Yeah, I get what you're saying about being mindful of the biting. I tried that for a bit too, but honestly, it just made me hyper-aware of my jaw tension and kinda drove me nuts after a while, haha. Weirdly enough, what helped me most was chewing gum (sugar-free obviously, orthodontist-approved 🙄). I guess it gave my jaw something else to do and kept me from clenching so much.
But yeah, braces really test your patience. I remember thinking I'd have mine off in a year tops... two years later, still rocking the metal mouth look. Underbites especially seem to drag on forever. Did your ortho give you elastics yet? Those were a whole new level of annoying for me—constantly snapping or forgetting to put them back in after meals. But hey, at least it felt like progress!
Anyway, hang in there. Eventually you'll get to the point where you barely notice them anymore... until someone points out spinach stuck in your brackets. 😂
Yeah, elastics were a pain for me too—kept snapping at the worst times. I ended up buying a cheap little pill organizer to keep extras handy. Saved me from digging through my bag constantly... might help you too.
"I ended up buying a cheap little pill organizer to keep extras handy."
That's actually a pretty clever idea. Elastics snapping randomly is super common, usually because they're getting stretched beyond their limit or rubbing against brackets. If it's happening a lot, you might wanna double-check you're hooking them exactly as your ortho showed you—sometimes even a tiny difference in placement can cause extra tension. Also, swapping them out regularly (like after meals) helps keep the elasticity consistent and reduces snapping... annoying, I know, but it does help.
Haha, the pill organizer trick is genius—I wish I'd thought of that back when I had braces. Those elastics were always snapping at the worst possible moment (like mid-yawn... ugh). Honestly though, hang in there. Braces feel like forever, especially with an underbite—I swear mine took twice as long as they promised—but once they're off, it's totally worth it. You're doing great!
I get that it's worth it in the end, but honestly, does it always have to take so long? My ortho said 18 months tops, but I'm already at 20 months and counting. I follow every instruction step-by-step—wearing elastics exactly as told, brushing after every meal, avoiding popcorn (which is torture btw)—but still no end in sight. Maybe it's not always about patience or doing everything right... could it just be luck or genetics playing a bigger role than we think?
