The first days with braces: what to expect

The commonest question before fitting is “will it hurt”. And people almost always picture the wrong thing. The fitting itself is painless: nothing is drilled and nothing is injected, the brackets are simply bonded to the enamel. The discomfort comes later — about a day afterwards, lasts three to five days, and passes. Below is what happens day by day and what to do about it.

The fitting itself: what happens in the chair

It takes from forty minutes to an hour and a half for both jaws.

The teeth are dried and the surface conditioned so the adhesive holds. Then a bracket is placed on each tooth in turn and cured with a lamp — the longest part, and completely neutral in sensation. At the end the archwire is threaded into the slots and secured.

No anaesthetic is needed. The enamel is not damaged: the bracket is held by an adhesive that is removed at the end without consequences for the tooth.

What you will feel straight afterwards: a tired jaw from being open for a while, something unusually bulky in the mouth, lips that do not close the way they used to. There is no pain at this stage.

One requirement: professional hygiene is needed before fitting. A bracket bonded over plaque holds worse, and calculus cannot be removed once the appliance is on. GBT hygiene costs from UAH 3,100, the lighter GBT Light from UAH 2,300.

Day by day: when and what hurts

Day 1. Minimal discomfort, sometimes none at all. Many people go to bed that evening thinking they got away with it.

Days 2–3. The peak. Teeth ache, especially when biting: the archwire has started to apply force and the ligaments around the roots have responded with inflammation. Biting into anything firm is difficult; sometimes even closing the jaws is unpleasant. This is a normal response, not a sign that something has gone wrong.

Days 4–7. It gradually subsides. By the end of the week most people have forgotten about it.

Weeks 2–3. The sense of a foreign object disappears. The tongue stops catching and speech evens out.

Painkillers are fine for the first two or three days — the ordinary one you would take for a headache. Cold water and cool food also help.

After each subsequent adjustment the sensations return, but much milder: usually a single day, and not always that.

Rubbing on the cheek: what to do

This is the second most common complaint, and it has a simple answer.

The lining of the cheek is not used to the contour of the brackets, and in the first days it develops sore spots — most often opposite the canines and at the end of the archwire.

Orthodontic wax is the main remedy. Pinch off a pea-sized piece, soften it between your fingers and press it onto the dry bracket that is in the way. It holds for a few hours and is harmless if swallowed. Buy it at a pharmacy — ideally before the fitting rather than after.

Salt-water rinses — a teaspoon of salt in a glass of warm water, several times a day. It speeds up healing of the sore spots.

Oral gels from the pharmacy relieve pain locally.

Within a week or two the mucosa toughens and wax is no longer needed. If it still hurts as much after a week, and particularly if the end of the wire is the problem, come in: trimming it takes five minutes.

What to eat in the first week, and what never to eat

The first week — everything soft: soups, porridge, purées, pasta, omelette, yoghurt, bananas, stewed vegetables, minced meat. Not because anything is forbidden, but because chewing anything firm simply hurts.

After that the diet returns almost to normal, but a few rules stay for the whole of treatment.

Do not bite with the front teeth. Apples, carrots, cucumbers, kebab, corn on the cob, burgers — all of it gets cut with a knife and placed at the side. Biting is what debonds brackets most often.

No toffee, caramel, chewing gum or fudge. Sticky food pulls the bracket off along with the adhesive.

Careful with hard food: nuts, crusts, popcorn (especially unpopped kernels), ice, stones in olives and cherries. This is the most frequent reason for an unscheduled visit.

Staining food and drink — coffee, tea, wine, beetroot, turmeric — is not critical on metal systems. On ceramic brackets and clear ligatures it darkens the ligatures, and the colour only comes back when they are changed at the next appointment.

Every debonded bracket costs more than a visit. While it hangs loose the tooth beneath it does not move, while its neighbours do. Sometimes what has drifted has to be moved back, and the treatment timeline gets longer.

Hygiene, and when to call

Brushing now takes longer, and there is no way round it: plaque around the brackets produces white marks on the enamel within six months, and those stay for good.

What you need: a brush with a V-shaped cut or an ordinary soft one, an interdental brush for the spaces between brackets, a single-tufted brush for the edges, a water flosser (it does not replace a brush but helps a great deal), and superfloss or floss with a stiff end.

How often: after every meal. At minimum, twice a day for three to four minutes rather than the usual two.

Professional cleaning — every 4–6 months instead of the usual six.

Now about when not to wait for the next appointment.

Call if: a bracket has debonded; the end of the wire is protruding and pricking and wax does not help; the wire has slipped out of a slot; pain has not settled after five to seven days or is getting worse; a tooth reacts to cold with sharp pain that does not pass; the gum or cheek has swollen.

It can wait until the appointment if: a coloured ligature has come off; teeth ache in the first days; the cheek is rubbing and wax is helping; something feels as though it is moving — it is supposed to be moving.

Frequently asked questions

Anastasiia Honcharuk

Orthodontist · functional orthodontics

Orthodontic treatment for children and adults: brace systems, aligners, bite correction. Modern protocols, thorough diagnostics and individual planning at every stage.

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