Anyone whose kids are just getting started?

[pruettmj]

Is there anyone out there whose kids are just starting on this journey? I have learned a lot from this message board but would like someone to talk with along the way!

My 8 year old girl got an RPE (upper) and a Schwarz (lower) on 12/22/05; we turn the upper every day and the lower every other day. She goes in for a checkup on 1/18/06. So far, the only pain she had was getting the bands on, although she did gag quite a bit when getting impressions (lol)

My 11 year old girl starts this month; spacers on 1/11, impressions on 1/18, and the Herbst on 1/26. I believe they said she'd have only that for a few months before getting braces.

Anyone want to discuss?

[Wingnut]

pruettmj,

Hi! We're a household soon to number three in braces! I (Mommy, 39) and Son, 13, got braced together on 2-9-05. He had a lip bumper for about ten months and just got his lower braces put on. My eleven year old daughter just had upper second bicuspids and lower first bicuspids removed last Monday. She gets her spacers in on 2-1-06 and braced on 2-8-06. It is so much fun doing this with them!

How is your daughter doing with the RPE? She must be such a "big girl" to be tolerating that so well. I have an eight year old as well, (major thumb sucker who will need braces soon enough...) and I can't imagine her having to go through that yet.

What is a Herbst appliance?

[pruettmj]

Wingnut,

Thanks for replying! I thought I was out here all alone, LOL! My daughter is doing great with her expanders. Only the bottom one has been uncomfortable, and not until after the 1st 2 weeks. She did have an incident the other night where there must have been something trapped in the gums because it swelled terribly and was very painful! She was afraid something was really wrong because of how it looked, and I was wondering myself. We did warm saltwater rinses and it was much better in the morning. Now it looks pretty much normal again.

My 11-year-old hurt from day 1 with her spacers, but it's better now. I'm sort of dreading having her appliance seated, but maybe it won't be as bad. I've heard lots of people say that the spacers were the worst part. I guess we'll see.

A Herbst appliance is a hinged gadget to help with overbites or overjets (it helps the lower jaw come forward). It's also (I think) supposed to help move her upper molars and bicuspids back so her canines can come down better.

Wow! We have almost twin families! I'm 41 and have 2 boys, 13 and 16; and 2 girls, 8 & 11. So we have the same ages and genders on 3 kids, at least. Also, my 8-year-old was a thumbsucker, so she'll probably need braces down the line for her overjet. Both my sons' teeth are pretty straight, so I don't think they're going to need braces. Anyway, we're getting the obvious ones taken care of first.

It's good to have someone to "journey" with. Thanks again!

[Wingnut]

I think this may become our own personal thread!

I love "parallel universe" stuff - I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. I have a woman that I work with, and if I didn't absolutely know we weren't related, I would think we're twins. It's freaky how our lives have been the same and intertwined at various stages, without ever having met before now.

I'm turning forty this year, and I'm very excited about it. My son turns 14 on February 16th. I can hardly believe I'm the mother of a 14 year old, let alone a 16 year old! Do you look in the mirror and think "No way!" I think our generation is aging so well, much better than our mothers, I think.

My 11 year old gets her spacers on the 1st of February and braced on the 8th. I feel fortunate that I've travelled this road before her and will have the understanding to be very supportive of her. How is your 11 year old doing with her spacers now?

How did you get your daughter to stop sucking her thumb? How was her check up on the 18th?

Did you have braces?

[Wingnut]

Meryaten,

You are a hoot! Your post got me thinking... I had a very close girlfriend that had a baby when we were 16; that makes her baby 23 now. OMG!!!

[pruettmj]

Wingnut,

Yeah, it seems we're in the minority here!

My 11 year old is having a much more difficult time with spacers than my 8 year old did. We had to postpone her impressions for a week because she has had a nasty cold and was running fever that day. She should get those done this Thursday (1/26).

My other daughter actually stopped sucking her thumb on her own at around 5 years old. We told her what it was doing to her teeth and that the longer she did it, the worse it would get. She just determined on her own to stop, with no intervention from us.

My 13 year old son used to suck his fingers, though. Our dentist gave us an interesting thing to try (which worked). He had us put an oversized ski glove on his hand at night and put tape around the part on his wrist so it wouldn't fall off at night (we had his agreement, of course). That way when he put his fingers in his mouth, it didn't feel the same, so after a while it broke the habit.

I never did have braces; kind of wish I could now, after reading up on the board. I have 2 baby molars on bottom that don't have their bicuspid replacements (which would have been smaller), so my bottom teeth have always been really crowded. They seem to be getting worse all the time. My top teeth are pretty tight, but not too crooked or anything.

Oh! By the way, I used to have relatives who lived in Maryland (on my dad's side). We went there once when I was pretty young.

[Brandyleigh35]

Saw your post and thought I would join in. My son (13 1/2) has been in treatment for about a year now. Started with a lingual arch to straighten the lowers, then had a very invasive appliance on top to move the molars back. He wore that for about 5 months, and the whole time we couldn't hardly understand anything he said. Eating was very difficult for him, and he made a lot of sucking noises etc trying to get the food to the back of his throat, or out of his appliance. It was removed about 2 months ago when a less invasive appliance was put in to move his 2nd molars back into place.

We both go in (him and I) on Feb 13th to get our braces on. His teeth already look beautiful, but his canines have refused to come down into place so braces will be bringing them down. I expect his treatment to go very quickly as his teeth really are pretty straight now. Mine will be a much more involved process, but I'm glad that we are able to experience the whole thing together. Its nice to have someone who can relate to what you are going through I think!

Brandy

[pruettmj]

Hi Brandy!

It IS nice to have someone who can relate. Oh, I hope my daughter's appliance (Herbst in 1 1/2 weeks) isn't the same one your son had! She's 11 1/2 and pretty self-conscious already. I hope her speech and eating won't be affected too badly. I guess we'll find out soon enough!

Wingnut,

My older daughter had her impressions done on Thursday. All went well and now the spacers are out. We're supposed to put them back in 4-5 days before Feb. 8th (the day her appliance will be seated). Almost there!

[Brandyleigh35]

No my son had a pendulum appliance. It was basically this plastic thing that filled the whole roof of his mouth and pushed his molars back. He hated it, as did I. It was very annoying for him to eat with, and he had to eat very slowly and carefully at first so he would not choke. Food would get stuck in it, and we couldn't understand anything he said for quite some time. I'm not sure who it was more aggravating for!

He was supposed to wear it for 4 months, and we all literally counted the days til it came out! He actually ended up having to wear it for almost 6 months though. It was frustrating, but now that he has the less invasive appliance in that is just holding everything in place he is so happy!

He has also been wearing a lingual arch on the bottom for over a year now.

His braces work should go pretty rapidly so for that I'm happy.

I will be wearing the dreaded expansion appliance via a surgically assisted rapid palate expansion for 5 months, so I will get to feel his pain for a little while. While annoying it is sorta comforting I think when someone else is going through the journey with you. I'm glad we are being able to do it together!

Brandy

[pruettmj]

Brandy,

Okay, I checked the pendulum out via the web. It does cover quite a bit of the roof of the mouth. I can see where it would seem invasive. My younger daughter's expander doesn't seem to hinder her much, but it doesn't cover as much area. It is thicker, though, from top to bottom.

What type of expansion appliance will you have?

[Brandyleigh35]

My expansion appliance is probably like your daughters. It is the metal one that attaches to your molars, and you use a key to turn it everyday. It takes up a lot of room in the roof of your mouth but is farther back. The difference with kids is that they can just install the expansion appliance and start turning it.
Once you are an adult they must go in surgically through the roof of your mouth and release the bones at the back of each side of the palate, then go in through that area in the front of your palate (where the line runs down the front) and surgically release (break) the bone. Then the appliance is installed and turned regularly as it fills in with new bone over a 4-6 month period. Supposedly it is pretty painless but I really can't attest to that just yet as I won't be having it done until March 3rd.

Once that is done the will start moving my teeth where they need to be, and if everything goes as planned I will be going in for lower jaw surgery in May of 2007 to align my bite, and will then finish up with any necessary straightening. It is going to be a pretty unpleasant year for me I do think! LOL.... It is ok though, truthfully I can't wait to get started!

Brandy

[pruettmj]

Wow! That's a lot to have done! I hope it all goes well for you. It seems a lot of people on this board have had those surgeries (or are getting ready to). It's nice that you can read up on what to expect.

[Brandyleigh35]

Yup getting ready to have it. Spacers go in Feb 3, braces go on Feb 13th (both for my son and I) then I go in March 3rd for the SARPE (sugically assisted rapid palate expansion.)

Yes it has been nice to read about it here, and actually I've been doing a ton of research on it myself. I'm don't like to be a "passive participant" in my medical treatment. I want to know about everything they are doing to my son and I. The more educated I am about it the better I feel, even if parts of it sound bad. I would rather know what to maybe expect than to have it happen and be panicked! Anyway...I'm sure it will all go fine. Oral surgeons do this sort of surgery pretty frequently....so its not a huge deal for them. I'm very comfortable with my OS and with my Ortho so I think it should be fine.

Brandy

[pruettmj]

Well, my 11-year-old daughter got her Herbst appliance seated today. She got through it with very little pain. Now she says it's just annoying. Only her back molars come together; no other teeth are touching right now, so it's difficult to chew anything.

My 8-year-old had another checkup and everything is fine. We went in a little sooner this time because I had concerns about the increase in her overjet since getting the expanders. The ortho. said it's normal and can change back and forth during treatment. It should correct itself in time.

[pammy jo]

My 8 year old girl got an RPE (upper) and a Schwarz (lower) on 12/22/05; we turn the upper every day and the lower every other day. She goes in for a checkup on 1/18/06. So far, the only pain she had was getting the bands on, although she did gag quite a bit when getting impressions (lol)

Hi, I'm new here. I'm Pam and I'm laughing reading about your twin families....when I have twins! And my situation pretty much mirrors yours too. (Oh and I just turned 42 yrs old. This is the 40 and fabulous crowd! LOL) My girls are 8 also and we just had the defining appointment. One of my girls has missing teeth and spaces, which are just going to be monitored until she has all of her permanent teeth and then need braces. BUt the other is schedule 5/25/06 for the impressions for the lower Schwartz expander and get it one month later. They won't do the upper one for apx. 3 months though.

I'm a nervous wreck for her...she has never adapted well to change and is very sensitive to sensations. She is also a gagger and they scheduled the impressions for first thing in the am. in case

Seems as though you are just about a few steps ahead of me with her and that your 11 year old is pretty similar to my other daughters situation?

I'm glad to have found this board, because to tell you the truth, I feel better already.

Can I ask you about the cost? I was floored at how much they are estimating this phase one for Mallory to be, let alone the whole endeavor. HOLY $%#& is all I keep repeating to myself in my head.

It's really great to meet you all and I'll peek around the rest of the board too. I really should take notes at my next appt. because I forget the names of the things they explained to me. She did say that the bottom on would be removable, and that i would have to turn the key 2x/wk. The upper appliance would be cemented on ....same deal with the key. Is the upper the Schwart maybe? (I know she said that name for one of them?)