Well the Rack has been on for a few days now and to be honest it’s not tooooo bad! My gums are still suffering a bit but the wax helps that a lot and i’ve even stopped putting wax on some of the brackets as my cheeks are starting to get used to things. My speech is as bad as ever and I still sound like Daffy Duck so i’m not sure how i’m going to get used to that- I just can’t get my tongue to find a place to make the ‘st’ sounds and the brackets on the side of the Rack make my mouth unable to purse to make the ‘Ch’ sound.
By far the worst part is that I cannot eat. My molars don’t connect so I can’t chew anything and if I try to then that’s when the brackets really do cut into me. I can’t use wax for that as it comes off and I end up chewing it. I LOVE food! Not that I have a big appetite or anything but I love cooking and trying new flavours and tastes. I can’t stand to have the same meal more than once in a row and what makes me more of a freak is that I actually don’t like sweet things, I have no interest in sugary things at all. It’s really hard to find soft food that you can eat without chewing and it’s nearly impossible to find soft snacks that are not sweet. Everyone tells you to eat smoothies or yogurt or ice-cream but I actually don’t like any of those things! (And sure enough I’m not overweight either but that’s another topic and you can troll me later ) So my nutritional intake is based on soup at the moment. Rice is fine with sauce and noodles/pasta is ok as long as everything is in tiny pieces. I made the mistake of eating Pad Thai the other night with long rice noodles and ended up choking as half a long noodle went down my throat and the other half was still in my mouth and i couldn’t chew it into smaller bits! So all foods are now eaten with a knife and fork and pre- cut into baby food sized bites.
Food is just a bit of a chore now. Where as i’ve always enjoyed cooking and take pride in creating things from scratch and not using processed foods I now find i’m just eating whatever I can find that is easy and stops me feeling hungry. I’ve totally stopped snacking at all because I can’t be bothered with the hassle and the bits stuck in my mouth and having to clean everything out again. I notice my pantry is full of stuff that I can’t be bothered with. My boyfriend is having to deal with day after day of pasta and rice dishes- though I did donate my chocolate advent calendar and all christmas goodies to him so he has seen an upside!
If you need to go on a diet but find your willpower lacking; get braces! Even if you can eat something by the time you’ve cut it up, taken 30 secs per mouthful to smoosh it all up in your mouth and swallow it your food has gone cold and everyone else has left the table and you’ve lost the will to bother!
Middle Aged Lady with Braces 
Oh my, I can see how braces would be a lot more difficult if you don’t like sweets! I could live on ice cream and yogurt if I had to, so not being able to chew is not nearly as difficult for me. When I had my jaw wired shut for two weeks, I did pretty much subsist on protein fruit/yogurt smoothies and chocolate-peanut butter milkshakes made with dark chocolate almond milk. Fortunately there are so many soups available now if you don’t have the time or inclination to make your own. I found the Campbell’s “Well Yes!” soups to be some of the best in flavor and nutrition, if you can get those there. I think they’re relatively new, but every one I tasted was good and not as bland as many soups. Lots of colorful veggies! I also found that the riced or mashed frozen veggies (cauliflower, sweet potatoes, and mashed potatoes) were tasty and very easy to eat.
Like you, I am having problems (four months in with braces) with lisping. Thank goodness I am retired, though I still have to talk to people, of course. It’s annoying, and I surely look forward to having my speech return to some semblance of normal, but at this rate, I am not expecting that until I get out of braces completely. It got worse when elastics were added to the mix at my last appointment on Dec. 11th. Not to scare you, or anything! 😉
Glad at least that your mouth tenderness is improving. I used wax quite a bit my first couple of weeks in brackets but have only had to use the odd piece here and there lately. The inside of my cheeks really has toughened up, and yours will continue to improve. Eating the wax is not too much fun!
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Ah, I mentioned smoothies the other day, but I didn’t include that I make my own at home and they are not sweet. I have a Vitamix blender, so I make smoothies with water, raw almonds, flax seeds, and protein powder as a base, then I add veggies and fruit. I usually put raw spinach and frozen berries (those are pretty low-sugar fruits), then blend the heck out of it. Sometimes I put some plain yogurt in as well. I’ve found that soaking the almonds overnight helps them get pulverized better.
If you have a blender, you can experiment with all sorts of combos. (Obviously!)
As for soups, well, it looks like you’ve got it covered!
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Great Ideas Thanks!
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