My lovely just turned teen boy got fitted for his ortho headgear, to be worn hopefully up to 14 hours a day for the next half year or so. As much I would love to have this work done on myself, it is making me feel like the worst parent. I know total drama on my part. But honestly all this stuff being done to him seems just bazare and torturous. I think this stuff could be used on bad guys to get to talk.
Any words of wosdom. Have you had a child that had to wear one?
Yeah we are lucky that he has the summer to deal with getting used to it. And if he doesn't have to wear on vacation or in front of friends, it is up to him to try and sleep in it now or wait until the fall when he goes back to school. You kow none of this was sprung on me, but seeing it put to use is a whole different thing. He is working up to to the 14 hours use. A hour longer each day. he is not as obstinate as he was on day one and day two. Thank goodness.
Nope. No head gear here. My 14yo daughter will be getting something called "Forsus" put in this week. It has springy things that attach to special brackets and pulls the bite back into alignment. It fixes overbites by doing the same job as head gear, only it's inside the mouth.
I have known my husband since we were 13. He got his braces at the end of 8th grade. Back in the day, those braces were huge, his lips would get cuts. When they adjusted them, he had headaches and his jaws hurt. Yes he had to wear the head gear at night.
He never showed his teeth in a smile, he just grinned for all of those years.
He has beautiful teeth now. He is thankful that his parents were able to purchase them. He has cousins, who were not as fortunate.. Believe me it makes a huge difference.
Heck I still wear glasses, when I could afford contacts I purchased them. They were those original ones that were hard. Any tiny speck of dust sent me over the edge.. But I loved them..
It is strange what we are willing to go through, but the nd results are worth it. I think the children that go through this, learn great lessons about completing a project after Years of dedication. It proves to them, they can do this. That they can wait for the results.
It's not being done _to_ him, it's being done _for_ him. Once he's done, he'll have beautiful teeth with which to dazzle the ladies.
My kiddos aren't old enough for headgear, yet. We'll see what happens. But I had a serious overbite and wore a headgear at night. It was easier for me because I was the first with braces (third grade) and headgear, but I certainly don't regret having worn it.
14 hours a day means he doesn't have to wear it to school. That should resolve a lot of issues.
ETA: Galway Girl, you seem to have teeth like mine. My braces were on from 3rd to 6th grade, but I did wear my headgear as prescribed. No fudging.
I was the kid who had to wear it, along with a lip bumper and other fittings in my mouth. I was never really teased about it, b/c most kids have something going on in their mouths/braces.
Just let him wear it at home and not during school time. Mostly nights/sleeping is when you will get your hours in.
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I was the kid who had to wear it, along with a lip bumper and other fittings in my mouth. I was never really teased about it, b/c most kids have something going on in their mouths/braces.
Just let him wear it at home and not during school time. Mostly nights/sleeping is when you will get your hours in.
Torture away! He'll eventually thank you for it. What you describe really isn't that bad. I had braces for 3.5 years, including a headgear worn for 24/7 for one year and then 12 hours for 2 more years. It was uncomfortable, and I hated sleeping in it (I normally sleep on my stomach, which is impossible with a headgear), but it wasn't traumatic. Very few of my classmates had headgear, but most had braces and often other devices (rubberbands, palate expanders, etc.). I had a friend who had a device that lengthened one of her legs, which was shorter than the other. In other words, lots of kids had torture devices designed to straighten or fix problem areas, and so no one thought these things especially strange. And, for just a few years of 'torture' I have a lifetime of good teeth.
Me and my brother both had headgear! What a funny looking gang we were :) My brother was supposed to wear his 24 hours, but lucky for him my parents did not make him wear it to school. I only wore mine at night. No mater what the docs say, dont make the poor kid wear it to school or around his friends if he does not want to. Night time is enough... even if that means it takes longer. That kind of teasing is worse than having bad teeth! In the long run he will thank you for both the beautiful smile and lack of emotional scars :0)
My brother did, I didn't, my kids didn't. It all depends on where the teeth must move.
My brother put it on every second he was at home. If you look at how long 14 hours are you will find you don't have to wear the thing in public. The other thing is the more the wear it the quicker the teeth move and then you get it off.
I had one as a kid. Get this, I had braces from 3rd grade to 8th grade. My parents thought it would be better for me to have them early rather than during the self conscious teen years. The thing is, because I was too young to really care how I looked, I had no motivation to do my part, and I did not wear my headgear at night. Once eight grade hit, I was desperate to get the braces off, wore the headgear for one month and was able to get my braces off. So my advice would be to let him know that the amount of time he has to have the braces and headgear is largely up to him and whether he is wearing the headgear daily, using his elastics, practicing swallowing correctly, or whatever the orthodontist is recommending. BTW, after having braces on for so many years, my back teeth are shot- stuff can get in under the brace that goes around your back teeth. I have had lots of cavities, crowns and root canals on the back teeth even though I am a nut about dental care, just because I was unmotivated as a kid.
I wore one for 18 hours a day all thought Jr High, 2-3 years and all summer long on family trips and the whole nine yards, yes I got teased and stared at... but it had no permanent damage, unlike the "Bucky Beaver" teeth would have had, I'd have wanted to hide my face for life. I'm so glad mine are fixed!
I wore headgear as a child, and so did my daughter. I think that the headgear is a necessary "evil" to get the bite into proper positon. Surely some of your child's friends are going through the same process. If he is in pain, Tylenol can be of some help. Unfortunately, braces are a rite of passage. Good luck!
