What parts of the procedure for braces are painful (extracting bicuspids, gettin!
Question:
What parts of the procedure for braces are painful (extracting bicuspids, getting braces on, them staying on)?
I'm 13 and i am visiting the orthodonitist at July 30. I'm very afraid of pain. I think I have a pretty bad overbite, and according to research, I probably have to extract teeth. I'm also afraid of braces pain. I'm very nervous. Can you help?
Answers:
Don't worry about pain sweetie. I am 40 years old and just got braces 4 weeks ago. On July 5th, I will have 4 teeth pulled. When I went to the ortho, I was scared to death because of all the stories I heard from others.
I had absolutely no pain. NONE! I was bothered by the fact i had something in the mouth that was and still is hard to clean but basically had no pain what so ever when they put the braces on. Mind you everyone is different. If you have pain, there are always some kind of pain killers that you can take.
Once I had the braces on, I started biting the inside of my cheeks, that was a bit painful but using orthodontic wax fixed the problem. I think things will just get better once the teeth will be pulled creating more space and hopefully stop biting the inside of my cheeks.
If I would have had braces at your age, i would not be in the mess i am in right now...my jaws are in real bad shape, seriously bad shape, this because of poor alignment and poor bite. My meniscus between my jaw joints are gone and i will have jaw surgery in 1.5 years.You will see, getting braces is not that bad.
It takes approximately 3-4 weeks to adjust to a new diet that is not too hard, and not too catchy, because food get stuck in the brackets etc...I gave up on flossing until the teeth are pulled.
Finding the right diet is quite a challenge. I am a vegetarian and I had to basically give up salads, nuts etc...I try to at least eat salads but my jaws get really really tired and it's a mess to clean. The adaptation to a new diet is what I find the hardest.
Hopefully, it will be easier to floss without 4 teeth, as right now, space wise, it is next to impossible to floss. I have absolutely no patience for the detailed work that flossing with braces requires. I swear like i never did in my entire life trying to floss.
Braces are more a pain in the butt then a pain in the mouth. Don't be scared, think of the nice smile you will have after 2 -3 years and especially THINK you will spare your jaw joints etc...There is always new technology and new medication coming out so don't worry, you will be OK.