Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi, I'm set to get my braces off tomorrow after 28 months. My ortho said I'll be wearing invisalign for an additional 6 months full-time and then part-time after that. For anyone who've had their braces taken off recently, how did your teeth feel strength wise? Did you feel that you were able to bite in to an apple? I don't feel that my teeth are that strong, I think that the pressure of the braces is what's giving my teeth strength to bite into things at the moment.

Can't answer your question as I'm not there yet, but many congrats on getting debraced tomorrow! Hope it all goes well.

Congrats 888AA on getting debraced! I got debanded in early June and have permanent retainers top and bottom in addition to Essix/Hawley. My teeth were a bit tender for the first few weeks but were fine after that. One thing that literally made me lol was re-training my brain not to automatically start tearing up my meals like I had done for the previous 30+ months! I had to constantly remind myself that I could actually eat normally again. I don't think I've bitten into an apple yet, but I'm sure I could. So don't worry, you'll know instinctively what foods you can eat and how best to do it.

Congrats on getting debraced tomorrow, let us know how it goes!!

According to my ortho, when braces are taken off the bone around the roots of the teeth is not yet fully formed. This is why teeth (usually the front) feel loose at first. How fast bone is made varies from person to person. My ortho said that it can take up to a year for all the bone to solidify. My front teeth felt loose for about 3 months after I was debraced. Biting into an apple or corn on the cob was weird. I could feel my teeth wiggle. However, some people don't have this issue at all.

Given that you are going into Invisalign, presumably your teeth will still be moving. You may have this wiggly feeling while active movement is going on.

Congrats!! Betcha can't wait to feel the long-lost smoothness bare teeth have!! lol

Also, how come invisalign instead of something like permanent retainers....??

Thanks all. Getting the braces off was quick and more or less painless. Just a snip, snip, snip...... and then some sanding. Did some impressions of my teeth and it was done in a little over 30 mins. Teeth do feel silky smooth, felt a little weird at first but so glad to have them off. I think I must have looked at them in the mirror a hundred times in the first few hours of getting them off.

Teeth do feel a little wiggly but no soreness whatsoever. I'll hold off on biting into any hard for a while, I don't want to waste all that time and $ invested.

The ortho said invisalign and I didn't question it. As long as I feel everything feels and looks good in my mouth, I'm not going to question his recommendation.

Congrats on your debrace! Just curious though, did you get Invisalign aligners, (which cause movement via a changing series of trays), or are they Essex retainers? The essix retainers look pretty much like invisalign trays and are easy to mistake the two. The difference is the essix retainers simply retain and hold things in place, while invisalign will make continuous changes.

If your dentist is trying to make some final tweaks with invisalign, I would expect some ongoing looseness until that stage is done and you are in retainers. If they are essix retainers than the bone will get stronger and hold the teeth in place better every day. As long as you wear them of course!