Is it painful to have the thumbsucking crib removed?

[momto4girlz]

My twin daughters are scheduled to have these palatal cribs removed this week. When I looked up inside their mouths, it looks like the appliance had sort of embedded in the roof of their mouth. It's not completely covered by tissue--it just looks like the tissue of the roof of their mouth is swollen up and surrounding the wires. I don't have a particularly empathetic orthodontist, and I am concerned that removal will cause some level of discomfort. Anyone had any experience w/ this? I would love to hear that it's no big deal at all!

[ShopGirlBraced]

I never had too much of a problem - the back brackets were the most uncomfortable. But it wasn't really that big of a problem - good luck!

[jenleahlynn]

are they removing the entire appliance or just the crib? when my daughter first got her expander, it had a tounge crib and she was miserable. we couldn't understand her, and she had a very hard time eating. hers was to help with th sounds when she speaks. she had already been working with the speech therapist, so we asked the orthodontist to remove it. he clipped the wire off, but left the rings and the expander. no problem. she was so much happier. it's been about 3 months now and we've completed the turns, so she will be getting braces soon, with the expander still in place for a couple of months.

she had also had a fixed appliance against the roof of her mouth for 2 years before this, and she said it didn't hurt to have it removed, but it did feel strange without it.

[Melusine]

Same thing happened to my son. They followed him up in the office a little sooner, but everything looks fine now. We are actually going back in two days to go and do our evaluation to see when he will need braces. I expect two phases with our poor guy, just because he thumb sucked for so long. I was the one that pushed for him to go to the orthodontist... our primary care kept putting it off and saying he would stop. He was 7! I wish we had done the crib sooner.

I have to admit that it was a little cute when he said to me about a little girl he knows "XXXXX sucks her thumb!!!" I'm like - dude, you totally sucked your thumb until about a year ago. She is way younger than you. He is a little proud of not sucking anymore.

He also associates his favorite teddy with thumb sucking and rejects him (which makes me a little sad).