STB Social Six System

[j100]

I just wanted to feedback after spending months reading through everyone's thoughts about different brace systems, I eventually settled on the STB Social Six lingual brace. I have crowded anterior (top) teeth where one of my front teeth was protruding noticeably (well, to me anyway!). I met loads of dentists and discussed mainly Invisalign. But I felt that the commitment (taking them out all the time, brushing and having to wear them 22 hours a day) just wasn't feasible for my lifestyle. So I looked at lingual braces. I suppose I was lucky that my crowding was only moderate so I was able to get the Social Six brace which only attaches to the visible 6 top teeth. I had these put on a couple days ago and they have been brilliant- I am absolutely thrilled with them in fact. I had train tracks top and bottom as a child so had some horrible memories of them, but this is very different. For starters, it only took 30 minutes for the entire fixing process. It was pain and hassle free, the only thing that was a bit uncomfortable was where my dentist filed a tiny layer of enamel off my teeth to give them room to move- but it was more the icky sensation rather than any pain. This was over in less than a minute though. The great thing about lingual braces compared to traditional ones is that whilst they do touch your tongue, you are able to move it if it hurts and eventually you will learn not to poke it- but with traditional braces your lips have to live against the brace, so sores are frequent and unavoidable. I have put wax on the outer braces at night as your tongue sort of flops on it it, but in the day, if it rubs, you just reposition your tongue.
I was most worried about my speech, but whilst I did have a slight lisp for the first night (especially when talking quickly) that has nearly gone now. In fact, I found that drinking alcohol on the second night really changed this (not sure if this is good advice or not?!) as your tongue relaxes and you can speak more confidently so it relearns certain words with the confidence of being drunk (and slurring is easily disguised!) The next morning my speech was nearly perfect. My teeth only hurt when I chewed on them, so you just use your back teeth. You sort of look like a cat chewing meat for the first day or two so take small bites!
But the best part is, my teeth have moved so much already, I'm taking photos myself to document the change but the difference is already quite shocking in such a short space of time. I'm confident in a couple of months my teeth will look great. So all in all it's been an excellent first few days, considering these are supposed to be the worst, I am amazed at the ease. No one has noticed either as they are completely invisible unless you put your head really far back, which you wouldn't normally anyway.
The best piece of advice I would give is to just not make a big deal out of it!

[Sunny]

Fantastic that this type of treatment is going so well for you!

Here's to your front teeth soon looking amazing!