Things you'll miss when you have braces

I'll admit it, I wasn't born with good genes. I don't have that perfect smile that would awe mankind or start world peace. My parents couldn't afford braces when I was in high school and they left when I was in college. So when I started working, right after receiving my very first 13th month pay, I immediately surveyed my friends for an Ortho and, voila, metal mouth.

Well, it wasn't exactly living happily ever after once I had my braces. It had some cons - a lot of it.

Here I've listed things I missed doing when I had my braces. (And I promise to be wholesome, dirty head)

1. Biting with your front teeth - your teeth aren't exactly choppers of steel just because you have those stainless steel brackets on your teeth. Your teeth moves for a micro-inch each time you have your braces adjusted for tightening. It moves also when you speak or even when you yawn and all this moving requires your teeth to be loose thus, making it weak. You'll feel this mostly on your front teeth. You can no longer bite into an apple or corn on the cob. Though you can bite into a muffin or bread, but that's just what you can do so be careful munching.
2. Brushing with the up-down motion - Although it is strongly recommended by DOH and the Philippine Dental Association to brush your teeth on an up-down motion, it's hard when you already have those metal brackets on your teeth. And you couldn't just use a flat toothbrush. You either have to use the special ortho brush, or use an uneven brush to clean off the stuff that gets stuck on your teeth. That leads me to my number 3.
3. Eating and get back to work - This is a big no, no. You can't just get back to your normal life after munching on kare-kare or even a cheeseburger. Right after eating, you are left with half of what you've just eaten stuck in between your teeth and those darn metal brackets and wire. You either have to brush right away or use a toothpick for 15 mins. Ignore this step or you'll risk embarrassment when you go talk to your crush with Bagoong stuck on your front teeth.
4. Flossing - here's a visual of what you'll get: each teeth (at least most of it, they usually leave the wisdom teeth) gets a bracket held by ortho cement (the first molar either gets a bracket with tube or a molar band), and then the brackets will hold the wire which will define how your teeth should line up. The wire keeps your floss from reaching in between your teeth. But there's another way to get in between, a bracket brush. It's like a very small brush version of the brush used to clean baby bottles. Or if you try good enough, you'll find a way to get that floos in between your teeth.
5. Smiling - your lips will be dry because they'll be on a different position because of the braces. I suggest petroleum jelly (they're far better than lip balm, never use lip gloss). It's better to use small amounts because a little goes far enough to moisturize your lips. Practice smiling in front of a mirror because you'll look like a dog smiling with your braces. Promise.

These are only a few of the things I remember missing when I had my braces. Next, I'll be giving you some of the things you have to go through before your dentist places those brackets on your teeth.

For now, if you just have your braces "installed". Good luck. But hold on, coz in the end, you'll be rewarded with a nice set of munchers.

Again this is MD and...

Thank you so much.