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Sooo..i just realized what TAD's are....and..i am freaked out.. Suddenly the headgear sounds much much better. But then again, i value my sleep, since its so little as it is, and lord know ill have trouble sleeing with the headgear.
So my question is, to those that have TAD's.
Did it hurt to put them in?
Didi it hurt after?
Did it hurt to take them out?
And any other info you can provide.
I have 4 TAD's and the oral surgeon installed them when he removed an impacted wisdom tooth. I did not have a good experience with them being installed, and the first 3 weeks with them in were agony as my cheeks kind of folded around them when I closed my mouth and caused the biggest canker sores I've ever had or seen. With all that being said I would probably go this route again if I had it to do over as I am not paying all this money to not get the best results and I don't know how diligent I would be with headgear I had more control over. If the head gear caused as much trouble the TAD's did at first I probably wouldn't put it on. I can finally say that after having my braces on for 5 months now and my TAD's for 3 and a half things have calmed down and my teeth don't constantly feel like they are in some medieval torture device.
I understand why you are freaked out at the thought of TADs...I was too! But they honestly are not bad at all.
I have 2 TADs. When they were put in, the orthodontist rubbed on some numbing gel and gave an air blast of lidocaine to the insertion spot. The air blast was just that...just a blast of air, didn't hurt or feel like anything, really. He waited about 2 minutes, checked to make sure I was numb, and screwed them in. I did not feel a thing! I could feel pressure from him pushing on my gum, but I felt no pain...felt nothing at all.
They didn't even hurt at all after. I was given a small, soft brush to brush them with for the first week, and other than that I just left them alone. Couldn't even tell they were there, and still can't!
I still have them so I'm not sure about the process of removing them.
I have pictures and more descriptions in my story, if you wanted to see more!
I have one TAD in the far far reaches of my lower jaw, located where a wisdom tooth used to be. It took my ortho two attempts to get it securely installed. I hate to tell you that it hurt like hell. I didn't find the soft tissue punch to be that bad, but for some reason every turn of the screw caused radiating pain into my jaw. Supposedly your bone cannot feel pain, but something was causing me pain. Since I have had to have this second TAD retightened as well, I've had a total of three visits in the chair with my jaw in a lot of pain. With that said, the goal is to avoid pulling a tooth, which I'm sure would have its own agony plus you'd be losing a good tooth, so it probably balances out. I also had a lingual button placed that works with the TAD that cut up my tongue and caused a lot of discomfort. Long story short - it hurts, but is hopefully worth it. Good luck
Suddenly the headgear sounds much much better. But then again, i value my sleep, since its so little as it is, and lord know ill have trouble sleeing with the headgear. 
