My kid's about to get braces and I'm having anxiety attacks

[Mr. Ected]

I was a tin grin from 1973 through 1977.

I remember them as painful and uncomfortable and annoying. I would often wake up in the middle of the night and want to rip them off my teeth with a set of pliers.

Now that my little boy needs them, I'm having the same issues, only vicariously.

Of course, I haven't said a word to him about this; I've been very upbeat and encouraging. And yes, I know the outcome will outweigh the pain and suffering.

But I've been there, done that. I wish he hadn't inherited my generous overbite.

[seabeyond]

1. well, thanks a whole hell of a lot for this post.

my oldest needs them and i have been putting it off. i never had them, but i feel immense empathy. i keep telling myself, not a big deal. i ask other kids.

son doesnt want them. he is fine with his look of imperfection

yet still... as parents we have said he is getting them

then you give me this.

ah well

i hear just the first day or two of pain. only a couple years as opposed to five, like the old times. best to you and your son

[Mr. Ected]

3. Sorry. I should have thought that others would be in my position too

Yesterday, the orthodontist told my wife that the science of braces has evolved greatly since 1977, and that whatever issues I may have had are a thing of the past, for the most part.

...and I was an extremely sensitive and pampered child...so any discomfort was probably amplified...

[seabeyond]

7. bah hahaha

that is so funny. my son is you.... lol lol

thanks for sharing what orthodontist said. i think it is a hoot your wife talking to him, about you.... lol. ah ha. something hubby would do for me.

this is a hoot.

let me know how it goes. is son getting them soon. i gotta make that call.

i am bad about getting shots for kids too. i cry. hubby has to do it. he is taking youngest son in for three vaccinations aug 6

[elehhhhna]

12. we use the most finicky ortho in sugar land and he says don't get them too young --

13-14 is perfect. So unclench, lol. our girls are fine w/ them, and they can really whine, so they can't be all that painful. the trick is to have hin eat something right after they install or tighten the braces. not sure why but it seems to help relieve/prevent discomfort.

[seabeyond]

14. well, i am going to be a little unperfect. he is 15. i really held off too long

and thanks for the tip on the food. will do.

appreciate it elehhhhna.

and what did your hubby say about the you know what. or did you just let it go

[elehhhhna]

23. Just when I feared he would go Ninja, he

became zen.

They talked. She's going to lay off it until college. She also tried a big old glass of Scotch recently and thank god it made her throw up. She's communicating with me very openly and totally gets that her experimentaion phase has so far been a total FAIL. She's avoiding her creepy little friends and more involved w/ the goody two shoes girls, all of whom are more interesting than the potheads.

[seabeyond]

27. isnt that funny how that happens. that probably descibes me more than hubby

kids think there i going to be an explosion and there is total zen. communication, questions, listening. lol lol. keeps the WAY off balane. lol

good, i am glad to hear it.

all in the friends

thanks for sharing.

[elehhhhna]

24. Just when I feared he would go Ninja, he

became zen.

They talked. She's going to lay off it until college. She also tried a big old glass of Scotch recently and thank god it made her throw up. She's communicating with me very openly and totally gets that her experimentaion phase has so far been a total FAIL. She's avoiding her creepy little friends and more involved w/ the goody two shoes girls, all of whom are more interesting than the potheads.

[GreenPartyVoter]

17. We've seen a lot of 3rd and 4th graders getting them the last few years. It amazes

me that they do them so young. I told my guy he can wait until 6th grade. I'd like them done (I hope) by high school, but for now he's kind of small for his age and I'd like to see if his mouth is going to get any bigger before we go and jam all that hardware in there.

[seabeyond]

19. i took both in when they were 13? and 11. orthodontist told me to wait on both.

granted. i have waited too long. but i had always heard early not good and liked that he told my son to wait. he wanted all the baby teeth out.

[elehhhhna]

25. 15 is fine, stop feeling guilty already! lol

[seabeyond]

26. ah. thanks, lol. really

i do.

a few things during the parenting time, i feel guilty about. this was one. lol.

k

thanks el

will let it go.

[GreenPartyVoter]

16. I've been putting them off for my youngest, but he desperately needs them. I told him he can wait

until 6th grade but that's it. After that, the braces go on. I want him to get them over-with before high school, because I don't want him to feel self-conscious about them. Teenagers have enough to deal with. :(

[seabeyond]

20. that really is better. as i said in another post, i cant remember the age

maybe 12 working on 13 dentist wanted to wait a little longer.

but it wuold have been good to get done before. i didnt want to do his freshman year. that didnt seem fun. lol. enough to deal with. but he is well settled and wont hurt him now. a lot of kids have them

[Rosie1223]

2. Wait til you get the bill.

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. Braces have improved much since those days.

They're still as nice as just plain old teeth, but I don't hear kids complain about them at all nowadays - they're more comfortable, easier to keep clean, and so on.

[uncommon]

6. Yeah the technology (and appearance if you can afford it) is much better these days.

[lost-in-nj]

5. I just had my braces taken off

after having them a year and a 1/2....
some discomfort and if a wire is loose it might hurt a little on the gums. but they have wax to put on that till you get to Dr. so he can fix it....
It's no picnic but it's not like it used to be either....
the hardest part I thought was putting the stupid rubber bands in... now that smarts if you let it go to early :-)


your son will do fine and I bet he won't have to wear them as long as you did.


lost

[grace0418]

8. Did you have the kind that wrapped all the way around each tooth? I looked like a

freak when I got them off, because there was a big space between each tooth. They also stained my front tooth. I have a big white mark on my tooth that wasn't there before I got braces.

These days they are much better, not nearly as painful and obtrusive. Your son will be fine.

[Mr. Ected]

11. Yes, the ones that wrapped all the way around!

And my gift after 3.75 years of wearing those danged things was 2 cavities, one of them behind my upper front tooth. Oops!

[bif]

9. Both my daughters had them Not a big deal anymore.

Not like when I had them. I hated them too. Had to wear the head=band at night, which I hated. I hardly ever wor it, which is why I had braces for so long. Relax. The new way of orthodontia is vastly improved.

[seaglass]

10. I had braces in the 70s too, my son had them not too long ago and it

is true that they are VERY different nowadays. They aren't as obtrusive looking, they have colored elastics (my son got a kick out of wearing his school colors), they are not as painful and they just aren't something that other kids tease about.

My son had no problems with his and btw he played school sports that required a mouth guard and still not a problem.

Please relax about it, you are doing the right thing and your son will be happy that you did this for him.

[Lady President]

13. Best gift my parents ever gave me

I had braces in the mid-80s. I didn't like them at the time, but I was never once teased about them. Every kid in the neighborhood had them at some point. They did hurt at times, but a good smile with a proper bite was worth it.

I had one huge advantage though... I was a year-round competitive swimmer. The water seemed to numb them, plus I could eat all the pudding and McD fries I wanted without worrying about calories.

I don't doubt for a second that he'll be fine and happy in the long run.

[mitchum]

15. Mrs mitchum always laments that she wore them for years...

only to marry a man who really likes overbites.
And don't even get me started about gap-toothed women...

[Lars39]

18. Give him Ibuprofen before each visit.

And the few days after if needed. I had braces as an adult...much worse.:scared:

[seabeyond]

22. oh, another good tip. that is smart. i always forget the aspirin. i have had a headache all day

and havent taken anything. i dont get them often, so just dont think about it.

i will give him Ibuprofen before and feed him after, lol. which is Ibuprofen? aleve or advil

[Lars39]

29. I think Advil...Aleve is Naproxen.

Either one would work. :hi:

[seabeyond]

31. .

wavin back atcha.

[carlyhippy]

21. They make them different now

The braces don't wrap around the teeth, they are just cemented to the front. I wore braces for YEARS, I still remember the pain. I did tell my kids to take some tylenol or ibuprofen after the ortho appointment, and I remember if I bit down and chewed and really worked the teeth after, they didnt' seem to be as sore for as long (it may or may not work for your son, it worked for my kids sometimes)Also it doesnt seem like they keep the braces on as long as they did back in the day. My kids only wore them for a year or two. It will be o.k.

[oregonjen]

28. Is your child a good candidate for SureSmile?

My daughter got braces a couple of years ago. She had them on for 10 months instead of 2 years because of SureSmile. The wires are shaped by a computer, eliminating a lot of human error. I as a parent who had braces for over 2 years, head gear, and lots of pain, sure appreciated this experience for my girl!

http://www.suresmile.com/About-SureSmile/Technology.aspx

[Mr. Ected]

30. This is AWESOME

We'll inquire about this immediately.

In light of all the positive and encouraging comments on this thread, I have to tell you, my fears have been assuaged and I'm over my anxieties. SureSmile sounds like the most technologically advanced way to move forward. I thank you. My wife thanks you. Cameron thanks you.

[noamnety]

33. You might ask about invisalign, too.

I think they are about the same cost, work a little quicker, require slightly more care about eating and brushing right away but you don't have to deal with wires at all and they aren't as visible.

Me, I had slightly buck front teeth as a kid but I had a very cool dentist who fixed it through physical therapy instead of braces. He gave me exercises to do to strengthen the muscles in my upper lip, so smiling worked like braces. I had a button on a string that I had to place between my upper front teeth and lip, and I would tug on that for 15 minutes twice a day, usually while watching tv. And he made a mold of that same area that fit in there better with a handle on it, and I had to use that the same way.

He had something like the button on a string attached to a pressure gauge and when I went to see him he'd measure my progress by how hard he could pull on it before my lips gave out and he could pull it out of my mouth.

[saged52]

32. I have had my braces for 3 months now

and I am 58 years old! At first I felt like I had a chain link fence in my mouth but really have not had any pain. I brush a lot, use common sense about what to eat and smile more than ever!

[Odin2005]

34. I could not stand braces, so I'm lucky that I have very good teeth.

[MajorChode]

35. There's no need to worry. It's not like it used to be

When I was growing up, braces were relatively rare so the kids that had them stuck out and were teased. They are much more common today. Both my kids had them and had no issues at school. They both had minor to moderate discomfort a day or two after an adjustment, but we always took them out for ice cream afterward so it was something they looked forward to rather than dreaded. We also found out that starting them on a NSAID the day before an adjustment and continuing it a day afterward helped a lot with the pain.

[Brooklyns_Finest]

36. Braces are Awesome

I grew up poor, so my family was never able to afford to get me braces. It wasn't until I was 28 that I decided to pay for them myself. Four years later,a nd two years after having them removed, I can say it was a great decision getting them. Braces are a lot smaller these days than what you had to experience. Also, I can't speak for the child experience, but as an adult with braces, I got nothing but positive responses. I was single at the time, and braces had ZERO negative affect on my dating life. In fact, I think it helped it out a bit. I would even get creative and get different color rubber bands whenever I had an adjustment.

Trust me, you kid will thank you for getting him braces at a young age instead of him having to do it himself when he gets older.