genuinely the only time mine hurt to the point of not being able to eat was the first week. Other times it hurt a little but I was essentially fine.

oh but if theres a little bit of metal bar poking the back of your cheek make sure to take a trip over and get it trimmed down, your teeth shifted and got closer together leading to the metal bits extending too far out. I was under the belief that it was supposed to be like that and I just had to get used to it and it HURTTT

edit: oh and 2.5 years, got delayed a bit