My first month in braces

I finally got my braces attached on the 19th September. The appointment took about 40 minutes and I only had the top set put on as my orthodontist thought it was a bit too much to have upper and lowers on at the same time. I also wnet back to get my lowers on 17th September (My Birthday!!!).

These are my pictures from my first day in braces

This is my photos after one month of having my upper brackets on and 1st day of having my lower bracket on

These are a few things I've noticed from my first month with the braces on:

1. I feel like one of those girls who posts selfies on social media with a big duck lip pout! It's really strange getting used to adjusting your lips over the top of the braces since they now take up a few extra mm in your mouth.

2. I was petrified to eat solid foods at first, in fact for the first few days i lived of mainly soup and bread. I still can't eat anything really hard or chewy but most foods are manageable if they are eaten slowly or cut into smaller pieces although i am avoiding chewy sweets at all costs.

3. It takes a long time to clean you teeth properly with braces on. Even when i think i have it all I'll rinse out with mouthwash and still more will come away. It's gross but you have to be REALLY though to make sure you get everything out.

4. Buy a travel dental kit. I got a special orthodontic kit from ebay which has a travel toothbrush, mouthwash, toothpaste, wax and hard case all for orthodontics. I also keep an inter-dermal brush in it to help get in between all the spaces the toothbrush misses. Trust me you'll need this if your eating outside your house during the day, mine is a lifesaver for when I'm at work or in university.

5. Your teeth will become unpredictable. Some days they feel fine then the next they will throb in certain areas, so remember to keep some pain relief handy. Your bite will often feel 'off'  and at some points your teeth will feel really loose.

6. Wax will be your saviour. The first 4 days of having the braces on were torturous while the soft bit of my mouth got used to having metal rubbing against them 24/7. The wax will help to create a barrier to stop the rubbing and ease the pain. You can see I have clear wax on in the second photo above, i mostly use it over the elastic hook as they protrude the most.

7. People will stare. I have a lot of people look at my braces but don't really say anything to me. I don't mind people asking and usually I will start to talk about my braces if I see someone wants to ask but doesn't' want to appear rude.


So other than that I was informed when I was getting my bottom braces on that I will need to have a micro orthodontic implant screwed into my gum to allow for extra anchorage at some stage of my treatment. This freaked me out but after some online research I found its actually an excellent way to speed up treatment and prevent failure of treatment, so hey its got to be done!
Also I have an appointment tomorrow as my lower  left wire popped out at the back when I was eating today. I'm sure it could probably be put back in myself but I don't want to go poking around and break something. I was really surprised that i got a next day appointment to get it fixed, thumbs up NHS!
I'll do another update of how I'm getting on in month two but so far these bottom wires are killing me, very sore wire indented gums which I hope perhaps the ortho can maybe adjust tomorrow by shortening the wire? Wahh just feeling sorry for myself and my indented cheek!


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