Yeah, honestly, the official wax refills are the only ones that ever worked for me too—those off-brand ones just crumble or taste funky. About the brackets, I felt the same way. My ortho pushed ceramic like it was a game changer, but I read that for deep bites, metal brackets are actually a bit sturdier and less likely to chip. For buck teeth, sometimes they’ll use different wires or springs to push things back, but with deep bite it’s more about opening up the bite so your lower teeth aren’t hidden. I didn’t realize how different the strategies could be until I started asking questions at my appointments. And yeah, after every adjustment it’s like your whole mouth is brand new (and not in a good way).
Yeah, I totally get what you mean about the wax—tried a generic one once and it was like chewing on a candle that had been sitting in a dusty garage. Never again. And about the brackets, my ortho was all about the clear ones too, but I swear the metal ones are like tiny tanks. I chipped a ceramic bracket on a tortilla chip, of all things. Didn’t even know that was possible.
The thing about deep bite vs buck teeth is wild, right? I always thought braces were just “braces,” but then they started talking about bite plates and elastics and I realized there’s a whole secret menu. For my deep bite, they put in this weird plastic thing behind my front teeth that made me talk like I had a mouthguard in for weeks. Super cute.
Oh, and the post-adjustment pain...it’s like your teeth are auditioning for a new role and forgot how to act. Soup became my best friend for at least two days after every appointment.
That “secret menu” thing really hits home—there’s so much more to braces than just the wires and brackets, right? Those bite plates are no joke. I remember feeling like I was learning to talk all over again, and don’t get me started on trying to eat anything crunchy. But you get used to it, honestly. Soup and mashed potatoes basically became my go-to for a while too. Hang in there, though. The weirdness fades and you’ll be glad you stuck with it.
Yeah, the bite plates totally threw me for a loop too. I was so focused on the cost of the braces themselves, I didn’t even realize all the “extras” that might come along—elastics, bite plates, and those random wax packs. The first week, I pretty much lived off instant oatmeal and yogurt because it was cheap and didn’t hurt to eat. It does get easier, but man, I wish someone had warned me about the hidden expenses and the weird lisp I developed for a bit. Worth it in the end, but definitely not as simple as it looks.
Man, the lisp is so real. I sounded like Daffy Duck for a solid month after getting my bite plate. And yeah, nobody mentioned the “surprise” extras—my wallet was not ready for all those little add-ons. I basically became a soup connoisseur just to survive that first week. It’s wild how something as small as a bite plate can make you rethink your entire grocery list... but hey, at least my teeth are finally lining up. Worth it? Yeah, but I wish I’d known what I was signing up for!