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Children's health

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Original poster

reassurance needed about braces please

11 replies

OhYouBadBadKitten · 26/04/2011 14:03

dd has been given functional braces today, told to start wearing them full time over the bank holiday. she wore them out of the orthodontist and she looked so uncomfy and she welled up with tears. they seem huge to her. they go right across the top palette and have the plastic blocks that go between the top molars and back molars. She is worried about her speech and the strange feeling of her mouth being full and dribbly. Please can you give some reassurance that I can pass on to her that it will be something she grows used to.

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ChishAndFips · 26/04/2011 14:13

Oh poor thing. How old is she? DD1 had functional braces at 13, she did find them very hard to cope with at first. I would suggest talking as much as possible so her speech adapts quickly, it will happen. DD said/sang 'thithzzling thothoges' (sizzling sausages) constantly for a few days and it helped! Keep reminding her how fantastic her teeth will be when it's all finished. Will she take them out for eating? My DD did so make sure she's got one of those little pots to put it in whilst at the table, or if not practise eating with them in.

Original poster

OhYouBadBadKitten · 26/04/2011 14:23

She's 11. Did your dd manage ok in the end? dd has her sats in a couple of weeks and I'm worried whether its going to cause her lots of discomfort and sleeplessness.

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Original poster

OhYouBadBadKitten · 26/04/2011 18:43

oops, forgot to answer about eating! she was told to try to eat with them in a week or so, but no to worry if she can't. She had them in for a couple of hours after school and tried eating a bit of cheese. Fortunately she found the results highly amusing. Shes going to put them back in after she comes back from being out and go for it full time. Shes a determined creature.

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minimu1 · 26/04/2011 19:00

Having been through it with my lot - the more she wears them the easier it gets. Her speech will get better amazingly quickly and the dribbling really will settle down. It is usually days that they begin to feel better with it so hopefully after this weekend at home things will be much more comfortable for her.

My Dc's have fab teeth now

Original poster

OhYouBadBadKitten · 26/04/2011 19:14

thats really good to hear minimu1 :) . They seem astonishing things to get used to. She has some good friends who will look after her tomorrow at school. I hope she sleeps ok tonight. (can you tell I'm a bit of a worrier?)

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Original poster

OhYouBadBadKitten · 27/04/2011 11:19

bit of a question if you think your dcs teeth look good (but with a slightly short lower jaw) and they are nicely aligned and not crowded, then is orthodontic work really necessary? I can't work out why it is important and I wish I had asked :(

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ladysybil · 27/04/2011 11:22

she'll get used to it. ds says it is always uncomfortable for a couple of days after he gets his tightened. In fact, he isdue to have them removed this month after having them in place for almost two years, and the removable ones for a while before that, and isnt looking forward to that at all.

Original poster

OhYouBadBadKitten · 27/04/2011 11:30

ironically dd is ok with them - its me who is not happy, I can't see anything wrong with her teeth at all. It sounds ridiculous as someone who is from a science background and who normally knows the ins and outs of everything, but I cant see the point of them - they change the shape of the jaw but I don't know why she can't stay they way she is!

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Original poster

OhYouBadBadKitten · 20/06/2011 12:30

I thought I would revisit the thread to offer hope and comfort to anyone else starting down this route! (even though I feel rather silly because I was so upset at the time)

Bearing in mind that we are only 2 months down the line, the changes have been amazing. dds overjet has been reduced to 2mm which is perfect and her orthodontist says that she will only need to wear them in the day time for another 2 months (so that she doesnt get any regression) and then after that she can drop down to just night time.

The more amazing thing though is how quickly dd (and me!) adjusted to it. Very quickly she was able to eat almost anything she wanted to in them and her speech really improved (though it is still a little unclear at times) Discomfort only lasted a couple of weeks - a little bit of rubbing in one spot and some jaw aching that was sorted out with nurofen.

So I guess to summarise - scary at first, but determination on dds part is really paying off :)

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Original poster

OhYouBadBadKitten · 23/08/2011 16:37

Next update (for anyone who may be interested)
dd has been moved to night time wear only for four months - hooray! Then it is on to train tracks.

dd is so unfussed by them now though that she is leaving her braces in for the rest of the day, to save herself an extra cleaning of the teeth!

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Nickoka · 10/05/2012 16:58

I'm nickoka's DD and i recently got a functional brace :( .
It hurt for the first 2 weeks but after that it became a piece of every day life.
After 8 weeks my mum could see some difference so stick with it :0

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