Braces.

Wow, a bunch of recent comments on my first post after getting my braces.

So, I've had my braces for about four and a half months now.  I've had several followup appointments, the most recent one yesterday.  I had my first breakage on Boxing Day, when I bit into an olive at a party not realizing there was a pit in it - I cracked off one of my upper brackets, and since it was the holidays, I had to wait a week to get it repaired.

General thoughts - the braces rubbing raw spots on the inside of your mouth/cheeks mostly goes away, but not entirely - that's what wax is for.  I recommend keeping some wax around, and some Orajel to kill the pain (and prevent the sore spot from becoming infected).

Getting the braces adjusted - it's gonna hurt.  As someone else discovered, immediately after the braces are put on or adjusted, it only aches a little - it's 6-8 hours later that it starts to REALLY ache, and it lasts for a variable amount of time, but usually a couple of days.  Take ibuprofen or some other painkiller if you need it.

 I haven't noticed any strange metallic taste while brushing my teeth - andrae, that sounds like your gums may be bleeding when you brush your teeth.

Tooth pain - hey, it's gonna hurt whereever the teeth are moving around, so yeah, it will hurt on one side more than the other sometimes.