foul mood throughout. Eating is temporarily off the agenda because of aching teeth, and anything I do tuck into seems to embed itself firmly around the entire lower brace. I've got several pokey wires, and the new brackets are doing an excellent job of rubbing up canker sores along the insides my cheeks. Welcome to the reality of brace-wearing!
I guess my near-ideal introduction to braces left me somewhat off guard. The last few weeks have been so easy with no pain or sensitivity to deal with that I was really starting to think this brace-wearing lark was a breeze. Added to this the fact that the upper brace filled out my upper jaw a little and detracted from my underbite, I was definitely feeling good. Now the metal lowers have gone on i'm finding out why so much complaining goes on :(
Attaching the brace itself went fairly smoothly. My lower teeth are far more crooked than my uppers so there was some struggling to get the wire in place, and they kept instructing me to lie still - not easy when it feels like someone's pushing their fingers down your thoat! Afterwards I asked Dr H what kind of changes I should expect to see, he told me that first the teeth need to be pulled upright and then he can begin moving them around. I think my teeth look pretty upright already but he assured me i'll be seeing changes by christmas, should be interesting to see what happens. He also said something about fitting the 'steel' wires later on, not sure what that means but it sounds painful! This makes me suspect that i'm wearing some sort of intro wires right now, maybe to break me in gently and gauge how much discomfort I can stand before they wheel out the big guns!
So now i'm back to square one in terms of flossing,waxing, learning to speak and the whole shenanigans. When I put my night wax on I look like i'm wearing A's rugby mouth guard! Better not forget one morning and go to work like that...
(will post all my pictures this weekend, promise!)
2 comments:
Aww babe I feel for you!! Can still remember how traumatic the first few weeks and months were for me. Everyone tells you it will get better, and it will!
Bonjela and wax over pokey metal bits helps immensely with sores and ulcers.
Your teeth (if your underbite is anything like mine) will get SO much worse and you'll hate it even more. But you *will* get used to it, and need to remember it won't be like that forever.
Regardless of whether the wires are steel or not, it always hurts for the first few days after every adjustment if there's a lot of movement that needs to happen.
As for food stuck in brace, I got myself a WaterPik very late into my treatment and it helps immensely. I had terrible gums so got it because after breakfast I just brushed the food around instead of *actually* brushing my teeth and the Pik just helps clear out the debris so you can go and brush properly afterwards.
Honestly, everyone says it but it will get easier. I can't even remember what life was like before braces but it doesn't mean I don't count down the days until I can maybe have them off!!!
Good luck and hope things get easier soon xxx
Hi V, Thanks for your comment and all the tips! My OD did warn me that my underbite would get steadily worse until the operation, which is a big part of why i've put this off for so long. What a bummer!
So i'm going to try and have a busy productive year and do my best ignore all the unpleasent bite changes. Have you found that yours has got noticably worse? How did you handle it?
Congrats on the surgery date btw, not too long now! Hope you're planning a pre-surgery cake blowout, that's what i'm looking forward to the most :D
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