Newbie on day 3 with Linguals with a few questons.

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#1 Post by **koksy** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 6:25 am

Hello from Brighton in the UK. I'm on day 3 with my linguals on fitted by www.totalorthodontics.co.uk in Hove.

1) I'm at the "take em off and give me my money back stage" right now. I have hardly slept the last 2 nights. The front upper teeth especially feel as if they are about to snap off and i keep gettng pains shooting from my upper teeth right up round my eyes and across my forehead, Is this normal?

2) Yesterday, I noticed that the wire upper left is not attached between my last molar and my wisdom tooth. It's bent and sticks out. I assumed that this meant it was broken but a friend said they dont always attach the last bracket to the wire to begin with. Is that true? I can't get in touch with my orthodontist til monday.

3) This morning I have ulcers on either side of my tongue where the brackets are rubbing. They have given me wax but it says the mouth must be dry for it to stick. I'm salivating like a hungry dog right now so how on earth am I supposed to get them dry to use the wax?!

4) In 3 weeks I am having slices cut off bottom left molars and a screw in my upper jaw with an elastic to the bottom jaw to pull the teeth back. Does anybody have any experience of this?

5) Also after the Linguals are removed I will have a wire behind the uper front teeth. Is this as uncomfortable as the brackets there now?

6) When I was half asleep, there was a crunch last night and some clearish crispy stuff in my moth. I was worried it may be enamel, but is it glue or something?

My teeth are not actualy that bad and most people cant believe I am spending Â£7000 on it but the teeth have moved quickly in the last few years so i'm hoping by gettng in early it will be less work. All I am eating right now is slop. Cottage pie and mushy peas is all i can manage as I can't chew. Feeling a bit sorry for myself right now.

#2 Post by **Daveyboy** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 9:48 am

Hi Koksy,

Welcome to the lingual club! I'm in berkshire and have had mine for almost 4 months and I can assure you that you do get used to them very quickly, and you'll soon be at the time when you forget you have them! Progress was really quick to start with (take a look at my post somewhere on here "2month update" for proof!!!

In answer to your questions:

1) I would expect some discomfort for a few days after each adjustment, and especially after having them put on for the first time. If these pains haven't settled in a few days then i'd go see your ortho. It may be that they need to start you on an even lighter wire (less force) until your teeth start to move.

2) I'm guessing you have brackets on your wisdoms? essentially your friend is right, and orthos sometimes dont link in certain teeth until the others are in the right place. I wouldn't worry about this, but certainly ask your ortho when you have your next appointment.

3) I found that brushing your teeth, then keeping your mouth open for about 30 seconds before putting the wax in helped a lot. you need to use a fair amount, and basically "mush" it all over the bracket and wire. Because it envelopes the bracket and wire, it should stay in with no problem (although i generally removed mine to eat) I only had to use wax for the first 3-4 weeks after each arch was banded, so you'll reach this stage before you realise it!

4) No experience of this but it sounds like a "mini-implant" and i've seen some other posts on this forum about them so try a search and see what comes up

5) Hopefully not

as this is what i'm having. Certainly it'll be much smaller and smoother. Most people who've had normal braces dont struggle with this wire retainer, so we've got a massive advantage already!!

6) Not sure, but certainly sounds like some excess bonding material which is often left over from when the brackets were bonded.

Hope these answer your queries!! Certainly i'd stick with it and look forward to seeing progress, it really is a confidence booster and far outweighs any discomfort.

With regards to eating you'll soon get to the point of eating almost what you want. Burgers/steak etc is all fine with a knife and fork!!

Dave

#3 Post by **koksy** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 11:30 am

Thanks for the replies daveyboy.

I read your post and i hope mine move that quickly upstairs after the first wire is changed! Is that normal with Linguals? My teeth are quite similar to yours but the tooth to your right of the 2 front teeth is sticking out about 3 or 4mm further. My upper molars are tilted backwards by about 30 degrees from the horizontal too.

#4 Post by **antsika** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:16 pm

Hy koksy! I have also upper and lower linguals, and I can understand how you feel after the first days! But it will be certainly better, you just have to survive the first 1-2 weeks. My ortho told me to organise as many programs as possible not to be able to think about the unpleasent situation you are in.
I took pills to help with the pain in the first few days, I think it is normal because of the pressure on your teeth and jaw.
I had teeth which were out of the way and they couldn't be bracketed, they were attached to the wire later on.
Try the wax even if your mouth is not dry! I wasn't told that it cannot be used if my teeth are wet and I didn't have problems. I couldn't eat with them on, but after eating I placed them again.
I don't know anything about screws, I have buttons on 4 of my teeth and the elastics are placed on them.
I don't know about retainers yet, but they will surely be more comfortable then the linguals. And I haven't experienced the crunchy thing in my mouth.
About eating, I was living on soup and mashed potatoes for 3 weeks. After slowly I started to eat pasta and soft things, and now I can eat whatever I want so it is also just the question of time.

As Daveyboy said, stick with it and after these first days everything is just going to be fine, and it will be so worth it!
If you have more questions do not hesitate to ask, we will try to answer them!
Good luck on your journey!

Antsika

#5 Post by **katia2298** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:19 pm

Hey Brighton...
Hang tight...I was you a week and a half ago. I cried so much from the pain and I too contemplated having the braces removed. Keep the faith...at around Day 5, things slowly started getting better.

I had a wire sticking out, it was actually stabbing my tongue which was awful. Go back and they can adjust it. I did an it helped.

The tongue ulcers are the absolute worst. Just keep doing the salt water rinses and I promise it will get better. The wx didn't help me at all. I think your tongue adjusts faster without the wax.

Is your ortho gonna put a bonded retainer when you are finished. Because I had one for years and you don't even know its there.

If anything is coming off, you should def head back to the ortho.

Eating is rough....some nice people on here gave me some good recommendations....I have found these helpful...
milkshakes....
soup
yogurt
mashed potatoes
pudding
It's only been under 2 weeks and I have graduated to soft solids like Mcdonalds burgers. It will get slowly better. Promise. Hang tight my friend....if I can make it, so can you!!!

)

#6 Post by **koksy** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 2:40 pm

Thankyou for the suport everybody! For our non-UK friends, Cottage pie is minced beef with mashed potato on top. Its actually easy to eat as you dont need to chew it. Minced beef was the only form of meat I could think of to eat... mashed swede and carrots is great too!!!

The toothe pain is not so bad this afternoon but the ulcers are throbbing now!

#7 Post by **lionfish** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 4:58 pm

If you like minced beef, spaghetti bolognese or lasagne would be a good pick too. All soft stuff.

Try warm salt water rinses (1 tspn salt to tumbler of water) for relief of mouth ulcers. Persevere with the wax also, it does help.

It took around 10-14 days for my tongue to toughen up (and I only have upper linguals...).

#8 Post by **langers** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 6:52 pm

I can SO see this being me in a months time, keep us fully updated Brighton fella, this stuff is all great preparation for me...... and the best of luck!!!

I'll say it again, great forum

#9 Post by **BlahBlah** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 4:29 pm

Congratulations on getting Linguals.... You made the right choice!!

Everyone goes through the "I give up, i want them off" stage.. it usually happens somewhere between the 2nd and 10th day.. but eventially u do get over it..

I had a few teeth which were not wired at the beginning due to the position they were in... It's very common..

Good luck and all the best!!!

To all of u deciding which kind of braces to go for.. Linguals is the way!! They are great i tell ya.. just great.....!!!

#10 Post by **itsjustme** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 6:37 pm

Glad the tooth pain is not as bad, hopefully the ulcers will go away soon!

#11 Post by **koksy** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 7:14 pm

Thanks, itsjustme. Ulcers are really bad today. The wire feels as if it has got sharper than when it was fitted.

I was just wondering, how long before my speech starts sounding something like normal?

#12 Post by **lionfish** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 7:38 pm

Give it a couple of weeks for speech to return to normal.

If the end of the wire is bothering you, see if you can get it clipped.

#13 Post by **koksy** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 4:08 am

Its not the end of the wire as such, although that is a bit sharp. It's my tongue rubbing along the wire as I talk. It's like rubbing it along a wire cheese cutter!

#14 Post by **lionfish** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 12:24 pm

Try putting some wax on the wire, it will stick.

#15 Post by **koksy** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 6:37 pm

Rapidly approaching 2 weeks now... teeth are mostly fine. Just the odd bit of pain. Tried to chew something the day before yesterday (instead of gulping it down!) and pracctically ripped my tongue to shreds.

Its so sore today. Worst it hs been so far. I thought its supposed to get better, not worse? And my lisp isnt going either which is a major disadvantage at work!