The first month with braces is the hardest, and then it becomes routine. Knowing what to expect makes the adjustment considerably easier — most of what surprises people is normal and temporary.
Week one
Fitting braces is painless. The soreness starts a few hours later and peaks around day two.
Your teeth will feel tender and bruised when you bite. Stick to soft food — dal, khichdi, curd, eggs, bananas, soup. Cold things help. An ordinary painkiller is fine if you need it.
Brackets will rub the inside of your cheeks and lips, and you will probably get one or two ulcers. Push a small ball of orthodontic wax over the offending bracket and rinse with warm salt water three or four times a day. Within two weeks the tissue toughens and the problem disappears for good.
Speech feels slightly odd for a few days. It corrects itself without you doing anything.
Eating
You will relearn how to eat. Take smaller bites, chew with your back teeth, and cut things up that you would normally bite into.
Stop entirely: ice, whole nuts, chikki, gajak, hard papad, toffee, chewing gum, sticky sweets, popcorn kernels.
Cut up first: apples, guavas, carrots, corn on the cob.
Every broken bracket means an extra appointment and adds time to your treatment. Most breakages come from the same handful of foods.
Cleaning — the part that matters most
Brush after every meal, not just twice a day. Angle the brush above and below each bracket. Buy an interdental brush; with braces it is essential equipment, not a luxury.
If you do not clean well, you will end up with permanent white square marks on every tooth where the brackets were. Your teeth will be straight and marked. This is the most common and most avoidable harm braces cause.
Adjustment appointments
Every four to six weeks. The wire is changed or tightened, and the teeth feel tender again for a day or so — much less than the first time.
Do not skip these. Long gaps between adjustments stall your treatment, and a course that should take 18 months stretches toward 24.
Emergencies, and what to do
- Loose bracket: leave it, cover with wax if it rubs, call us. It stops moving that tooth until it is re-bonded
- Poking wire: wax over it, or gently tuck it in with a clean cotton bud. Never cut a wire yourself
- Lost elastic tie: not urgent, mention it at your next visit
- Severe pain in one specific tooth: call us. That is not braces pain — it may be decay or infection
Sport and daily life
If you play a contact sport, ask us about a mouthguard. A knock with braces on can cause a deep laceration inside the lip.
Playing a wind instrument takes a few weeks to readjust to. Singers manage fine.
Six months in
By this point most patients have stopped noticing their braces entirely, and the change in the mirror becomes obvious. The middle of treatment is easy — it is the beginning and the discipline at the end that take effort.
And afterwards
Removal takes about an hour and is painless. Your teeth get cleaned and polished, and they will feel strange and slippery for a day.
Then retainers, which are not optional. Teeth drift back toward their original position for months after treatment ends. A night-time retainer is a small ongoing habit that protects a two-year investment.
See our braces and clear aligners page for the full picture, or read about food and care with braces. Call 8359017239.
