Hello!...and a question?

[anitaw]

Hi there,

I'm in my mid-30's and about a year ago I decided to get braces, something which I was advise to do long ago but didn't. I got brackets on (for soem reason my ortho didn't think invisalign was for me?) Anyway I didn't get on with them at all and the spring really iritated my gums and after 9 months he took them off. What I have now are removable ones much like retainers but they have more wires. I have them both upper and lower. He's warned me that it will be a very slow treatment for me and even if I'd stuck with the originals I'd still have long term retainers afterwards.

Anyway my problem is this. Initially they really screwed my speech up and I understand this is quite normal for a few weeks. But for me after a few weeks I only made minimal progress and still had a bad lisp. Now 4 months on I've made some progress but still have a noticible lisp. I wish I could have my crystal clear voice back. My ortho thinks its unlikely I'll make any further progress and just tells me not to worry about it. Is there anything hat can be done short of taking them out for good which I don't want to do as I'm making good progress? I was wondering about speech therapy. And is it really true I might be stuck with retainers for a Looooong time?

Anita

[Punkin]

Originally Posted by anitaw

Hi there,

I'm in my mid-30's and about a year ago I decided to get braces, something which I was advise to do long ago but didn't. I got brackets on (for soem reason my ortho didn't think invisalign was for me?) Anyway I didn't get on with them at all and the spring really iritated my gums and after 9 months he took them off. What I have now are removable ones much like retainers but they have more wires. I have them both upper and lower. He's warned me that it will be a very slow treatment for me and even if I'd stuck with the originals I'd still have long term retainers afterwards.

Anyway my problem is this. Initially they really screwed my speech up and I understand this is quite normal for a few weeks. But for me after a few weeks I only made minimal progress and still had a bad lisp. Now 4 months on I've made some progress but still have a noticible lisp. I wish I could have my crystal clear voice back. My ortho thinks its unlikely I'll make any further progress and just tells me not to worry about it. Is there anything hat can be done short of taking them out for good which I don't want to do as I'm making good progress? I was wondering about speech therapy. And is it really true I might be stuck with retainers for a Looooong time?

Anita

Retainers are for life - although usually only at night, or a few times a week.

[Sunny]

Hi Anita and welcome to this forum.

Great that you're making progress ... that must be exciting for you.

Here's a passage we give to patients who need to wear removable appliances, or appliances that interfere with the 'usual' movement of their tongue.

The Rainbow Passage ... This is a great tool used by many speech pathologists. It contains most of the sounds and phonetic combinations in the English language. Repeat this several times a day out loud.

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act like a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colours. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

This is worth trying, as it may help. Other than that, I recommend you accept that you will have a minor speech issue for the length of your treatment. On the positive side ... it will go away when treatment is over, and I'm sure there are many people with permanent speech issues who'd love for that to be an option for them.

Brenda is correct about retainer wear. If you want your teeth to stay where they get moved to, then they need to be 'retained' there for life. Teeth continue to move for as long as we're alive, so it important to accept that before starting orthodontic treatment. How 'your lifetime of retainer wear' is organised will be up to your orthodontist. For most people, there's a period of full time wear, then this drops to maybe every night, then maybe two or three nights a week. Some orthodontists also bond upper and/or lower permanent retainers to the insides of your front teeth. As long as your oral hygiene is A1, this won't be an issue, and will keep those teeth retained, as long as it stays bonded in place.

Good luck with your progress!

[anitaw]

Thanks to you both! I try not to worry about the long term retainer issue, I'll deal with that when I get there. Thats a long time down the road for me I think!

I see what you mean about the Rainbow piece it really does cover pretty much everthing. You don't know how much I've wander around practicing saying random words over the last few months LOL! For the first few weeks I became a bit of a recluse and either wouldn't talk to people or somtimes removed them before answering the phone. After that it didn't worry me so much but I'd love to be able to get rid of this lisp. It's not major but still quite noticable. My ortho says I'm one of the few who just have to live it. To be honest I was grasping at straws when I asked and am accepting thats just the way it will be. I have a lot of public contact in my new job and once in a while have to give a presentation. I must admit the first couple of times I took them out and put them in my handbag but now I just say screw it and people can cope. Actually friends were more of a problem since they noticed the change. Maybe I'm the only one who really cares? Actaully I suspect it the lower one that does it most because of the proximity to the tonge?

Despite all that I'm quite happy with them and don't have as much problems with foods as the brackets. Some oriental type noodals get hung up so I avoid those now. I'm have an appointment next week and I think I get some elastic added so will be interested to see how that goes. I'm curious to know how other fare with problem foods?

Anita

[Sunny]

I like your attitude Anita ... as removing them so you can talk, is the worst thing to do and will mean it takes longer for your tongue to get used to the appliances.

Great that you're taking the new attitude, coz this treatment is about you and the more you wear your appliances, the sooner it will be over.

Good luck with your treatment and I look forward to reading about how you finding wearing elastics. I've been wearing elastics for a couple of years ... and they've been a breeze, but then so has having brackets on my teeth. I've one of those lucky ones, who hasn't had pain, can eat anything I want, and although my teeth are moving very slowly, they are moving.

Problem foods ... to be honest the only thing our patients complain about is that they thought they'd loose weight having ortho treatment, but it doesn't happen, as the modern backets are rounded and the bonding agents excellent, so eating is really easy. I recommend you practise eating something that you really want and are having difficulty with. We recommend that patients cut hard food into small pieces for the first week or two, until they find the confidence to chew again.

Good luck!