hanabee

Hi Hannabee-

Here's a trick for putting wax on larger areas that are bothering you: Put it on every 3rd or 4th tooth in the area. Just gob it on, and it will push the insides of your cheeks or lips away from the brackets enough so that they're not ALL rubbing. When the entire inside of my upper lip was being rubbed raw from my new brackets last week, I put the wax on my canines and one of my central teeth, and it lifted my lip away just enough so that it didn't rub. Give it a try! You should not put up with the cuts, because they'll never heal if you don't use some wax every now and then.

Even if you don't see visible results, you logically know that the braces are working, right? It might help if you don't stare at them 24-7 like I do (haha!) And down the road, when/if you get elastics and other hardware in there, you're gonna thank the lucky stars for those brief times without discomfort.

Good luck!
-Cathy

I'm so glad your confidence is rising!! We all went through that awkward phase at first, being self-conscious and all...but really once you have braces on you notice all the other people who have them too - and most people who have nice teeth also had them, so we are definitely not alone in our journeys. They are working all the time!! I consider myself lucky for the times i have no mouth pain. I know they are working, they just aren't hurting me while they're working I used Gishy Goo instead of wax and I loved it!! Wax about made me want to gag and it was so gross how it flaked off in my mouth. My ortho gave it to me for free in his office and I'll praise it to my last day. You'll see the most movement as you take photos of your teeth each month. The movement is so slow, only 1mm per month. It's pretty hard to see it right away, but as time goes on you'll be amazed at how different everything looks. It's kind of like trying to watch yourself grow haha. The sores will go away with time - and one funny thing is that just as your mouth starts feeling good, a tooth will move JUST ENOUGH to rub a new hole in your cheek which is a pain, but kind of good because it reminds you that yep, they're still moving!

Please don't 'just put up with cuts and sore mouth' ... this isn't good for your mouth, as it means it's having to work hard to heal. You don't need wax on every bracket, as Cathy's explained and the only time it needs to come off is when you brush. Good luck with finding how to use this properly, as it's really easy and it will make this stage and any other time brackets rub a lot easier and healthier for your mouth.

It's great that you're no longer feeling anything as that means the archwire is now working without distrubing you ... which is excellent!

Where I work, with the younger patients who need to have their wisdom teeth removed, it's usually done after their treatment. Other times a decision is made after treatment is finished, to see how the 3rd molars impact on the stability of the finished results.

If the wisdom teeth are completely in place and impacting on the persons bite, we prefer to have them removed before treatment begins. I do know that the removing of wisdom teeth is very much a personal decision for most ortho's, as many people no longer need to have them removed ... whereas once upon a time it was considered that wisdom teeth were the teeth that caused all bites to become crowded and these evil teeth needed to be removed.

Talk to your ortho about why he's asking you to wait till the end of your treatment for your extractions. It's always good to discuss these things.

Good luck!