Addressing Pain With Orthodontics

Getting braces means you will have pain. Pain is inevitable with orthodontics, since you are attempting to change the shape of your mouth, jaws, and position of your teeth. Whether it is you as an adult or one of your children that is getting braces for the first time, there are ways to address common pain issues that come with braces. Your dentist/orthodontist has a multitude of products and approaches for addressing pain.

Your Whole Lower Face Is in Agony

The very first day you get braces, you will feel this. It can be dull and constant all the way up to feeling as though someone took a sledgehammer to your lower face. It will take a few days of getting used to your braces and other orthodontic appliances. In the meantime, your orthodontist or dentist typically suggests an anti-inflammatory medication to help cope with the pain. You may also use ice packs on both sides of your face to help numb things up a bit, or consume popsicles, which are cold enough to numb things. 

​Your Lips or Cheeks Are Getting Scratched by Brackets

Your mouth has never had to contend with metal brackets before. Until your cheeks and lips are trained to stay out of the way, they are likely to get scratched by the brackets. Lips and cheeks may be pinched, too. Your orthodontist/dentist has a couple of products, dental wax, and a gummy product that goes on squishy and hardens in place, both of which will protect cheeks and lips until your mouth has adjusted to its new shape.

Chewing on a Side That Hurts Less

Sometimes orthodontia requires a few extra adjustments and appliance components on one side. The extra adjustments or components make that side of your mouth much more uncomfortable and painful. It also makes that side difficult to chew on. Just chew on the opposite side until you feel better and in less pain.

Neck Pain from Headgear

Not everyone who gets braces has to wear headgear. However, if you or your child have to have headgear as part of the corrective process, you may experience neck pain from the wraparound brace on the back pulling your upper or lower jaw back. This may go on for a week or two, and then diminish. You can use a pain reliever, a numbing agent applied to the skin, and/or a special "sleeve" for the part of the headgear brace that rests on the back of your head and neck.

Reach out to businesses like Eberting Orthodontics for more information.