"Honestly, it's probably a bit of both. When I had braces, my ortho made breaking a bracket sound like the end of the world—so naturally, I avoided popcorn like the plague."
Haha, your popcorn story brought back memories! I remember being paranoid about every single crunchy snack too...but honestly, the anxiety fades pretty quickly once you get used to having braces. You're right though—repairs can be annoying, but most orthos are understanding and get you sorted without too much fuss. Hang in there, it gets easier with time.
Hang in there, it gets easier with time.
Haha, reading these braces stories takes me back. I remember once biting into an apple slice—carefully sliced, mind you—and still managing to pop off a bracket. My ortho gave me that "I warned you" look, but honestly, it wasn't as dramatic as he'd made it sound. Sure, it was inconvenient, but they fixed it pretty quickly. After that, I just learned to chew more cautiously...and maybe avoided apples for a while.
My daughter had a similar experience with popcorn—just one kernel did the trick. Honestly, I think orthodontists sometimes exaggerate the risks to keep kids cautious, but I get it. After that incident, my daughter became super methodical, slicing everything into tiny pieces. It was a bit much at first, but hey...we haven't had another bracket pop off since. So maybe there's something to being overly cautious after all.
"After that incident, my daughter became super methodical, slicing everything into tiny pieces."
Haha, this reminds me of when I got veneers and spent weeks cutting pizza into these tiny, sad squares because I was paranoid about chipping them. My friends thought I'd lost it. Eventually, I relaxed a bit—life's too short for pizza anxiety. Did your daughter ever ease up on the slicing routine, or is she still in full-on cautious mode?
I went through something similar after getting dental implants. For weeks, I meticulously diced apples and carrots into tiny cubes—felt like I was preparing toddler snacks again. Eventually, I realized my dentist had assured me multiple times that implants are sturdy enough for normal chewing. Took a while to trust that advice, but now I'm back to regular bites...mostly. Old habits die hard, though; sometimes I still catch myself slicing things smaller than necessary.
