#braces log

[luminar-a]

never underestimate how even the slightest form of being unwell can impair your everyday life. i only got braces, no major disability or disease, and yet because of the discomfort it’s causing me these days,

i could not even remotely reach my billing target at work

stuff is now piling up at work because i am behind schedule and it’s terrifying for the weeks to come

i cannot eat, which makes me even weaker and sadder and further hinders my productivity

my mood is miserable and all i can think of is getting through the day

doing household chores is difficult

even selfcare is difficult

so don’t be mean to people who have some kind of impairment, whether it is a permanent or temporary disability, illness (including mental ones) or just a temporary annoyance like a new set of braces. you would have difficulties too, if you had the same

[luminar-a]

BRACE YOURSELF FOR THE BRACES LOG

Today is day 2 and I really hate my decision of getting braces

Putting them on was not that bad, perhaps just a bit uncomfortable because of having stuff in my mouth keeping it bare open and blocking the tongue, but the process itself was not painful.

Also, the teeth themselves do not really hurt - it’s somewhat difficult to chew properly because the bite does not close properly right now and they are a little sensitive, but other than that, they are not in pain

The lisp is embarrassing and I feel very self-conscious about that. It’s much worse than I expected, but then again it’s something I can live with for a while and if I explain to people why I sound like Donald Duck, they understand

The one who is bearing all the pain is my TONGUE, my god!! I have lingual braces (both top and bottom) which means that my tongue is now sharing its space with a lot of metal and wires. I’m not sure if there’s a protruding wire or if it’s just because of how the bite has shifted but the back sides and especially the right one of my tongue is literally on fire every time I swallow. And THAT’S what is making my life hell, because I simply cannot eat.

They say it doesn’t take long for the tongue to become more resistant so I’ll endure… I guess… but meanwhile I’M HUNGRY YALL

do me a favor, go out and get that crispy chicken burger and enjoy it, do it for me

[luminar-a]

BRACE YOURSELF FOR THE BRACES LOG

Day 4 and while life has been miserable so far, today I made some little encouraging steps: I ATE PORRIDGE AND AN OMELETTE!

never been happier about porridge.

I might stay on liquids and creamy stuff for lunch in the office over the next few days because bringing a bottle of liquid meal is much easier than bringing an omelette with me, and with the tongue sores it takes me ages right now to chew things, which is not compatible with my busy attorney fake lunch break (I usually don’t have a real lunch break and eat my sandwich while jumping into the next problem). But I’ll definitely gradually have real food in the evening when I have more time to eat and will go back to normal things at work when I can eat at a more normal pace.

[luminar-a]

well the ask by that anon WAS insensitive. i mean you see someone in pain for a procedure you don’t know the details of (and btw you said it more than once that they were not regular braces) and you go and tell the one thing that would make them feel worse - “it sounds like a shitty job made by an incompetent”? people really like an opportunity to pile shit on doctors’ work. also who are they to tell you what should and shouldn’t affect your daily life

I don’t have much to add but thank you, I was wondering if I was being overly sensitive. Maybe I was but whatever, such is life

[luminar-a]

Feeling a bit bad about my very salty answer to the last anon ask (who I assume already unfollowed my blog so will not see this post), I found the tone of the ask very insensitive but I would assume they simply did not know that I was talking about lingual braces and not regular braces, for which what I am experiencing right now would indeed be a bit too much.

So well, if it interests anyone, lingual braces (the ones I have now) look like this (under the cut in case you don’t want to see a teeth model with braces):

(picture from here)

Regular braces look like this:

(photo from here)

You see the difference? I’m not saying that lingual ones are more painful or hardcore - they simply have different issues. One of these issues is that when they are placed, the tongue suddenly has to share its space with a lot of metal and wires, 24/7, and it’s simply not used to it. This causes lisping while speaking and most of all, cuts and sores. And cuts and sores on the tongue feel like your mouth is on fire, especially because they affect the back sides and the feeling of soreness extends along the entire tongue. As it is particularly painful when swallowing, eating (even soft things or creams) or even swallowing liquids or your own saliva is very difficult until the tongue heals.

I’ve had regular braces when I was a teen and while I do remember the soreness of the inside of the cheeks and the slight tooth pain when the wires were adjusted, at least my tongue was left in peace and swallowing was not that hard.

So yeah, that’s why the first week of my journey is so miserable. It’s not my orthodontist’s fault - she really is great, I did my research both on lingual braces in general and on her work beforehand. I also went for other opinions.

The fault is of this specific kind of braces and of my choice of going for these, which I’m sure will pay off as soon as my tongue heals.

[luminar-a]

Are you sure you didn’t get shitty braces by an incompetent orthodontist. The competency of such people putting shit in your mouth makes a difference. When i got braces it was uncomfortable for like a week and then I just couldn’t eat hard foods , some for everyone I know, I remember the most uncomfortable part was sometimes a brace would break and I would have to get an appointment with the dentist to get it glued against because it was painful. Braces shouldn’t hurt or be so uncomfortable they affect your daily life besides eating habits and I had plenty of friends break food or not care about eating nuts or dumb shit. I even remember friends telling me my braces were probably low quality because they broke too often and I got them fixed too often. If you have money get a second opinion or somebody to look at these braces. I can’t imagine not being able to do chores because of braces, that just sounds like shit braces or something weird going on.

Wow, that’s a very encouraging ask to receive after just having undergone a procedure!

The braces I got are not regular braces. They are lingual braces which are a completely different beast than regular braces. I complain and sound like I went through unnecessary or unexpected torture but in fact, what I am experiencing is 100% what is expected during the first week of lingual braces. I got them two fucking days ago and I saw it coming, and while waiting for it to pass, I take the liberty of complaining about the discomfort on my personal blog.

Also anon, not nice to go to someone who just invested a five digit sum on an extremely specialized orthodontic treatment and is suffering because of the expected and standard process of that specific treatment, and assume that they did not do their research and went to the first idiot they found. Last thing you’d want to hear when you’re going through an adaptation and healing process is that you did something irreparable like trusting the wrong specialist. So for the record I did my research, went to different specialists, and ultimately went for the one that I considered the best. Unfortunately it does not take away the fact that lingual braces are a nasty bitch.

And, regarding your point “Braces shouldn’t hurt or be so uncomfortable they affect your daily life besides eating habits”: friend, eating is fucking part of my daily life and it affects it. Deeply. And to go back to my previous post of not underestimating how feeling unwell can affect your daily life I’d add that what would not bother you that much may be an enormous obstacle for someone else.

Anyways, I am well aware that I brought this upon myself by deciding to get braces and to get this specific kind of braces, and I shall endure until the healing process is over. Will not answer any further ask of this kind implying that I’m so stupid to go to the first incompetent guy in a lab coat without having done my job of informing myself on what I’ll be getting into.

[luminar-a]

For braces pain it helped me to put wax over the parts of the braces that were causing my tongue and cheek pain, to smooth them out. With wax there was pressure but no scraping/cutting.

YESSS thank you anon, I do use the wax! With lingual braces it’s not easy to apply it because it’s difficult to dry the area where I want to put it (I already have a poking wire and it’s super difficult to put the wax down there and make it stay)

But let me tell you, wax or no wax, lingual braces are a torture! I keep reading posts on Reddit of people who went through it to convince myself that it’s only part of the process (luckily, everyone says that the tongue gets used to it within a week), but damn… I am seriously wondering, did I really have to go for lingual braces over regular braces or invisalign? Hopefully it’s going to be worth it later.

Other things that are somewhat helping:

ice cream, basically all I am eating

ice cubes

salt/water rinses

I‘ll also get a gel for the sores on the tongue, as I expect they will come back from time to time every time a wire is poking