Braces: Herbst appliance ?

[dreamin_disney]

Just talked to Ortho. They reviewed dd's molds impressions. Now they say instead of rubberbands she will need the herbts for her overbite. WHen they got her mold impression back the overbite is worst then they anticpated. It an additional $500. Plus 6 months longer for treatment. We go for a consault tomorrow uugh!my poor baby.

Anyways, I know someone here has had to have had experience with the herbst applicance. I would like some feed back PLEASE.
Did it hurt?
How long will dd be sore?
any tips, info or advice. I looked on youtube but its better to see what ya'll think. Thanks

 

[SeansMom]

Just talked to Ortho. They reviewed dd's molds impressions. Now they say instead of rubberbands she will need the herbts for her overbite. WHen they got her mold impression back the overbite is worst then they anticpated. It an additional $500. Plus 6 months longer for treatment. We go for a consault tomorrow uugh!my poor baby.

Anyways, I know someone here has had to have had experience with the herbst applicance. I would like some feed back PLEASE.
Did it hurt?
How long will dd be sore?
any tips, info or advice. I looked on youtube but its better to see what ya'll think. Thanks

I think it was doable as far as pain went, but I would STRONGLY recommend getting her teeth sealed before they placed it. It makes it much harder to brush well (worse even than braces) and my son ended up with extra cavities behind the appliance.

 

[sharlon]

Many of the orthodontists here use the Herbst. Our Ortho (only board certified one in our area) actually uses the Mara device instead. It does the same thing as a Herbst, but it a bit newer technology that fixes some of the issues that the Herbst can have. I think pain wise, they are about the same. DD can usually survive on Ibuprofen a couple of days after each adjustment. She had the Mara for about a year and a half, overlapped with braces. She will go another year with braces only. Just remember, the pain will recur each time she has an adjustment.
Oh, and she did have rubberbands for about 2 months as she transitioned off the Mara.

 

[GinCar]

My DS 13 currently has the Herbst. It did take getting use to and some soreness. After a day or two of "soft" foods, he has had no problems, other than it did come off once.
We just had an ortho appointment today and the good news is he is right on track with getting it off this summer. (10-12 total months of Herbst, extra time for braces)

BYW, OP, we paid an additional 1000.00 for the device .

Also, I was not prepared of how immediate his face structure would change- his smile and jaw already look great.

Good Luck.

 

[dreamin_disney]

After soreness goes away can they eat anything or limited?

One youtube adult said they hurt and she lost 20lbs omg! my dd is already skinny and doesnt need to loose weight. There were a few tweens that seemed toadjust ok with it so i'm hoping dd does too

Anyones else out there with advice , infor , comments???

 

[jms531]

I had this when I was 7 or 8. I lost about 25 lbs b/c it was very uncomfortable. Mine had a key that I had to use to turn the appliance every night that tightened it(not sure if they still work this way?). The pain was tolerable but certainly not something I'd want to do again...although I could really benefit from the weight loss at this point IMHO I'm glad I had it done when I was younger, now that I'm old enough to fully realize the pain and what I'd be getting into I don't think I would do it.


ETA: I had a herbst along with a top pallette expander (that was what turned with a key). So if it's any consolation the pain could have been contributed to having both at once!

 

[ms1031]

My daughter wore a Herbst for a year, along with a top pallette expander and braces on the top 4 front teeth for 6 of those months. She was 9 when it was installed.

The worst part for her was the very first few days. They warned us that she'd be sore, but she couldn't eat solid food at all. Come to find out, the device wasn't adjusted properly and was cutting into her cheek. Poor thing.

Once it that was corrected, she hardly complained other than the regular adjustments, which she says was just a bit worse than the full set of braces she has now. I'd give her Ibuprofen before the adjustments, and she sometimes would ask for more later in the day, sometimes not.

It took her a few weeks to get accustomed to eating with that contraption, but she could eventually eat anything she wanted. We just avoided the typical things on the "do not eat with braces" list like hard candy, popcorn, gum, etc.

She's 16 now, and is on the downhill slide to getting the full set of braces off that she's been wearing for a little over 2 years. We're looking for them to be off in less than a month! It's absolutely amazing to see the transformation of her jaw and bite, and thankful that it's all happened without the surgery that her Dad had to endure that included his jaw being wired shut for 8 weeks when he was 22 years old.

 

[Shmily1]

DD19 had one several years ago. It didn't seem to bother her eating much except when food got stuck in it when she was chewing and I'd have to help her get it out. She did have pain when it was put in and when it was adjusted but she didn't have major pain with either of those. She had grooves in her mouth (think jaws) because it rubbed them. It did come loose and she had to keep her mouth open until I could get her to the ortho and learn how to fix it. It is worse than braces, but not that bad over all.

Good luck!

 

[disneydiz]

My son had the Herbst App for about 9-mos. No problems with it. I was worried that he would have trouble with signing in his high school choir, but no problems. He ate everything and anything, and even sang solos during a couple concerts. No problems.

 

[Stacy9402]

My daughter had to pick between the Herbst and the Twin Blocks. We picked the Twin Blocks and the ortho agreed with us because her mouth is really small and we thought the herbst would be too much for her. She is 8.

So far the Twin Blocks have been ok

 

[Melrosgirl]

One ortho told my dd to get one. I got a second opinion and that ortho told me it was not necessary. I went with the second ortho.

 

[lynn46356]

Our son hab this lovely device (Herbst) also. He's now 23 so its been some time ago but it was not anything he'd like to repeat. He has a skinny face and body too for that matter and you could tell immediately by looking at his face there was something sticking out of each side of his jaw area. I remember he was quite miserable. He did get use to it but by no means was it fun. He had to use wax on the screw places (or whatever they are called) as they caused canker sores deep on both sides inside his mouth. He had it approximately a year and after it came off he went into braces which he thought was a piece of cake after the Herbst. Everyone is different and I hope your daughter has a better experience than he.

 

[dreamin_disney]

OP here- DD will get her herbts in on April 5th. I'm nervous but dont let her know that that I am. I'd hate to worry her. I'm hoping everything goes good. She was int he room when the lady told us about the rod and spring coming undone. Dd later told me she was worry about that happening and said she wont be able to yawn cuz she's afraid it might come undone. I told her not to worry about it. A few days later she had a stomach flu and my 1st thought was oh shoot vomiting with the herbts oh no! Not a good thing for dd she will freakout if she had , had the herbts in at the time.

so...........


those who have kids with herbts how is it wwith yawning, getting dental cleaning check up, vomiting, sneezing. When it comes apart whats it like? Do u make an after call appt to dentist office - not sure if the medal arm thing will get in the way of her bite.

any other adive or tips

 

[Shmily1]

Your best defense is to get the Ortho to show you what to do if it does come apart before you leave the office. I didn't do this because I had no idea that it could come apart but we found out the hard way! A normal yawn will not pop it apart. A huge yawn might. A sneeze should be ok because most sneezes aren't with your mouth wide open. If she starts to vomit, be sure to bring her a big glass of water for rinsing her mouth out with. It won't catch a lot of stuff, but she will want to get out what it does catch. At dental visits, the dentist will unhook it and then hook it back if they need it to come apart, which they usually do.

If it comes apart and the bars just "lay down", then it wouldn't be so bad. If they just poke up, like DD's did, then that's a different story! We went flying to the ortho to get it fixed with DD riding all the way with her mouth wide open! It's pretty funny now, but she wasn't laughing then! If you get them to show you what to do ahead of time, then it shouldn't bother you or her when/if it does happen.

Good luck!!

 

[dreamin_disney]

Your best defense is to get the Ortho to show you what to do if it does come apart before you leave the office. I didn't do this because I had no idea that it could come apart but we found out the hard way! A normal yawn will not pop it apart. A huge yawn might. A sneeze should be ok because most sneezes aren't with your mouth wide open. If she starts to vomit, be sure to bring her a big glass of water for rinsing her mouth out with. It won't catch a lot of stuff, but she will want to get out what it does catch. At dental visits, the dentist will unhook it and then hook it back if they need it to come apart, which they usually do.

If it comes apart and the bars just "lay down", then it wouldn't be so bad. If they just poke up, like DD's did, then that's a different story! We went flying to the ortho to get it fixed with DD riding all the way with her mouth wide open! It's pretty funny now, but she wasn't laughing then! If you get them to show you what to do ahead of time, then it shouldn't bother you or her when/if it does happen.

Good luck!!

The lady at ortho office said dd would have to play with her jaw or over yawn for it to come undone. SHe hasnt had to go in after hours to fix one so if it came undone to call the office and who ever is on call would come in. I'm glad to know they can show me what to do so we can fix it if needed.

 

[dreamin_disney]

OP here Update 3/29

DD got her spacers today. She said she is sore but seems to be doing ok. She started complaining about her teeth being sore 2 hours ago . She got the spacers in around 4pm and started complaining more around 9:45pm. I notice she didnt eat her dinner chicken nuggets. She ate 2-3 instead of the 6. I gave her some liquid advil but only had enough for one dose. Not sure if the discomfort will be more or less tomorrow but I want her to more comfortable at school tomorrow.

Whats the liquid pain medicine for kids that you noticed worked for your kids that had braces, spacers, expanders or herbts......tylenol, motrin advil etc????

I have a feeling nextweeks appt to get get herbts in is going to be very uncomfortable.


Thanks

 

[Shmily1]

Motrin seems to be the strongest for getting rid of pain, and most doctors recommend either Motrin or Tylenol. The spacers will make her mouth sore and she probably won't want to eat much, so soup or things like mashed potatoes are usually really good. Anything soft really... maybe ice cream too. She probably wouldn't mind eating that up. I know mine wouldn't!

 

[disneydaze]

Herbst is a really bad word to my tiny 13 yr old. She has had one for a year now and at last weeks appt the ortho said we were looking at end of summer to get it off. It has made a huge improvement in her awful overbite but it has not been easy. At her initial appointment to put the herbst on it simply would not go on because her mouth was just not right. 6 months of braces and rubberbands they were able to get it on. To help with mouth sores she rinses with Peroxyl - you can get it at Walgreens and Walmart. I also think it has made her a mouth breather and she get every virus that comes along now. We know in the long run this is best but it sure has been hard watching her be in pain. Hopefully, it will not be this bad for your daughter. Our ortho has apologized because our daughter now has the honor of being his hardest herbst patient. Why oh Why do we finally get the top honor in something and it is not good! Good luck to your whole family with the herbst because it affects you all!

(Our ortho is on staff at UCLA Orthodontic's Program and has facial orthopedics training. I feel he knows what he is doing, we love him and trust him but sure do dislike the herbst)

 

[CLEO Z]

I hope they've changed since I had one in the 80's. It was a horrible experience for me. They kept popping apart. My brother called me "hatchback" mouth. After a couple of weeks, I went to the ortho and told him to take it out or I would. (I think I was 15??) I swore up and down to wear my rubber bands religously.

I had 10 years of ortho from age 9 to 19. I had the behind the neck headgear, the over the head jock strap looking headgear, a tounge cage/crib, braces, herbst, permanent retainer, regular retainer and early on a retainer that for top and bottom that was connected and had cheek plates. Of everything I had, the herbst was the worst.

 

[dreamin_disney]

Herbst is a really bad word to my tiny 13 yr old. She has had one for a year now and at last weeks appt the ortho said we were looking at end of summer to get it off. It has made a huge improvement in her awful overbite but it has not been easy. At her initial appointment to put the herbst on it simply would not go on because her mouth was just not right. 6 months of braces and rubberbands they were able to get it on. To help with mouth sores she rinses with Peroxyl - you can get it at Walgreens and Walmart. I also think it has made her a mouth breather and she get every virus that comes along now. We know in the long run this is best but it sure has been hard watching her be in pain. Hopefully, it will not be this bad for your daughter. Our ortho has apologized because our daughter now has the honor of being his hardest herbst patient. Why oh Why do we finally get the top honor in something and it is not good! Good luck to your whole family with the herbst because it affects you all!

(Our ortho is on staff at UCLA Orthodontic's Program and has facial orthopedics training. I feel he knows what he is doing, we love him and trust him but sure do dislike the herbst)

Sounds like your dd had a horrible time with the herbts. Hopefully your dd gets it off as planned.