Metal Mouth Message Board

I'm a week away from officially being a member of the bracket club! I'm a little nervous but very excited. I've had crazy teeth since I was in junior high, and now, at age 33, I'm finally doing something about it!

I'm getting my lower braces put on July 1, an upper-jaw expander on July 7, palate expansion surgery sometime the following week, and then upper braces whenever the expanding part is done. I'm mostly nervous about the surgery, but from what I've read, surgery and recovery are relatively quick compared to the major jaw surgeries with plates and screws and being wired shut for weeks, which is initially what I thought I was going to need.

I am so glad I found this site! Everyone is so supportive, and it's such a wealth of information.

I went for my appointment today, which I thought was just going to be impressions, but they gave me spacers on my top molars too! So far they're not so bad, except for back left side where my teeth were too close together to fit a spacer in. Dr. C. had to fish a spring wire through there instead and make what I'd like to think of as a personally customized spacer just for me. When the assistant was first trying to squeeze a regular spacer back there, she accidentally scraped my gums, so that's a little sore now. Eating will be weird, because when I bite, I'm biting the metal spacer on the left side where it sticks out between my teeth. I'm glad I only have to wear these things for a week!

Hi! Congrats on starting your journey to beautiful teeth. You are getting your braces 1 day after me. I got my spacers in yesterday and am getting all braced up next Monday. We could be brace buddies! LOL. I'm sorry that you ended up with a cut when they put that one spacer in. I know that has to suck.

It does suck, but I guess no worse then when I bite down on a Dorito the wrong way. Lord knows how many times I've done that.

The lady putting in the rubbery spacers said it would feel like having Sunday's roast chicken stuck in my teeth. That's so funny, because that's exactly how it feels.

angel84, what kind of braces are you getting? (clear, metal, ceramic)

I am getting just the regular metal ones. I REALLY want the ceramic ones but with colored ligs. But... that would have ment me coming up with an extra $300 for the down payment and that was just not doable in 2 weeks. But it's okay. My teeth are getting fixed and that is the main thing right!?

As for the biting a Dorito the wrong way.. oh yes, I know exactly how that feels and it stinks. I've had a LOT of problems with my teeth and had one break off at the gum line. I once bit into one right in that spot and it about killed me. Funny thing is I don't even eat chips often. But I do love me some Doritos! LOL

Meeeeeee too! Especially the ones with the extra flavor powder on them that you find at the bottom of the bag. Mmm boy!

Well I woke up this morning expecting my whole face to hurt, but it wasn't so bad. My teeth were pressure-sensitive, but I ate some Malt-O-Meal and took and Advil and it's all better now. I put a nice wad of wax over the metal spacer wire that's poking out into my cheek, and it's been lovely. I always thought wax sounded gross, but now that I've used it, I think I might become an addict. Is this stuff available in stores, or can I only get it from my orthodontist?

Hey! I actually just got a bunch of wax in today that I ordered from dentakit.com. They have 2 kinds- the orthosil which is made with sillicone and the standard wax. With the sillicone one whatever you put it on has to be dry. So Your best bet would be to go with the standard. That site also has a ton of other stuff that we'll need for braces. I am stocking up already lol. You can never be too prepaired, right? Oh yes- just a heads up, but you might be a bit more tender in the morning. I woke up this morning with more discomfort than yesterday. But after I got up and ate and everything they feel much better. I still haven't had to take any kind of pain relievers so that makes me very happy b/c I am breastfeeding still. So how are you feeling about getting your braces Tuesday? I keep going back and forth between excited and scared crapless! LoL.

Yeah, I'd say back and forth between excited and scared crapless too. I'm due for a palate-separating surgery two weeks after my lower braces go on, so that has me the most scared crapless of all. I'll be glad when that's over and I have my upper braces on. I envy those teenagers who have palate expander without surgery.

But yeah, for the braces installation, I'm worried about silly things like tasting the yucky etching stuff, whether I'll choke on my own saliva while my head is tipped back, whether my tongue will dry out, etc. I think my biggest apprehension is how things will work with the crown I have on one of my bottom molars. I trust that Dr. C. knows what he's doing, so I don't want to ask him, "Do you know that's a crown? Are you sure this will work?" He's been doing this a million years and I'm sure I'm not his first patient with a crown.

I've found it really hard to restrain myself from being a high-maintenance patient that asks a gajillion questions.

I'll have to check out denakit.com!

Hey there Luey! Did you get a chance to check out that site yet?

I think I would be the most worried about the sugery, too. I'm so glad that I don't have to have any sugeries except for extractions. I don't even want those but hey... you know... if it has to happen it has to happen.

I do worry about the silly small stuff, too. I'm worried about choking on my spit and the cold air hurting my sensitive teeth mostly when it comes to actually getting them on. Then I also worry about my teeth falling apart/out. Yeah, crazy I know. I just have a fear of my teeth falling out. Every so often I will have dreams about my 2 top front teeth falling out. It's horrible.

You know, I don't think that there is anything wrong with asking them about your crown. Or anything else for that matter. After all, these are YOUR teeth that they are messing with. They have to last you a lifetime. So if you are really worried about it, then I would talk to your ortho about it. If not for anything else, just to put your mind at ease.

I did. That's site is a great resource!

I know what you mean about worry about your teeth falling apart/out. I have dreams about that sometimes too, usually that my teeth crumble in my mouth. Yucky.

How are you doing with your spacer today? I'm feeling a little more sensitivity at the roots of my teeth, but other than that, no big change. The metal spacer is still annoying, but I've adjusted mostly. I was even actually able to chew some hot dogs and watermelon at an office cookout yesterday! Woohoo!

It does have a lot of good stuff, huh? I believe that the owner of this forum is the owner of that site.

My spacers have been really good to me actually. They get a tad sore every once in a while but mostly I forget that they are even there. In fact I almost picked one out b/c I forgot that it was there! Ooooppppsss! But it didn't come out. I had burger king today on the way to my baby's Dr appointment and it was a little uncomfortable to chew but I didn't really have time to worry about it. He had a fever of 103.5 so the last thing I cared about was my teeth lol.

About those dreams- aren't they horrible!? I wonder why we dream of that? Just a fear? Or does it have meaning, ya know?

So is it just me or does it seem like monday and Tuesday are still forever away? I'm not even nervous anymore b/c it just seems so far away. Could be that I haven't really thought about it in a couple day since the baby has been sick though. My weekends normally fly by so I guess we'll see about this one, huh?

Hey Luey. Guess what I did today? I went and got me some Doritos! LOL And I actually did think about you when I bought them, too. I just had to come and share with you. You better go get you a bag too. We are running out of time, ya know. How are you feeling about it now? I am excited/nervous right now. I get all butterfly-ish when I think about it. What time is your app Tuesday? Mine is at 7 AM. Great way to start the day, eh? LOL!! But I'm glad it's early. Beats waiting all day and going nuts.

haha - Well, I went and got a big bag of those mystery-flavored Quest Doritos last weekend, so I still have half a bag left. They were sort of my last hurrah before the ortho adventures started, but I really haven't been able to eat them with the spacers. But I will not let them go to waste! I'll at least figure out how to use them as a casserole topping or breading for chicken or something.

My appointment is Tuesday morning at 8:15 - nice way to start the work day. I'm a little nervous but mostly excited. I woke up at 4:00 this morning and couldn't go to back to sleep because I was thinking about it! It's sort of like when I was a kid trying to sleep on Christmas Eve night when I knew there would be presents to open in a few hours.

My mother-in-law is coming to spend the night Tuesday night, so that should be interesting. She has no idea I'm doing all of this, so I guess that will give us something to talk about.

Is your little one doing better today?

Hey there brace buddy. 1 day left for you! How are you feeling about it now? I'm still the same. The emotions are just getting stronger, though lol.

My baby sure is feeling better today!! He started getting a little better yesterday and today he is just about back to his normal silly, playful self. So what about you? Do you have any little ones? If you don't mind me asking that is.

Ahhhh the in-laws... I'm so glad that mine don't come up much. I'd go bonkers! Of course I am hospitable towards them, but I know they don't like me and the feeling is mutual. It bothers me b/c we are stuck with each other for the rest of our lives. Hopefully anyway. They don't know about me getting braces, either. And they probably won't unless my hubby tells them if he calls them.

Anywho lol... How have your spacers been feeling? It seems like different teeth back there have different feelings sometimes. Ya know what I mean? I'm not sure if that makes and sense or not...

Oh yeah, totally. For most of the week it was just my molars on the right side. But then last night, all of a sudden, my two front teeth started feeling a little sore. I guess maybe it means all the teeth are pushing toward the front?

Anyway, I can't wait to get these spacers out tomorrow, especially the stupid metal one. I woke up in the middle of the night thinking, "No wonder my gums are irritated - there's something stuck between my teeth," and then woke up fully and caught myself trying to push one of the spacers out. Oopsie!

I'm thinking it will feel weird to have all of the spacers out. My teeth have felt tight and oddly strong with them in, so I wonder if they'll feel all loose and weird. You'll have to let me know after you're done this morning.

I'm sorry to hear (read) that you don't mix well with your in-laws. It's good that you don't have to see them all the time. We live just far enough from my mother-in-law and my parents. Can you imagine the first time your in-laws see you in braces? "Hey, um, I think you have something in your tee....WHOAAAAAA."

I'm glad to hear that Baby is doing better. No little ones here right now. We're stretching out our childless freedom as long as we can, although parents and mother-in-law are starting to ask what the holdup is. hehe

So I'm really bad with time zones and such, but I'm guessing you're either 45 minutes into your bracing, or you'll get started in 15 minutes. Either way, I hope it all goes well for you!