It's the Little Things....

Quite strangely having the braces has opened my eyes to how much I rely on using my mouth for things.

It seems I have been going through life using my mouth as an extra hand.  Not sure if this is me being lazy or normal, here are a few examples.....

Mouth as hand issue 1: Putting my hair in a bobble. 

I use one hand to hold my hair, my hair tie is round my wrist, so I drag it onto my hand with my teeth.  Nope, that isn't going to happen now.  Rethink required.  Solution, do hair near a table!

Mouth as hand issue 2: Straightening my hair. 

Using two hands to section my hair, I would normally use my mouth to hold the grips till I needed them, no, not a chance.  Solution, clip to my clothes, pretend you are a hairdresser!

Mouth as hand issue 3: Finding the house key

One hand holds handbag and/or shopping, the other holds bunch of keys.  Pick the right one with my mouth and retake into hand to open door.  No, no keys in mouth.  Solution, put shopping down!

And there are so many other things that you just don't realise. 

• Washing and moisturising my face, touching the outside of my mouth is tender, so you can't rub hard. 
• Itching my nose, similar to above, you can't scratch properly as it is too sore.
• Drinking from a sports bottle, can't use my teeth to open and keep it steady whilst running any more.
• Licking your lips, hard to reach the top of your top lip without rubbing or putting pressure on the brace, I am going through lip balm at a rate of knots!
• Putting the lip balm on is uncomfortable, as is lip gloss and lipstick
• Kissing, full on snogging, not a problem, but those lovely little pecks, have to be exceedingly gentle little pecks.

I'm sure that this list is just scratching the surface, but for anyone who is under the impression that the brace just affects what and how you eat, don't be fooled, I believe this is going to affect general everyday life in hundreds of ways.