Twin bloc braces vs Invisalign for a 10 year old

[Cherryblossom200]

Hello!

Title says it all, my DD has a bit of a mess with her teeth. Currently we’re on the NHS and about to get twin bloc braces to start the process of realigning her jaw before getting train tracks. She’s lost all her baby teeth so can start the process now.

Initially I was ok about it, however my dentist did warn that the twin bloc makes it difficult for a child to speak. Looking at it on YouTube it looks awful 😞 I’m actually quite worried as my DD also has ADHD bless her.

Invisalign sounds great and a lot less invasive, however I would have to pay just under £4,000 to have both upper and lower teeth which isn’t cheap! But it means it’s an all in one procedure rather than two lots of braces.

Has anyone had any experience of this priced with their own children? How did they handle it?

Many thanks

My autistic 11yr old DD has had twin blocks since beginning of June. She has coped amazingly, the first week or so was rough as she had lots of jaw pain and couldn’t talk, but she’s very focused on the end result and I think being autistic has worked in her favour as to her it’s not an option to not do what she’s been told to do! Now talking pretty much normally and wearing them 24hours except when eating. I can see a difference in her face shape already - which is amazing. Good luck.

My DD had twin blocks when she was 11, her overbite was 14mm and honestly they’ve done an amazing job. She has train tracks on now and is almost about to be out of them - three and a half years down the line. She’s quite tough and never complained about pain with them . She was advised to wear them when eating but it was basically impossible due to the size of her twin blocks, so she just took them out to eat (worst thing about this is almost forgetting them in restaurants more than once!). She wore them to school and learnt to talk in them pretty quickly. The more you wear them the quicker you get used to them.

Just adding our experience of invisalign for children in case it helps other in the future. My daughters both are having invisalign treatment - they are currently 8&10 and started the treatment a year ago when they were 7&9! Interestingly my 8yo is a lot better at handling the treatment than my 10yo so I think it's quite dependent on the individual personality rather than age! They generally don't have any trouble taking them in and out. They are actually allowed to eat with them in at school but both of mine prefer not to, and take them out at lunch.

They've both had their sets of aligners remade multiple times as teeth fall out and come through, the orthodontist warned us from the beginning that this would happen and it's included in the initial price. My 8yo has elastics to correct her jaw alignment.

Having had both myself (train tracks as a teenager and invisalign as an adult) I don't think there's a huge amount of difference in the pain - we always have the girls switch to their new aligner at bedtime so the first, worst bit is while they are sleeping. They had Calpol with a new aligner the first couple of times but they don't need it at all any more.

Thanks Bluebunny that’s really helpful. This is our second option should the twin blocs not work.

I don’t know how much to believe, but the orthodontist said that a lot of kids end up in Invisalign as they don’t deal with the bulkiness of the twin blocs. But then I’m wondering if it’s actually any better with Invisalign. Also by the sounds of it it’s a longer process with Invisalign altogether?

My DD (13) is right at the end of twin block as the first stage of treatment, before we move on to train tracks. They definitely are intrusive and do affect speech HOWEVER you do get used to them pretty quickly (or my DD did) and adapt to them regarding speech.
I have been delighted with the results (moving lower jaw forward) and she’s never had any trouble at school from others. That said she’s a fairly strong character.
anyway its 100% recommendation for me.

Thank you 🙏

My 8yo DS got Invisalign at 6.5 and has done really well with them (to create space in jaw and fix underbite). He’s very compliant with them and hasn’t lost them at school- he has a case for them at school for lunchtime.

I don’t regret getting them for him at all.

Not read the full thread but DD13 has twin blocks currently, and after the first few days which were painful she’s been absolutely fine. Her mouth probably took 2 weeks to adapt fully for speaking. It’s made a dramatic difference to her teeth/jaw in only 6 months, I’m so glad we went ahead with it (as is she) despite some concerns at the start.

I wouldn’t recommend Invisalign for a child. I’ve had them. They’re painful, sometimes very difficult to get out and as you cannot eat or drink with them there’s a lot of faffing around. Fixed braces take a few days to get used to and then all is forgotten.