My Story - Braces, Expander and Herbst :/

[Masquerade]

Hey guys, I'm a 17 year old who just got braces 4 days ago. I've been reading through quite a few of your stories and now I'm finally inspired enough to make one of my own

Anyway, I got Damon braces on my top teeth as well as an expander on Wednesday and have been getting used to them since. To be honest, the actual procedure was pretty painless and barely took any time (about 40 minutes). Unfortunately, all this did was make me incredibly complacent. I could tell that I had a pretty bad lisp and was drooling these enormous puddles, but the pain hadn't really set in yet. Little did I know...

Mum actually made me a soup at first because she was concerned I wouldn't be able to handle the pain. I had almost felt like telling her not to bother but then decided against it because I love soups :p. Phew! The moment I put the first spoonful in my mouth, I knew I was scared haha. All of it just got stuck in the roof of my mouth and I had no way of chewing anything. Somehow I slurped it all down. Then came my lunch. This was when my molars decided to play up too and chewing even the softest food was excruciatingly painful. So much for painless -_-

It's been four days now and things have definitely been getting better. My top right molar stopped hurting yesterday and my top left only hurts a little. Swallowing is still a bit of a struggle but I can manage with smaller morsels. The saliva has more or less gone too. Still, I have a pretty noticeable lisp and even reading out loud hasn't really helped on that front. I guess it's of the one side-effects that takes a little longer to abate. On the pain side, my front teeth started hurting too and one of them felt like it would fall off. Luckily, that only lasted a day and I'm all good now.

I still have 24 months to go and knowing that the Herbst is waiting for me is actually quite frightening. Not looking forward to it at all. This should be a good way of keeping track of progress and I'll post pictures when I've reached 12 posts.

Thanks for reading

[Masquerade]

Alright guys, second update!

It's been over a week since I've put the expander and braces on and I've definitely gotten way more used to them. The first time I showed them off to friends was during lunch and a movie (Deadpool was amazing), I got pretty typical reactions. "Oh, you have braces"" or "Do they hurt?" and then it was like they were invisible. Couldn't have popcorn though

The next day, I had my first day at University. So a pretty nerveracking day already just got more so when I realised I had to walk around with the braces. Soon, though I saw about 5 other people with them and I relaxed immediately. Made a few friends and no one commented on the braces. Unfortunately, I couldn't get into all the free food action because I was scared of walking around with stuck food particles.

Anyway, enough of my social interactions. Pain wise, it's all pretty much wrong. Still one tooth that feels loose as but the rest are all intact. Infact, I'm not really noticing much movement but that's probably me worrying (I worry - ALOT). Biting is fairly normal although swallowing is still a challenge if I take too big a bite. The only real issue is the lisp. I can definitely hear it when I'm speaking but no one has mentioned it. Even my friends have taken the piss out of it yet, so I think it's something in my mind more than anything (did I mention I worry?)

That's the end of this update. Going to catch up on some TV before Uni truly gets going so I'm off. I'll post another update when I get them tightened (oh look, I'm worrying about that too)

[dbala]

Alright guys, second update!

It's been over a week since I've put the expander and braces on and I've definitely gotten way more used to them. The first time I showed them off to friends was during lunch and a movie (Deadpool was amazing), I got pretty typical reactions. "Oh, you have braces"" or "Do they hurt?" and then it was like they were invisible. Couldn't have popcorn though

The next day, I had my first day at University. So a pretty nerveracking day already just got more so when I realised I had to walk around with the braces. Soon, though I saw about 5 other people with them and I relaxed immediately. Made a few friends and no one commented on the braces. Unfortunately, I couldn't get into all the free food action because I was scared of walking around with stuck food particles.

Anyway, enough of my social interactions. Pain wise, it's all pretty much wrong. Still one tooth that feels loose as but the rest are all intact. Infact, I'm not really noticing much movement but that's probably me worrying (I worry - ALOT). Biting is fairly normal although swallowing is still a challenge if I take too big a bite. The only real issue is the lisp. I can definitely hear it when I'm speaking but no one has mentioned it. Even my friends have taken the piss out of it yet, so I think it's something in my mind more than anything (did I mention I worry?)

That's the end of this update. Going to catch up on some TV before Uni truly gets going so I'm off. I'll post another update when I get them tightened (oh look, I'm worrying about that too)

Hiya! Trust me, braces as a teenager are very common and you have nothing to be self-conscious about. I had them as an early teen but had to get them again now, at 23 when I'm working out in the professional world :S You're also lucky that your orthodontist is expanding now, while you are still growing. My first orthodontist never bothered to expand my narrow upper jaw when it was pliable and not fused. After 20+ consults over the last year with all the orthodontists telling me the only way to expand was with surgery, I did my own research and found a newer expander that can expand non-surgically. It worked!! Which is seriously amazing..
I created a blog to track and share my progress along the way, feel free to follow along!

http://smileofsteel.weebly.com


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