Headgear experience?

[POOHDRMR]

My 9 yr old dd is getting headgear next week and I was wondering what to expect.She is getting the spacers put in this friday to make room for the band and then the headgear next Thursday.She is very tiny and has a small mouth and has 2 front teeth that grew in from the top of her gum by her lip.They are doing the headgear and braces on the top front teeth and then full braces probably in 2 years.She only has her top 4 and bottom 4 adult teeth and they are not fully grown in.I expect her to complain alot(she is usually a complainer!)but I wanted to know when she should start feeling better from it and what anyone else's experience with it was.I feel so bad for her cause I know she is going to hate it.TIA

 

[shaylyn]

You probably won't find many responses.....most Ortho's don't use headgear anymore. Mine only used it on DD18 because I insisted-it was cheaper In hindsight, we should have gone with what the ortho suggested, the Herbst appliance. DD was in headgear much longer than expected. DS16 went into braces a few years after DD. We had him use the Herbst appliance instead of headgear and it went soooo much quicker and easier!!

The worst part was getting my DD to wear the headgear. She was quite uncomfortable having to sleep with it in the first month or so, but then got use to it. Even then she "forgot" to wear it often.

 

[skaliscik]

it's miserable to sleep in . I don't know if it's better than it was when I had braces (it was 20 yrs ago after all!), but I still remember how horrible it was to sleep in, especially if you are a side sleeper!

it didn't take long for me to get used to it as far as being sore, etc...but the difficulty sleeping didn't go away as long as I had it .

 

[fauna74]

I used to take mine off in my sleep - I'd go to sleep with it on and wake up with it thrown across the room.

 

[skaliscik]

I used to take mine off in my sleep - I'd go to sleep with it on and wake up with it thrown across the room

I did too

 

[kalee45]

Truly, I didn't know orthos did this anymore. When my DD went into braces 4 yrs ago (they're off now) I expected the spacers, headgear, wires, tightening stuff that I went through, but the ortho said they don't do that anymore. The appliances were cemented to her teeth & a striaght wire strung through them all. The teeth were moved by "plate tectonics?" Except for being sore on the days they changed her wire, it was a breeze for her; for me, it was headaches & soreness through my entire jaw for days! As for the headgear, I wanted to get rid of it ASAP & I would mercilessly overtighten it: may have contributed to my aches but I got rid of it 8 months early!

 

[juliebean]

Our orthodontist doesn't do headgear anymore. I got my braces off last week and it was a topic of conversation, strangely enough. My 14 yo has a bad overbite (thanks to my genes) - but everything is fixed inside the mouth now. They tried bands and just recently moved to springs to try and get them into alignment better. He has had a ton of dental work - oral surgery to remove a ball of dentine, two sets of braces, bite plate, and on - but he's not a complainer.

In general I found the first two days after any adjustment to be the worst and usually by a week after I was fine.

Is it absolutely necessary to do the head gear - it's not easy on kids socially. Can you see another ortho for a second opinion?

 

[POOHDRMR]

We actually had 2 opinions and she is very tiny(only weighs 50 pds)and has a very small frame.The headgear seems to be best because she is not as developed as she should be with her mouth and the herbst is less time but she may still be growing and end up having to have the headgear later after the herbst is removed if it moves back.She suffers from some anxiety issues about throwing up(emetophobia)and it effects her eating and at least she can remove the headgear to eat where the other would be in always.She doesn't like having anything in the back of her mouth-even when she has a sore swollen throat she thinks she will throw up from it.So it seems that headgear is not really used as much anymore but it would be better for her.Then after that she will get braces in about 2 years or so.I am thinking about waiting all together for now but she has pain from the 2 front teeth that grew out from the top of her gum.There were other reasons too for what she actually needs treated.I postponed the appointments for now to give me some more time to think about it and get her ready for it.

 

[juliebean]

Poor thing! My son was 9 when he had to have oral surgery, and then a bite plate and braces. It wasn't easy at that age, they aren't great at brushing yet and need a lot of help, plus their peers are not usually dealing with all that quite yet. I just took our 8 year old in, the dentist thought she might need a palate expander, but the orth thinks there's "just" enough room.

The only good thing I can say is that my son used to look like a jack'o'lantern and now it's clear he's going to have a beautiful smile and not have to deal with the bite and tendon inflammation problems I had to deal with because I didn't have braces as a teen.

If you have a good relationship with the orth, I'd ask what the effect would be of waiting (my son did have a retainer in between sets of braces - after losing it a couple of times, the orth is like "Let's not make another. I doubt there will be much damage from just going without the retainer in between sets" - that would've been helpful info when we first talked about the retainer), or get a third opinion. Maybe this is absolutely necessary, but I'd be really hesitant - it's not going to be easy in any way.

 

[zoemurr]

I did too

me too.. we lost a piece and think I even threw it away in the middle of the night. Honestly that thing was miserable.

 

[MayzDisney4]

My DD8 has had headgear for 8 months now. She was uncomfortable for the first couple days, but she got used to it pretty quickly. Has NEVER had any issues sleeping in it either. She had a 5mm class 2 overbite! None of her top teeth lined up with bottom teeth.. And she only has 8 adult teeth total (4 on top and 4 on bottom) she hasn't actually lost a tooth for almost 2 years!

Today we actually got some great news that her bite is now considered normal, but they are closing the gaps with the braces caused by her jaw moving.. So her headgear could be discontinued, but since she is ok with wearing it she will continue it just to hold her jaw back until she gets the braces off. Then she will have a retainer for a few years. And she only wears hers to bed (well at night 7a-7p)


We had the choice of doing headgear with braces on top now
OR
in a few years have a herbst appliance then braces put on. well that appliance is scary and my DD knows she doesn't want it. So we went with the headgear. (her jaw was moving fast and waiting wasn't something we wanted to do)

We were also told that if we did the Herbst it would be about a year and then she could possibly need full braces and headgear after that!

My biggest bit of advice is to talk it over with her. Show her pictures and be totally honest. (I can send you a picture of my DD with hers in if you would like to show her how it looks). We were dead honest with Kenzie and she made the choice of headgear and she has taken the reigns in putting it in and taking care of her teeth. She sees the progress she has made and it makes her feel great that she made the decision.

And to the people who say they don't do headgear anymore - around here there are multiple kids who do headgear. Our Orthodontist does it mostly on the younger kids because they are more willing to wear it. my DD's best friend actually has headgear too!