I got braces, need advice. This sucks.

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Spinluck

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Biting down hurts (duh)

And I've been eating Greek yogurt, oatmeal, and the occasional Smoothie King.

Any braces vets have any nice smoothie recipes or something? Also, I can still eat pb&j right? I forgot to ask at the Ortho office, but I love me pb&j but the consistency is fucking tough.
 
That'll happen for the first few days with them on + whenever they tighten them. Beyond that, it should be relatively normal.
 
That will last probably a week or so, If I remember correctly.

I had this issue where I would wake up in the middle of the night because i bit down hard. Avoid biting down on your front teeth, too. Thats the worst.
 
Yeah it's gonna be that every time you get them tightened, though it's worse the first time. It'll pass in a few days tops.
 
Probably would be a good idea to avoid crunchy peanut butter if your ortho even recommends peanut butter to begin with.

The pain will go away. Just take extra care of your teeth. My ortho scared me strait showing a picture of one of his clients who had cavities on every single tooth once the braces came off.
 
I could've sworn I've seen people eat just about anything with their braces on.

I'm about 5 days in so I'm hoping that the pain dies down so i can start eating without flinching again.
 
You can pretty much eat whatever you feel like, with common sense of course. the pain will go away in a few days. But yeah, eat soft foods during the wait. I'm sure peanut butter is fine.

Next thing you know, you will forget you even have braces.
 
I had them when I was 15. Soup is your friend during the pain period. Once the pain eases, anything goes as long as you clean properly afterwards.
 
zoukka said:
I'm goddamn 30 and I need braces... Too late?
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I've been doing Invisalign for the past 2 years. I'm 38. It's not bad. I wouldn't do the regular ones, though. Invisalign is pretty rad.

It's still painful when you put in a new set of aligners, though. Lasts for a few days. The latest one was real rough.
 
zoukka said:
I'm goddamn 30 and I need braces... Too late?
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Nope, I'm pushing 30 and got them this week.

The insurance that my job offers covers a good portion of it though. Almost half, and I put down $500 for the down payment and will be paying like $113 a month.
 
zoukka said:
I'm goddamn 30 and I need braces... Too late?
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I got them at 32. My ortho saw an 80-year-old last week. Never too late! I'm so happy I did this. I'm only 6 months in and my teeth have changed so much. It's actually shocking how much they can change in the first couple of weeks, even - every morning it felt like something has changed overnight. Despite the braces I'm much happier smiling now than before. I got ceramics and they're really not bad at all aesthetically.

OP - as noted by others, things get better after a couple of days. In my case things weren't as bad after subsequent adjustments also. However i did have push spring wires put on two adjustments ago, and that was rough for a few days...
 
The first month is the worst, don't worry. Foods that helped me during that periods were soup, purée, omelettes and rice. Once you get used to wearing them, you will be able to eat about everything with no problems other than extensively brushing.
 
zoukka said:
Cool maybe I'll go get then myself soon. Sucks not wanting to smile due to misaligned teeth :/
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One of us, one of us.

Honestly, despite them being a pain in the ass at times, it's one of the best decisions I've made. Doooo eeeit :)
 
had braces when i was 13 till 15, then again when i was 17 till 18 because i was stupid and didn't wear the removable retainer the orthondontist gave me after


so my advice to you is:

listen to your orthodontist and wear whatever shit they give you after for as long as possible

because it doesn't matter if you've had braces on for two years straight, your teeth can still move back into their old positions if not kept in line for an additional portion of time afterwards
 
zoukka said:
I'm goddamn 30 and I need braces... Too late?
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Never. Nobody cares. So many non braces teeth yeers ahead of you. Totally worth it.

OP, pain will go away in a few days, week. Comes back when they tighten. No worries.

Think about what you eat though. Keep that grill clean and it's less of a pain in the arse.
 
Spinluck said:
I could've sworn I've seen people eat just about anything with their braces on.

I'm about 5 days in so I'm hoping that the pain dies down so i can start eating without flinching again.
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You can eat just about anything, within reason.

But when you first get them, especially if it was top and bottom it'll be sore for a while.
 
Braces can be rough to deal with at times but it's worth it. I had them from the ages of 17-20/21. PB&J is fine to eat. The types of foods you will want to avoid are candy and any kind of hard or really chewy food. Like others mentioned, you're only sore for about a week post tightening sessions. You'll also be sore frequently when you need to adjust your rubber bands, which I remember being introduced about halfway through treatment and more aggressively emphasized towards the end of your time with braces (of course this varies depending on how fucked up your teeth initially were).
 
Theecliff said:
had braces when i was 13 till 15, then again when i was 17 till 18 because i was stupid and didn't wear the removable retainer the orthondontist gave me after


so my advice to you is:

listen to your orthodontist and wear whatever shit they give you after for as long as possible

because it doesn't matter if you've had braces on for two years straight, your teeth can still move back into their old positions if not kept in line for an additional portion of time afterwards
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This, my teeth moved a bit after my mom threw out my retainer and she was like, your teeth are great excuse but I should have stuck with it.
 
My braces experience was awful. Had them for exactly 5 years 11 months. Started at age 12 and got them off my last month of my freshmen year of college. Braces utterly suck while they're on but once they're off you feel divine cuz of your amazing smile.
 
I had braces twice, once when I was 9-10 and again when I was 18-19. Totally normal for it to hurt to bite down after having them put on and after having the rubber bands and/or wire changed out, but that only lasts a couple of days. I would probably avoid peanut butter but some brands might be safer than others. And if you do have a rubber band come loose or something it's not the end of the world as they can be reattached quite easily (by the orthodontist, that is).
 
That didn't bother me much but my advice is wear your retainer religiously after you get them off.

I had braces twice and they still shifted a bit even when only forgetting to wear it twice in three years since having them taken off the second time.

Get the permanent retainers if you can.

Everyones teeth are different though.
 
If you get a retainer afterwards wear it for as long as you can. Mine broke after a year and since I'd been told that a year was when I could think about stopping wearing it I just decided to not get a new one.

Now my teeth are perfect except for one single tooth in my lower jaw which is quite out of line.

Although tbh I kind of like the imperfection, but I can imagine some people would be livid.
 
My teeth after braces were perfect but a retainer is for life. Had braces for five years but I lost my retainer when I took them out to eat at a cafe and forgot to put them back in.

its gonna cost me around £1000 to get my bottom teeth straight again.

OP in a few days you wont even realise you have braces in, you can eat pretty much anything, just make sure you brush well and use inter-dental brushes to get the crap out from between the fixings/wires and your teeth.
 
Angelus Errare said:
Honestly it's probably the best time since your jaw and teeth stops shifting at 25-28
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Your teeth never stop shifting. If you straighten them and don't wear a retainer, they'll eventually go out of alignment again.

zoukka said:
Cool maybe I'll go get then myself soon. Sucks not wanting to smile due to misaligned teeth :/
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It has done wonders for my self confidence and smiling in photos. I used to smirk and hate my smile. Now I'm a smiling mother fucker all the time.
 
I'm wearing braces right now. Invisalign on my top teeth and regular ceramic braces on my bottom teeth. Waterpick is an ABSOLUTE must. Don't spend 10 minutes threading a fucking piece of floss. You should still do this but you can do it once a week if your waterpick is good.

I've been wearing em for 6+ months. No one really notices as the invisalign is...invisable and you can't really see the bottom braces. It's a huge fucking hassle but I'm used to it tbh. Not really negative or positive. Invisalign definitely harms your social life because of how inconvenient it is having to wear it 22 hours a day. But that's not a problem for you OP. So yes waterpick and interproximal brushes you can take with you in your pocket. That should cover you.

Also any discomfort will 100% go away. I eat absolutely everything except really hard things and I don't bite into food with bones. I take the meat off the bone for those, like wings.

Also I'm 27 sheeeeit.
 
-Pyromaniac- said:
I'm wearing braces right now. Invisalign on my top teeth and regular ceramic braces on my bottom teeth. Waterpick is an ABSOLUTE must. Don't spend 10 minutes threading a fucking piece of floss. You should still do this but you can do it once a week if your waterpick is good.

I've been wearing em for 6+ months. No one really notices as the invisalign is...invisable and you can't really see the bottom braces. It's a huge fucking hassle but I'm used to it tbh. Not really negative or positive. Invisalign definitely harms your social life because of how inconvenient it is having to wear it 22 hours a day. But that's not a problem for you OP. So yes waterpick and interproximal brushes you can take with you in your pocket. That should cover you.
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Super floss works well. Its made by oral b and has a built in threader. They also have a glide brand that I used to use easily because I could twist the ends to a point unlike regular dental floss.
 
-Pyromaniac- said:
I'm wearing braces right now. Invisalign on my top teeth and regular ceramic braces on my bottom teeth. Waterpick is an ABSOLUTE must. Don't spend 10 minutes threading a fucking piece of floss. You should still do this but you can do it once a week if your waterpick is good.

I've been wearing em for 6+ months. No one really notices as the invisalign is...invisable and you can't really see the bottom braces. It's a huge fucking hassle but I'm used to it tbh. Not really negative or positive. Invisalign definitely harms your social life because of how inconvenient it is having to wear it 22 hours a day. But that's not a problem for you OP. So yes waterpick and interproximal brushes you can take with you in your pocket. That should cover you.

Also any discomfort will 100% go away. I eat absolutely everything except really hard things and I don't bite into food with bones. I take the meat off the bone for those, like wings.

Also I'm 27 sheeeeit.
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How does it harm your social life? I told every girl I've dated and friend I've gone out with about them. I've made it a joke, a topic of conversation, etc., that I had to carry around toothbrush and toothpaste everywhere and excuse myself to take them out for dinner. Never been a problem.
 
Should be fine after a week or two. Tightening them is a real bitch though :(

Lol the feeling of running your tongue along your teeth when you get them off is amazing. So you have that to look forward to.
 
Az987 said:
Super floss works well. Its made by oral b and has a built in threader. They also have a glide brand that I used to use easily because I could twist the ends to a point unlike regular dental floss.
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I've tried that but I still find nothing beat the convience and ease of a waterpik. I was surprised at how well they work these days too. For the first while I was paranoid it wasn't catching everything so I'd waterpik and then floss but nope, it caught everything. Then I went to flossing once a week or more depending on availability and where I am. Waterpik the rest. Teeth are perfectly clean so far.

ZackieChan said:
How does it harm your social life? I told every girl I've dated and friend I've gone out with about them. I've made it a joke, a topic of conversation, etc., that I had to carry around toothbrush and toothpaste everywhere and excuse myself to take them out for dinner. Never been a problem.
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I do the same as you, I joke around about it and I already have a #nofucks personality so people don't care to see me do it. I even take them out in front of people. But not everyone is ok with that. The insane amount of cleaning you have to do, the fact that you can't lounge around a lot with them off. I know some people think an hour here or there isn't a huge deal but I've noticed when I slacked even a bit on the 22 hours thing, the next trey wouldn't fit as well.

Just not being able to easily grab a drink or eat, and having to carry a toothbrush/paste when you go out, etc....it's definitely a huuuuuge hassle. Depends on yourself and the people you're with and what settings you hang around in but it can definitely harm it I think. I also wear elastics with mine which only makes it more annoying.
 
MCN said:
It's been 17 years and I still have a small wire cemented to the back of my two top front teeth to prevent them from moving,
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According to my ortho the most recent recommendation is to wear a retainer 24 hrs for the first year after, then at night time FOR LIFE. So a fixed wire behind might indeed be the way to go.

Apparently a lot of adult orthodontics is with patients who had braces as a child but whose teeth moved since because of older guidance about retainers that turned out to be not good enough or not cautious enough.
 
gofreak said:
According to my ortho the most recent recommendation is to wear a retainer 24 hrs for the first year after, then at night time FOR LIFE. So a fixed wire behind might indeed be the way to go.

Apparently a lot of adult orthodontics is with patients who had braces as a child but whose teeth moved since because of older guidance about retainers that turned out to be not good enough or not cautious enough.
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Before I started my treatment they told me right off the bat that when I'm done I'll get the fixed wire behind my bottom teeth so I never have to wear a retainer there but they're giving me one for my top teeth. Not sure why they can't do the same. They probably have a reason but I forgot to ask.
 
Just clean them well after you eat. I didn't find the pain too bad after tightening or getting them on originally.
Also, if they give you rubberbands to put on them, make sure you have them on all the time when not eating. I got out of my braces 6 months ahead of time because I was OCD about that
 
vehn said:
Say goodbye to girls
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I was nervous about this, but after my first smooch-with-braces it was fine. Certainly not everyone is turned off...

As an adult though, you might want to consider ceramics. They're quite discreet if you keep them clean.
 
vehn said:
Say goodbye to girls
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I've dated something like 30 girls in the last couple years while wearing invisalign 😏

A decent amount of them were wearing braces, as well.

-Pyromaniac- said:
I do the same as you, I joke around about it and I already have a #nofucks personality so people don't care to see me do it. I even take them out in front of people. But not everyone is ok with that. The insane amount of cleaning you have to do, the fact that you can't lounge around a lot with them off. I know some people think an hour here or there isn't a huge deal but I've noticed when I slacked even a bit on the 22 hours thing, the next trey wouldn't fit as well.

Just not being able to easily grab a drink or eat, and having to carry a toothbrush/paste when you go out, etc....it's definitely a huuuuuge hassle. Depends on yourself and the people you're with and what settings you hang around in but it can definitely harm it I think. I also wear elastics with mine which only makes it more annoying.
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Yeah, you're right. Takes some planning to work around it. But I also made a joke out of needing to carry my man purse in order to keep all my invisalign-related stuff. Lots of girls I dated were wearing braces in their 20's, so we had a common topic to discuss. And they were jelly of my invisible invisalign.

I was super strict for the first course of treatment, then pretty lax the next time. On the third now, and I'm back to strict mode (need to fill in some spacing in the back teeth).
 
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