Clear fixed braces/6 month smiles - Any advice please?

[flumperoo]

I'm finally biting the bullet and having these fitted. I'm wondering if anyone else has/has had them and can offer any advice please?

I'm thinking of the following aspects which I fully expect to be a complete pain in the arse difficult:

Easing general pain and discomfort.
Eating foods without causing too much discomfort and food-stuck-in-brace effect.
Food/drinks to avoid staining and discolouration of the clear ligatures.

Anything else I've not thought of?

Plus, any positive stories to keep me going through what I expect to be 6 months of moaning and whinging hating how I feel?

My child and lots of her friends have them

I'm sorry I can't answer your specific questions. But I think you should anticipate a few days of thinking " what have I done " , followed by a few weeks of " these are not too bad, just a bit annoying sometimes "

Then 5 months of hardly noticing them and years of beautiful straight teeth

I have clear fixed braces on my bottom teeth. Theyre coming off in October (yay!) after 18 months.

Pain: when I first had then fitted, within a few days the inside of my mouth was cut to shreds. Very very sore and swollen. The orthodontist gave me some kind of resin/gum stuff to put over the brackets to stop them rubbing, which eased it a but, and I got this stuff from the chemist (iglu I think its called) which is a kind of paste you put on to the shore bits and it seals them and stops them feeling so incredibly sore. It passed after a week, but whenever I get the brace adjusted/tightened, i have a few more days of sore spots, as the brackets rub on a bit of mouth that hasnt been toughened up.

Food: havent had much problem with this, although I carry toothoicks with me at all times and use an interdental brush when I clean my teeth as well as a normal brush. You have to really up your dental hygeine with braces, as any tiny bit of caught food will cause bad breath.

Staining: this is my main bugbear. The clear ligatures do stain, badly. Forget eating curry! I am a coffee drinker and quickly learned that I need to have them changed every two weeks before they get really yellow. My ortho is really good about it and just blocks out a 5 min appt fortnightly for me to change them, or will often do it last minute for me if I suddenly realise they look awful. Its the worst thing about braces for me.

All worth it, though. I had overcrowded bottom teeth and had one removed and then the braces fitted. Its been a slow process, but I now have lovely straight bottom teeth and feel SO much better about smiling and just far less self conscious. Am treating myself to whitening once the braces finally come off!

I've just finished 13 months of invisalign removable clear braces, and it's the best thing I've done. My only regret is not doing it sooner.

I know it's not the same system as fixed braces but the downsides would be that it was painful at times, constant teeth brushing is annoying, and I needed a lot of extra dental work (wisdom tooth extractions, fillings & root canal) which added to the expense. You also need to be prepared to wear a retainer for the rest of your life (at night time) or your teeth will move back. Good luck!

Thanks for the responses. It's great to hear some positives!

I had Invisalign too...top and bottom. Worth every single penny. My husband said he couldn't see much difference and that my teeth were fine before but after doing a side by side before and after pic even he agrees it had made a big difference.

My friend had fixed clear braces done in Shepherds Bush - www.idental-london.com/fixed-clear-braces-shepherds-bush.html - and she was really happy with them!

I had six month smiles and am very pleased with the result.

You do have to wear retainers religiously afterwards, though. I still wear mine every night (six years on) and get new ones about once a year. The teeth really try to shift back a little.

My mouth was sore at first, though it got a lot better after a couple of weeks. You do need to carry interdental brushes and remember to check for stuck food after every meal or you can go round with hideous things stuck in the braces.

It felt a bit odd to talk for the first couple of days as your lips have to get used to moving over the braces.

The fitting of the braces was fine, as were the adjustments BUT the filing down of the enamel between the teeth was really grim - basically they slot sandpaper strips between the teeth and file.

It looked alarming when I first had them done because the wires were at some odd angles. I didn't expect that. They straighten up as the teeth straighten.