Braces-half my diet has been eliminated!

[indysteel]

e3rdpower, how are adjusting to your braces? Has the worst of the pain subsided yet?

[e3rdpower]

e3rdpower, how are adjusting to your braces? Has the worst of the pain subsided yet?

Thanks for checking on me! (I'm Erin, by the way.)

Actually, I still can't chew. I have very little discomfort when I'm not trying to chew, but chewing is very uncomfortable and the teeth feel "wobbly." I also had an extraction of a lower incisor last week, so that most likely is contributing to everything. My molars are still not touching, as I gather it that may continue as my bite is corrected. Tomorrow will be 2 weeks since I was braced, so they're still fresh. I don't have an adjustment until the 26th, so I'm really hoping to be able to eat a little on Thanksgiving, since I'm cooking it all!

So, still soft foods for me for now. Mashed cauliflower has by far become my favorite veggie.

[indysteel]

Erin, I'm so sorry you're still hurting. I can't remember how long it took for the pain the lessen after the braces first went on. I didn't have teeth pulled until a couple years in (after we'd tried to avoid it). I had four pulled at once. One on each side both top and bottom. That part of the treatment was hard.

I hope it gets better soon! The holidays are a rough time to adjust to them. I got mine on in late September. It was the first and only year I resisted all the Halloween candy!

[e3rdpower]

5 week post braces update:

I had my first adjustment on Monday, and it went fine. The actual changing of the wires was quite uncomfortable, but afterward the discomfort was no different than it had been. My teeth are moving at a pretty rapid rate, which of course is awesome, but is also why I'm still having so much difficulty chewing. It's not even pain, they're just too loose to properly chew, and the only area I can chew at all is in the back left side. I was able to eat some things at Thanksgiving, just cut into little tiny pieces.

I'm riding back to back centuries this weekend, and am going to use Skratch in the bottles, EFS liquid shots and honey on the bike. I have small packets of almond butter that I will also take and will pick up chocolate milk/banana when we stop. Hopefully that will work

[indysteel]

5 week post braces update:

I had my first adjustment on Monday, and it went fine. The actual changing of the wires was quite uncomfortable, but afterward the discomfort was no different than it had been. My teeth are moving at a pretty rapid rate, which of course is awesome, but is also why I'm still having so much difficulty chewing. It's not even pain, they're just too loose to properly chew, and the only area I can chew at all is in the back left side. I was able to eat some things at Thanksgiving, just cut into little tiny pieces.

I'm riding back to back centuries this weekend, and am going to use Skratch in the bottles, EFS liquid shots and honey on the bike. I have small packets of almond butter that I will also take and will pick up chocolate milk/banana when we stop. Hopefully that will work

I'm sorry that you're still having some issues. Early on in my treatment, my ortho used pretty light wires and explained to me that his first order of business was to sort of "gently wake my teeth up." While I saw movement from the start, it was pretty gradual, as he purposely didn't start using heavier wires until I'd been wearing my braces for a few months. I don't remember my teeth ever feeling all that loose. That might be because my teeth were so crowded to begin with, but also wonder if your ortho is using a different approach and is starting off with heavier wires to get more immediate results. You might talk to your ortho about your discomfort.

[e3rdpower]

I honestly have no issues with and will deal with the loose teeth if it means wearing the braces for only 12 months, which was my original "quote." My teeth were crowded, but by having the lower incisor extracted it gave room for movement. My husband and I are going on a cruise next November and I *really* want to be brace-free.

I rode 100 miles today and did well with fueling; using 4 bottles of Skratch, 4 servings of EFS liquid shot (I opened the flask and left it open-made for a little stickiness but not horrific), a homemade liquid gel with honey, coconut oil, water and Lite Salt in a reused EFS liquid shot container, 100 calorie almond butter packet and a small chocolate milk.

[indysteel]

I totally understand your desire to get them off sooner rather than later! I wish I'd had even a remote possibility for a short term.