Eating with Braces
For about the last couple of years, my dentist has been saying that he was concerned because of my under bite. Add to that, one of my wisdom teeth did not grow in straight. So much for being the smart teeth. The wisdom tooth that grew in sideways, pushed the other teeth on that row forward. Some of the teeth actually got out of alignment because of the sideways wisdom tooth. Long story short, my teeth are all out of alignment.
From this and other reason, I agreed to go ahead and get braces. Rather get them now than later let things continue and potentially get worse. op.
How Bad Is It?
As I write this post, I have had the braces in for almost a week now. I only have them on the top at the moment as the ones on the bottom will come at a later date. I will definitely say that it changes things. My under bite was extensive enough that I could touch the braces that they put on the top with my teeth on the bottom. The orthodontist put spacers on my last molars at the top and to prevent me from knocking off the brackets with my teeth.
This is when I then found out that one side of my mouth is really out of alignment to the point that I can close my mouth all the way on my right side, but cannot close it all the way on the left side. On occasion, my jaw does pop it and may be related to that. I did have one occurrence where my jaw popped loudly, but I did not have any pain. I definitely will be mentioning this given that I think it may be a factor in my teeth touching on the right side but not on the left.
Flossing
I am not a fan of flossing. However, with braces you have to floss more than you want to because food gets stuck all over your mouth. Had some Chinese food one day and some of the rice was stuck between my cheek and the top of my braces. Had to put my finger in my mouth (washing them first of course) to get the rice unstuck.
The hygienist did tell me about the floss plackers that are specifically designed for people with braces. They are like the normal floss plackers, but they have a real thin side that is designed to fit under your braces. Normal plackers are usually to thick to do this. I did manage to get a pack of these and noted that they were more expensive than the normal plackers.
Food
Eating has definitely changed. Things like chips, crackers, and other hard items are impossible to eat because you have to chew with your back teeth. Trying to chew with your front teeth is painful and depending on the food, might brake off your braces.
It also takes me far longer to eat now because I have to break my food up in to pieces before I can eat it since I can't bite with my front teeth (incisors).
Some times the soft foods like beans have hurt because the pain does radiate from the front to other nearby teeth.
I am not big on candy. That said, basically every website, pamplet, and video that I have watched in relation to the foods that you can and cannot eat with braces, basically say that no candy is acceptable, especially if it is sticky. This is probably a good thing as most candy in America has some sort of artificial sugar and higher than normal consumption of could lead to diabetes and more.
I will say that because it takes more effort to eat, and that eating the wrong thing could make the treatment take longer to complete, I have eaten less snacks this week than what I normally do.
Conclusion
My typical 3 minute routine of brushing teeth is now more like a 5 to 10 minute one. Flossing, mouth washing (to get what the floss missed), brushing, and still being paranoid about food being left on my teeth is now the routine. May need to make a cookbook or post recipes here that are good for people with braces. Anywho, it is estimated that I will have these for about two years.