Kassieleigh from Texas

Hello everyone! I got my braces on Wednesday, December 14, 2005 and it has been 6 days now. The first day, when I went to have them put on I almost couldn’t contain my excitement. Even though I’m only 19 (just a few more months till 20), I have been waiting so long to have this done. When I was the “right” age (around 15) my parents couldn’t afford it so I never got them.

My little sister (14) and I went at the same time to have them put on. All she kept talking about was how her friends “swear” that they don’t hurt. I on the other hand was sure that the next two years my mouth would feel like there was a battle being fought in it (I could picture the warriors in chain mail with swords pointed at each other). So, anyways, we both had our braces put on (I was last cause I’m older and thankfully I chose the ceramic brackets) and immediately I knew life had changed. As if on perfect cue, the weather outside turned bleak and it started storming like you wouldn’t believe. (Dun-dun-dun.

My mother and I dropped my little sister off at school for her finals and we decided I needed a little bit of shopping to relieve the stress.
After some stress relief and getting our nails done, we drove back to the house to tackle dinner. I’ve never been so scared to eat in my life. Luckily, I just had an uncomfortable feeling in my mouth and no pain, yet. I ate spaghetti the first night and bit the heck out of my cheeks.

My kind orthodontist called to see how we were doing. I told him everything was fine, and it was. The next two days went by fine for me, I had NO tooth pain and no discomfort and boy I thought I was getting lucky. My little sis on the other hand woke up the next day crying her eyes out cause her teeth hurt badly. It is now day 6 and I have EIGHT, yes EIGHT, nasty mouth ulcers from my brackets rubbing and I haven’t been able to eat a real meal since day 3. I drink everything (I’m surviving off of shakes, slim fast, and protein drinks.

Yesterday I got so fed up with nothing helping (I tried ibuprofen, salt water rinse, mouthwash, Vicodin, Tums) I called the dentist and got a script for this really awesome stuff nicknamed “magic mouth rinse”. It helps take away the pain and heals the sores. Definitely try it if you get ulcers.