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I just got my braces put on on 9/30/08. I was pretty excited up to that day. Then, when the soreness started to settle in, I was less than enthusiastic. It's now been 4 days with my braces and, while I think my mouth is getting used to the idea of having braces, my front teeth are still tender and my back brackets still irritates my cheeks. (The wax does make a huge difference@)
I was wondering if your mouth ever "toughens up" and fully gets used to the brackets rubbing against your cheeks and how long (on average) does it take before you can start eating normally again (i.e. something besides soup)? I currently still can't chew stuff, so I just break it into micro pieces and swallow it.
I think I'm just impatient! ...but I want to eat a sandwich again!
Hey NatureGirl,
I have no answers for you but I wanted you to know that I feel and understand your pain. I had mine put in October 1st and I too can't wait to eat a sandwich!
Hang in there though! This board really makes me feel like I can do this. I refer to all the people who are two months away from the end for inspiration. Mashed potatoes have become my friend and I'm adding oh so many different flavourings for variety. Take heart the end will be here before you know it!!
Hey I know how you feel, but trust me, it does get better. The first week and a half is definitely the worst, after that you can gradually chew again and eat solids, it gets easier and easier every week. The wire stopped irritating my cheeks after a few weeks, and by two months I could eat almost everything I used to before getting braces without it hurting, even big subway sandwiches! I still break hard foods into pieces sometimes, but thats just out of caution, so I don't break the braces lol. The only thing is that when you have adjustments, the pain returns again, and the wire might irritate your cheeks again, but this only lasts a few days, definitely not as bad as when you first get braces!
heyz! first off let me welcome you to the braces club! second off congratz on getting braces! awesome stuff
It terms of your questions and comments, it really depends on the person and there situation and there pain threshhold but I promise you it does get better. Just take some time to get used to the bracets and wires.
For me: I got my braces on in the middle of March. The first week was horrible for me. So much pain and I could hardly eat things without tearing up in my eyes. thank god for lovely pain killers. The second week was still pretty painful but it kinda seemed to be less painful, mind you i was no where near eating like normal yet. I stuck to soft foods like pasta and stuff like that which seemed to work out just fine. 3rd week a little more less pain but still pretty tender: i started biting into stuff (softer food) to try to ease the pain (they say biting is good cause it gets the blood flow going and almost seems to help with the pain. While it was still painful it did seem to work a bit. week 4 much better, gradually worked up to normal food although it was still a bit tender but manageble. By this week i had had enough of the soft food and was determined to eat actual normal food although i cut everything up into small mini peices to help out things.
In terms of your mouth toughning up, it will always be semi fragile but it will toughen up quite a bit. By fragile i mean getting cold sores; possibly bracets rubbing against the wall of your mouth. It will definetly take some time to get used to but your mouth will toughen up quite a bit and then it wont be so bad. I find with me, that my mouth is a bit more tender on adjustment day and a few days after then its much better. I can honestly say from experience that the pain your feeling now will be the worst of your pain or that how it worked out with me. Adjustment days will probably be a bit painful but definetly not as bad and not for long as when you first get your braces on. Actually i had my 4th adjustment and really wasn't in any pain afterwards, just a bit of tenderness!
So hang in there it will get better. Wax is definetly amazing and definetly works wonders. If you find you are getting quite a bit on canker soars in your mouth rinse out with some warm salt water mix! it sems to help soothe some of that discomfort. If you have any question don't hesitate to ask, there is lots of knowledgable people around here! again WElcome aboard!!
Braced: March 19th 2008
Impacted wisdom teeth extraction surgery: June 20th 2008 1pm (13 hours of fasting)
Jaw surgery (upper and lower)Lefort 1 with Madable Advancement: June 2nd 2009 @8am!!!! 1 surgery down 2 surgeries to go!!
debrace day: jan 18th 2010!!!! *has 2 fixed retainers and an essix retainer for night time now!
Hi Naturegirl... First and foremost, huge congrats on your new braces!! It's a great thing that you're doing - go ahead and give yourself a huge pat on the back!
It got my braces on a year ago, but I do remember the first week being a huge adjustment. I did mostly soups and smoothies, and in the second week I started eating soft foods. I remember having enough of soups and thinking that if I didn't get solid foods I would die. Don't worry though, you'll have them very soon. Things got better and better from there. After a month, you'll be eating almost anything, just cutting it up in smaller pieces.
You definitely get used to the braces. I think after a month things were so much better, then after a few months, you hardly notice them. I remember my gums being scratched up at first, but you definitely get used to them. I've only had to use wax a few times actually, but don't hesitate to use it if it helps.
Remember one thing - the worst is over and it'll get better and better from here. I love my braces and couldn't be happier that I got them. You'll be feeling like that too!
Thanks for the comments. They're so reassuring. My teeth are slowly becoming less sensitive and if there is something I really want that would normally require biting, I simply break it up into micro bite size pieces and swallow it whole. You still get to taste it, but I must admit, it's not quite the same as biting into it.
Hold on! you'll see how pretty soon things will be settled! I had a ton of canker sores for the first 4 to 5 weeks, I thought i would have them for the whole treatment, but now I hardly get one every now and then! I used a ton of wax those weeks, since then I hardly use any wax at all...
As for the teeth soreness, I really didn't have a bad pain, so I probably can't help you with that: after the adjustment I only had some minor soreness for the first few days, but nothing I could not bear with!
I think it just depends on the person...I was told by some people that it would take a week or two for the soreness to go away; someone else told me it would take over a month.
My teeth were really sore for about a week...that was the worst. After that they were tender for about 3 weeks. So in total it took about a month for me.
Hello. I am finishing up week 4. I never experienced pain, just a mild discomfort. I never used any pain killers or wax. The biggest problem for me has been bulkiness and sleeping.
Bulkiness because they take up much more space than I thought they would (ceramic uppers, metal lowers). I still feel like my lip gets caught on them some times so I look forward to the day when that no longer bothers me. I think I'm still trying to hide them and even though people are very nice and claim they don't notice, I think they are just being polite
Sleeping because I just seem to have trouble making it through the night uninterrupted. My guess would be that I am sucking on the inside of my cheeks and irritating the skin which is waking me up. I'm hoping this too will pass.
It will probably be sensitive for the first week or so, especially since you are new to them.
The best advice I got was to keep chewing, the more you chew even while your teeth are sensitive, the faster you will "toughen up".
Your cheeks will also "toughen up" and get use to the wire also. But be vigilent, if the wire is truly POKING and stabbing you after a week or so, call your ortho again to have it clipped/trimmed.
I got my braces on 1 October too and now it`s been 7 days and it still hurts and my mouth is red and scratched inside. Can´t wait til I can eat normal food again, right now I feel like I never wanna see yoghurt or any kind of soup again. Oh yeah, I tried to eat pizza today for the first time and I ate it about half an hour, just one tiny pizza
I tried to bite into a tiny meatball (i.e. approx. 1 in. diameter) today and bit it in half!!! There is hope again! ...I can only do this with my back left teeth, but still...it was so exciting (well, for me at least..)
Marya wrote:I got my braces on 1 October too and now it`s been 7 days and it still hurts and my mouth is red and scratched inside. Can´t wait til I can eat normal food again, right now I feel like I never wanna see yoghurt or any kind of soup again. Oh yeah, I tried to eat pizza today for the first time and I ate it about half an hour, just one tiny pizza
I totally know what you're talking about! It takes me longer to eat some things too. I haven't tried pizza yet.
It's now been 4 days with my braces and, while I think my mouth is getting used to the idea of having braces, my front teeth are still tender and my back brackets still irritates my cheeks. (The wax does make a huge difference@)
