Tips for Your New Wire

I spent the weekend with my friends in Waterloo, Ontario, and we had an awesome barbecue.  I ate the pulled pork as I am staying away from bread after the two wire incidents with the bagel and ciabatta bun with my Incognito Braces.  It’s fine to eat bread with them, of course, I am just not going to for awhile.  Oh, and macaroni salad goes down so smoothly.

So the funny thing is, I was quiet.  REALLY quiet.  Any anyone who knows me, knows I’m anything but silent. The thing was, even though I was wearing my wax, the wire on my bottom teeth was sticking out ever so slightly at the back, and my tongue would get caught on it when I talked. 

For me, there has definitely been an adjustment period with this new wire, so I’d recommend timing your wire change around any big speaking events.  

Things I noticed with the new wire:

1) My mouth doesn’t hurt nearly as much as I thought it would.  I prepared for day two all over again…it’s more like day six.

2) My teeth are a bit tender today, similar to when I first got my braces, but not nearly as sore. 

3) I can bite into food with ease, but chewing is a bit tough as my tongue’s adjusting to the wire, so flipping food around inside my mouth rubs it on the area it’s not used to.

4) I’m speaking a bit differently (slight lisp, but articulation is what I’m finding isn’t clear as my tongue is tender). 

5) My teeth are definitely moving as they’re pretty tender when I brush and floss.  They don’t hurt, but I notice them, you know?

6) I really notice the hook on my lower, back teeth, so those teeth must have really moved!  I haven’t even thought about that hook since about day 10 with Incognito Braces.

I'm trying to point to the hook with my tongue (second bracket from back).

That's the hook (second bracket from back). Just double click on the thumbnail to enlarge the image.

To help, here are some tips for your new wire:

Wax on that hook makes it so much more comfortable.

1)      Wax – The new wire rubbed my tongue in new places which caused slight irritation.  I put wax on the areas that affected my tongue to make the areas smooth that rubbed my tongue (back two brackets on each side of my lower jaw and the new section of wire). 

2)      Oral Gel – I put some topical oral gel on the sore on my tongue to numb it a bit, and it worked perfectly.  It took away any tenderness and seemed to promote healing for me (this could have been in my mind as it just felt so nice!!).

That's the gel I put on my tongue. It really helps soothe the tongue.