pepper

It has now been 18 days since I had my ibraces (lingual braces) put on. So much better

I don't feel any pain whatsoever or any discomfort of any kind. My tongue is 100% adapted to the braces and I don't have any discomfort with that either. In the last 2 weeks or so I never had any cuts or bleeding, just a sore tongue for the first week. I used wax only once (I really didn't like it, despite the relief that it can give)

The speech is much better, everyone at work keeps telling me that. To be honest it was never that bad, but now the lisp is almost gone. One funny thing, when I speak Portuguese (my native language) the speech is perfect, but in English it is not yet 100% perfect. I guess it makes sense that my brain (and consequently my speech) can adapt to Portuguese faster (even though I don't have an accent in English and I speak English 90% of my day).

Eating is much better too, but I am lucky to be vegetarian and as such I didn't have to deal with the struggle of eating a steak or burger. Food gets trapped in the brackets for sure, more with lingual braces than with regular braces (I had regular braces when I was young, I remember it) but it bothers me much less now and I learned to eat in a way that less food gets trapped. And of course, I carry my toothbrush with me everywhere, and try to brush or at least rinse after eating.

I am super happy with my decision to have braces, and with the choice of braces. ibraces are fine, I don't remember that I have them most of the time. Eating and speaking are harder than the initial adjustment/pain caused by the metal in the mouth, but I can see that this too shall pass...

Thanks for all the encouragement in the beginning, reading about other people's experiences does make you realize that you are not alone. I have to admit that I thought about getting rid of my braces in the first week. But now, no way, I want my teeth to look great!