ASD and Braces

[FiveHoursSleep]

DD2 is 11 and has high functioning ASD. She has probable (still waiting for further assessment) Dyspraxia and SPD as well.
Yesterday she had braces put on her top teeth and is struggling with the feeling of them. She is controlling pain with nurofen and paracetamol, but the 'squeeziness' is driving her a bit mad.
Has anyone else had a child with ASD and braces? Did they get used to the feeling in the end?
Did they have any other problems?
DD1 has them as well, so we know about the care and keeping of them but I don't think I realised quite how much DD2's ASD would affect her :(

We refused braces for this very reason - I knew ds would never get used to them, wouldn't look after them and keep them clean, and also he has such limited food range that we'd have had to spend a lot of time introducing foods he'd have that were acceptable while wearing a brace. Essentially, I felt he'd be so absorbed by the act of Wearing A Brace that he wouldn't be able to focus on anything else, and on weighing up we felt it wasn't worth sacrificing everything else he did for nice straight teeth. Plus, there's no guarantee that a brace won't leave permanent marks on the teeth so they might not be that lovely anyway, after treatment.

We had a great orthodontist who was sympathetic to ds's dx, who looked at alternatives. Instead of the brace, he had a couple of teeth removed and they have lined up beautifully without the need for it. He has another tooth to come out later this month and he may need to have a brace then, but it will be across 3-4 teeth rather than a full one so that it will need less attention.

Hope you can find a solution, and your daughter adjusts to wearing her brace soon.

Yes, I should have forseen this I suppose, but DD was only formally diagnosed a month ago, although we knew there were problems beforehand. we are still trying to get our head around it all.
DD has retained canines which won't resolve without orthodontics so it's not just a matter of straight teeth :(
I'm worried about her cleaning them too although she has been obsessive about this so far.

DD1 is 14 and got braces in October. For her, the benefits of not having a huge overbite outweighed the disadvantages.
However, the first few days were awful, so I sympathise. She is at the beginning of a long road and will need various braces for 4 years as well as forthcoming extractions.
Couple of things that helped- brace wax helps with the rubbing and Bonjela numbs her gums and makes her more comfortable.
She was also obsessive about cleaning in the beginning. Her current (huge!) brace is removable and she was terrified she would break it. Both issues have calmed down now and she is far more relaxed about it ( or as relaxed as she gets!)
You know your dd best, so if it remains too stressful for her you can always think again. At the end of the day, having lovely straight teeth may not be worth the suffering.
Maybe give it a week and aee how she's coping? Best of luck.

Can you phone the orthodontist for advice? I'm sure they wouldn't want you or her to be struggling with it.

It's not your fault for not thinking ahead, so don't think that. We'd all have to be super-clairvoyant to plan for every potential thing that might go wrong - it's a learning curve, and we're allowed to misjudge sometimes .

It it definitely the worst point when they go on both for pain/discomfort and the weird feeling, so see how it settles down.

There is a great body of ASD experience on this board, so anything else with your new diagnosis - these wonderful folk will do their best for you

Thanks everyone.
She's come back from youth orchestra only complaining a little. This morning I had to listen to a run down of every sensation she was feeling , so I dreaded her return this afternoon. She plays the trombone which can be very difficult to play with braces and I thought she'd be in tears, but she just shrugged and said 'It wasn't too bad'...
I'm actually very proud of her, so far.

Sounds promising. Hopefully it's just a matter of time before she gets used to it.

Oh, well done to your dd
Fingers crossed it's all settling down.

Oh great lass, DD!

Playing a trombone with new braces - what a star!

DS has ASD and when he got braces it was a disaster! He picked them all off and cried all night.

He had to go back to the orthodontist twice but he got used to them eventually. Two years later he has lovely straight teeth and is glad he did it, he's reassuring his little sister who starts her treatment next week.

Sauvignon, well done your boy for persevering. I know if DD had got herself in a state about them, I wouldn't have been able to get her back in the chair to have them reapplied.
That's why I'm so desperate for it to go smoothly first time around.

Fingers crossed for your DD, reassure her that it well get better. It's so much harder for children with sensory problems but my NT DD is such a drama queen I'm dreading taking her tomorrow, I think she'll be worse than DS!

Had braces when younger. It was not the most fun thing I've ever experienced. The discomfort/pain never went away. Peril of autistic brains; generally ours don't ever get used to something. But of course braces do an important job. I ended up with removable ones, so that if it got too much, I could take them out again. Slower, but it worked.