iBraces, my experience after 2 months (and some tips)

[pierre]

Dear all,
There is quite a bit of information here on this forum, both positive and negative experiences. I thought I'll share my experience, now everything is still fresh, maybe it's helpful for some.

I got the upper in first, 2 months ago. I delayed the lower part, and got them in 4 weeks after. Doing it in 2 steps is what I recommend everyone (at least 4 weeks in between), as it gives you more time to get used to it. The upper is the easy part, start with that one.

I had tongue problems, but it turned out that it was only the wire-end that caused me pain. It's hard to pinpoint a problem with your tongue. My recommendation, start with waxing the end of the wire first and see how it goes. I noticed it took 2-3 more days for my tongue to heal from the damage caused by the wire-ends, but waxing these tips told me immediately these were the culprits. The next time I saw my ortho, she shortened the wire and that was it: no more wax. That happened to both upper and lower jar.

Two brackets came of (during the night, probably by unconsciously biting fiercefully). Very annoying of course, back to ortho, but it seems under control now.

Regarding eating. I threw my breakfast in the blender at first, but I now have rolled oats for bf which softens quickly and you don't have to chew it much anyway. I add some fruit (healthy!) and milk or yoghurt and that works well for me; I enjoy it as much as before except that I have less variation for now. It's also my tip: throw it in the blenser first and go from there. Don't start of with the food you had at first, as it will disappoint you.
Dinner... I lowered meats, increased fish, lowered crunchy food (no nuts), increased mashed potato, rice, pasta, softer veggies (add 1-2 minutes cooking time), no pizza crust. People sometimes complain about chewing here. When I think about it, I chew, but very very carefully. Choosing the right food is much better! All in all, with a few changes, I have no problems here.
Bring an easy lunch to work/school of course, don't challenge yourself.

I have not had any difficulty drinking (just saying that so I can use this smiley).

MOST IMPORTANT BIG TIP, before I forget, my waterpik. This waterjet thing is a life saver. I started with floss, which worked reasonaby well for the upper but not all all for the lower (I produce way too much saliva, big mess). With this waterpik you clean your braces and everything in a minute or two. Compare that to 20 minutes or more with floss... If I had not found this machine, I would not have been as positive!! Get a good brand that you need to plug in, no battery because they are too weak. I payed $60; don't worry about extras, just the jet is enough.
During breakfast and dinner, I don't worry about food getting stuck now. When I'm done, I quickly rinse everything of and that's it. Simply marvellous, I take it on vacation, everywhere .

Speaking. A long story OK, it's not easy. But here it helps when your start with one wire as mentioned above. And have it done on Friday, so you have the weekend to practise. Read aloud, count from 1-100, sing A, B, C etc. Vary as much as you can. Call you grandmother, friends, etc because on the phone they won't see how hard you are trying to speak properly. But it's great practise and the chat will give distraction too.
And how did that work out for me? I visited family when I had had my upper wire in for 3 weeks and they did not notice it! They might notice something, but it was not big enough for them to ask questions. That was after 3 weeks.
Adding the lower half gave me problems with some letters, particularly the L. So again, practise practise practise. And - in my opinion - accept that it won't be perfect. I sometimes get a dry mouth when speaking and I have to give myself a break more often. I sometimes avoid certain words, but don't do it too often; I don't want to become shy of my speaking.

Good news is that I noticed my teeth started moving straight away! Amazing. My ortho is also positive about it. Changing teeth also causes some issues with speaking now, as some gaps widen and others get smaller, causing me to blow an F sometimes.

My ortho now gave me a trainer for braces (T4B from Myofuntional research Co), a so-called functional appliance that I have to wear at night and one hour during the day. I'm still struggling with that, but I suppose I'll learn to use that too.

Sometimes people ask what it cost, I payed $8,000 everything included. Not cheap, but definitely worth it for me. As I'm in my thirties and have a job, I could not imagine myself with regular braces. I'm strong, but not that strong . My teeth were too far off for invisalign.

If you have questions, just let me know. Good luck!

Pierre

[Sunny]

Thanks for the fantastic post Pierre ... it's great to read about what's happened to you and how you've dealt with things. I love your attitude ... and I'm sure that's helped.

I work with one provider of lingual brackets and he has amazing success ... and not one person has backed out of treatment yet!

Waterpiks are good, but they can't be bought everywhere. I've had both cordless and plugged in versions sent to me from overseas and I loved them both. My cordless was the best, mostly because I travel a lot and it goes with me everywhere. My plug in is only used if my cordless has been drained. I think my cordless has remained so good, due to someone telling me when I first got it, to fully charge it, then drain it each time before charging it again.

Flossing ... please remember that flossing and using a waterpik are NOT the same thing. The waterpik will remove grime from around your brackets, between loose teeth connects etc ... but it can't floss ... no matter what the advertisers claim ... it can't floss. To floss you need to move the thread gently below the gum line to remove the bacteria that can cause gum disease. To begin with flossing is a pain in the rare, coz it takes so long, but with a few weeks of practise you'll find you get better at it. Use a floss with a stiffened end ... like oral b superfloss, and thread it through between teeth at the gum line, then gently below the gum up, down the side of the next tooth ... move on. Flossing needs to be done once a day to ensure you don't get gum disease ... which would be devastating after having orthodontic treatment.

Good luck with your progress and please keep us up-to-date with your progress!

[pierre]

Hi Sunny, thanks for your reply, I forgot to mention that I use the interdental brushes as well. The small ones that go in between your teeth. I could not use them in the past, but now my teeth are straightening a bit, it works with the smallest size. What do you think about these? I thought I had read that these are pretty effective.

Pierre

[Sunny]

The interdental brushes are great for cleaning the surface of the brackets and the areas of the teeth under the archwire and also for between teeth ... where you can get the brush to fit.

But ... these brushes, like waterpiks etc ... clean the teeth area ... whereas flossing needs to be used to clean the area just below the gum line, where bacteria can accumulate and cause gum disease.

Good luck with your progress!