DENTAL...!

[cutekids]

they've sucked their thumbs and apparently they're going t nee all this head gear etc.
how much shit is he telling me???

who is telling you?

OUR DENTIST

how old are the kids? are their teeth particularly wonky?

Does he mean one of those braces that come out of the mouth and wrap around the back of your head??

Headgear is a normal part of orthodontic treatment, and if required , helps the results significantly.
If you feel that way about the dentist/orthodontist's opinion why on earth are you going there?

Why do you think he is telling you s**t BTW. Thumb sucking can cause the front upper teeth to be froced forward. Braces (along with the head gear to allow bigger forces to be used) are commonly used to correct this. Sounds like a perfectly plausible suggestion IME.

can i just say......think very carefully before having any bracework/treatment done on your childrens teeth.
yes, take on board what your dentist advises.....
but my perspective is that i spent from 12 -18 years of age in braces/having teeth removed. i hated it totally, it has left me terrified of the dentist (i didn't want it done, but my mum is the sort of person who trusts a professional and so made me do it) and after all that i ended up with lovely straight teeth......which promptly moved right back into their crooked places when my wisdom teeth came through.
if your children want nice teeth now then go for it, but if they are prepared to wait then put it off. my friend is 26 and just had her first brace fitted, she is getting excellent results and i wish i had waited till adulthood.

QR, the only problem with waiting until adulthood is that the teeth don't move as quickly as they do in our teens & treatment can take longer. Also, some children will quailify for braces on the NHS, as adults we don't & can be looking at bills of thousands.

Queenrollo not terribly keen on the information in your post.
Firstly - the optimum time to do orthodontics is whilst both jaws are growning and teeth are erupting to utilise the benefits of both, plus correct some teeth to allow others to come through correctly rather than allow the problem to compound itself.
Secondly - it has been researched and proven that the presence (or absence) of wisdom teeth and time of eruption has no effect on later crowding/movement of teeth. For some reason drifting of teeth towards the centre line (ie at the front of the mouth) seems to occur in adult life (more so in some than in others).
Adult orthodontics (as my kind "partner in crime" mellisasmum pointed out) is slower, less predictable and more expensive.

chicagomum........it was a dentist who informed me it was my wisdom teeth that were responsible for the movement of my front teeth. could it be that this movement simply coincided with my wisdoms coming through?(and therefore him telling me this)
i'm only offering my opinion having been through a lot of treatment, (which as i pointed out i didn't want but wasn't in a position to refuse)....i'm not entirely sure how much of my treatment was necessary and how much cosmetic, (is there a reason why i would need to have 11 teeth removed?)
i don't want to sound like i'm having a go, because i know how much work you do to become qualified (a friend is a dentist) i've just not had good experiences myself and it is a very emotive subject for me.
i'm stepping away from the keyboard now before i descend into a long and rambling tale of my dental experiences

Can answer one of your questions very quickly.... virtually all orthodontic treatment is done because of cosmetic expectations, despite the peculiar way teeth may come through it is exeptionally rare for them to prevent normal function. The only reason braces are more common is due the (hollywood induced) expectation of how teeth should/could look.