If your bite blocks wear down or come off, call your orthodontist to schedule a repair. To correct any speech impairments, practice speaking more slowly and deliberately - and know that you can get help from a speech therapist if the problem doesn’t go away after a couple of weeks. Softer foods and smaller bites will help.īite blocks may also temporarily change the way you speak. Because your upper and lower teeth won’t meet when you bite down, chewing will be a challenge until you adjust to the bite blocks.
#Stabe bite block install#
Orthodontists install bite blocks to allow your teeth to move into correct alignment and to keep you from biting off the brackets on your braces.īite blocks can cause some discomfort, especially at first. If you’re not in pain, you probably won’t need to do anything about this issue, but do call your orthodontist for advice if biting on only one block is causing other issues for you.īite blocks, also called ramps or turbos, are tiny devices attached to your teeth to keep the upper and lower teeth from touching when you bite down. Although it probably feels strange, it’s considered normal. Biting on only one blockįor a while, your teeth may touch just one of the blocks. Your orthodontist might need to replace the device so your teeth can keep moving into the right alignment. If your bite blocks are wearing down so much that they’re no longer keeping your teeth apart, or if one has come off the tooth surface entirely, it’s important to call your orthodontist. Some bite blocks are made of materials that can wear away over time. There are also plenty of whole foods, such as fish, scrambled eggs, and berries, that are soft enough to eat when your mouth feels tender. Smoothies made with fruits, vegetables, and protein supplements might be a good alternative to foods you have to chew. You may also need to adjust your diet to softer foods while you’re getting used to braces and bite blocks. Sometimes, an anesthetic gel such as Anbesol or Orajel can help. Over-the-counter pain medications like acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Advil or Motrin) will relieve much of the pain.
When you first get your braces, you may have some pain or soreness as your teeth begin to move into new positions in your mouth.īite blocks may cause some additional discomfort because your teeth only touch where your bite plates are, so the force you exert to chew is localized in those areas. If the problem doesn’t resolve as you continue to practice, you might find it helpful to work with a speech and language pathologist. Practice helps - you can start by practice single sounds, then move to words, sentences, and conversations. This problem is more common with blocks attached to the lingual (inside) surface of your teeth.Ĭhanges to the way you speak may give you anxiety about talking, even when you’re having conversations with people who know you well. Speech impairmentįor some people, bite blocks can get in the way of your tongue as you’re speaking, causing you to lisp or to form some vowel sounds differently. After around a week, you’ll probably have adapted to the bite blocks and found new ways to chew that work for you. While you have bite blocks in place, you might want to start by cutting your food into smaller bites to make eating easier. Foods like steak that require a lot of chewing will probably be difficult and uncomfortable. While you’re adjusting to a new way of eating, you may want to choose foods that require less vigorous chewing.
#Stabe bite block how to#
It can take a little while to figure out how to eat properly when your teeth aren’t meeting the way they used to do. Research shows that chewing while you have a bite block changes the way your jaw muscles work. Here are some of the most common concerns, and what you can do to fix them. Are there any side effects from bite blocks?īite blocks, like many dental devices, sometimes pose problems, especially at first.
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