How long did it take you to feel normal?

[testimony777]

Hello everyone.

I had my braces removed yesterday, woo hoo! I am loving my new teeth but I find myself still defaulting to how I acted with braces. For example, last night I woke up in the middle of the night and freaked out for a second because I thought I had forgotten to put in my elastics. Just a few minutes ago I hesitated before eating a snack because I was in the middle of something and I didn't feel like taking off my elastics and putting them back in (I used to do that all the time with braces). Once I went ahead and at the snack, I defaulted to chewing on my very back teeth because It was a bit crunchy and my mind was still telling me that I needed to be careful not to break a bracket .

So here's the question, about how long will this last lol? How long did it take you to feel normal? Over these past 21 months I have completely forgotten what it was like to live without braces, at what point might I expect to forget what it felt like to live with them? On a side note; I cannot even put into words how delighted I am that this is my most pressing braces related question .

[SinkFullOfDinner]

First, congratulations!!

Second, you too?!!

Thank goodness it's not just me operating on braces habit autopilot so much! It's been a couple weeks, and I'm mostly weened off the subconscious reactions, but found myself so many times skipping something hard at first, or automatically shoving nuts, dried fruit to the back past the last imaginary bracket. Or still looking at a menu through the filter of "is there turmeric in that," or "ok, what is it this time that looks fantastic but isn't worth the hassle," or "no thanks leafy green stuff." Instinctively filling the water pik. Reaching for keys, phone, wallet before leaving the house and having a momentary "uh oh, where's the red wax box of elastics."

You might not be on full-time retainer wear, though. If you are, then instead of instinctively skipping a snack because you don't want to hassle with elastics, you still sigh and skip it because it'd be too awkward to remove your retainers, or totally not tasty enough to justify the hassle of brushing before putting them back in.

Still, it's a great trade, isn't it?

[testimony777]

First, congratulations!!

Second, you too?!!

Thank goodness it's not just me operating on braces habit autopilot so much! It's been a couple weeks, and I'm mostly weened off the subconscious reactions, but found myself so many times skipping something hard at first, or automatically shoving nuts, dried fruit to the back past the last imaginary bracket. Or still looking at a menu through the filter of "is there turmeric in that," or "ok, what is it this time that looks fantastic but isn't worth the hassle," or "no thanks leafy green stuff." Instinctively filling the water pik. Reaching for keys, phone, wallet before leaving the house and having a momentary "uh oh, where's the red wax box of elastics."

You might not be on full-time retainer wear, though. If you are, then instead of instinctively skipping a snack because you don't want to hassle with elastics, you still sigh and skip it because it'd be too awkward to remove your retainers, or totally not tasty enough to justify the hassle of brushing before putting them back in.

Still, it's a great trade, isn't it?

This post is awesome! I don't whether to laugh or cry at the fact that you still feel this way a couple weeks out. What I feel like you are trying to tell me is that it might be a while . I had assumed that I was going to be put on full time retainer wear and the weirdo in me was actually looking forward to that because I had a feeling I was going to need to transition out of having my teeth tightly and securely held in place to total freedom. But, much to my surprise my ortho put me on night time wear only. I have fixed retainers on the top and bottom but them being there is just enough to reinforce my subconsciously motivated tendencies, but not enough to justify them. I guess I will just have to be patient. On the bright side, I suppose I have a few weeks of laugh out loud moments to look forward to when I realize that I am, once again, eating/avoiding/reacting like a bonded woman