Unable to swallow with Twin Block Braces

[Smallestinthefamily]

Hi there
My 12 year old son had twin block braces fitted on Thursday and he is unable to swallow. He is holding the saliva in his mouth and spitting it into a bowl when his mouth is full. He’s filling the bowl at the rate of knots!
I’d read people had problems drooling but I haven’t seen anyone saying their child can’t swallow. My older son had twin blocks and coped with them fine, so I’d not really been expecting any problem.

My son was really excited about getting them as he’s seen the difference they’ve made to his brother, but he wants to give up. We can’t take him out anywhere as he is as it’s not pleasant for anyone. Has anyone had similar problems and advise please?

There's usually an increase in saliva with a new brace which should settle after a few days but he really shouldn't be spilling it, it's all just practice and learning a new technique.

Encourage him to practice with little sips of water an take away the bowl completely! He might have to slurp it back initially but hel get there.

Thanks so much for your advice. We will try and persevere with it. I’d tried giving him water through a 5ml syringe but it still didn’t work.