31 Year Old with Lingual Braces - San Francisco, CA

I chose to get lingual braces because my dentists continued to tell me that I will have gum issues later in life if I don't get the crowding corrected. I never got braces as a kid because my teeth aren't that bad. When they told me that I would have potential gum disease and health risks down the road - that's when I finally decided to do something about it.

I am a professional working In San Francisco, so opted for the linguals because 1. Invisalign wouldn't work for me and 2. because I didn't want people to see them. At this point, I am not sure what to think yet - I literally just got my top band on hours ago. My teeth are pretty sensitive right now, they feel tight and as if I had a lot of drilling done (which I didn't). I'm hoping it doesn't get worse when I wake up. Note that they are doing my bottom band in 2 weeks....more fun to come.

Immediatley, my mouth feels full of metal and I can't stop exploring with my tongue. My husband says my speech is not bad at all, though to me, I hear a lisp with certain words - I will keep working on it! My main concern at this point is that once my top band was put on, I couldn't fully close my teeth based on how my bite currently is. The doc filled in the space in my molars so that I could close my teeth (only in the back) making it easier to eat. This is probably the worst part so far - it feels funny and is super akward to chew with. Has anyone else experienced this? Any tips?

Would love any advice people have - I am all ears right now!!

Since I've posted, I have gotten my bottom linguals put on.

I was told that it wouldn't make my speech any worse, but I think that it has, unfortunatley. I have had them on for a little over a week - hopefully at the 2 week mark it will get better. I saw that with my top linguals at 2 weeks there was a pretty drastic improvement.

With the bottoms, I have had a sore tongue - it gets sore on the top and bottom, and is worse typically towards the end of my workday after I have been talking alot.

I've been trying to avoid the wax this week so that I can build up a tolerance - hopefully that is the right strategy.

I head back into the office for a tightening in about 7 weeks - will update my post if anything new and exciting happens between now and then.