Has anyone's child had braces at a young age?

[GreatForest]

My 11 year old son will soon be getting braces fitted. The dentist says that normally, 11 would be too young but he needs them sooner rather than later and he can't wait any longer.

His two front teeth have a huge gap and they stick right out. He gets picked on all the time, called bugs bunny etc so I'm glad its being seen to early.

I'm just wondering what to expect. How long will he have to wear them for? how noticable will the results be? are they pretty much guaranteed to improve his teeth or is it just pot luck if it works or not?

I had a brace (a plate) on my top front teeth when I was ten/eleven.

The problem ime is that at that age not all teeth have come through and so the good that is done with the brace can easily be undone when baby molars come out and adult, bigger molars come through to replace them.

I had my brace for about nine months then lost a tooth and had to take it out because the tooth was one of the teeth it attached to. I went back to the dentist after a week and was told all the good had been undone in that week and the brace was stopped.

I then had fixed (train tracks) braces when I was fifteen.

Personally i would be inclined to wait until all his adult teeth have come through, although if he is being teased then perhaps it would be possible to have a brace for just his front teeth initially given these will already be adult teeth..?

my dd was only 10 when she had her fixed braces put in. She has to have them in for a year and then retainers for 2 years.

She chose purple inserts for her traintracks and doesn't seem at all bothered by them

Kangaboy had them from the end of year 6 until end of year 9 and his teeth now look absolutely deffo brill

He had to wait til he lost ALL his baby teeth

I had them before all my adult teeth were in (thankyou mothers vanity), and had to have them AGAIN when I was about 15/16. Also my wisdom teeth have now come in as an adult and made my 2 top front teeth overlap, which I am now VERY conscious of, and they haven't really fixed one of my original problems which was a cross bite.

They should fix your Ds' gap and stick out teeth though. You should ask your dentist about the effects of adult teeth coming in later or get a second opinion from someone with no vested interest in having the braces done. But if it is causing your DS distress, then I'd get them now, and worry about having to fix anything again later, especially if they'll be on the NHS.

A few of the girls in dd's class got train track braces done in P7, so they were 11. Dd will be getting hers probably at the beginning of January and she's just turned 12. I don't think it's that unusual to have braces at this age.

Thanks everyone :-)