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Question for the team: my 8 year old has a permanent tooth growing over a loose baby tooth that hasn’t grown out yet. Dentist told me to take him to an orthodontist to see if any teeth need to be pulled. Being a special needs parent, I have seen three so far, and then have one more ortho scheduled in two weeks. The first took X rays and it showed a lot of teeth below the gum line and not a lot of room for them to come in. I have noticed my kid feels sensitive at certain parts where some of those… read more
I had such a contraption. It was called a pendulum, and made more room on my upper jaw. Granted, I didn't get braces until I was 15, as I still had three baby teeth at that age which needed to be pulled first (I often joke that my teeth are as stubborn as I am!). It didn't take me long to get used to, however, as I was not able to take it out, I would have to make sure there was no food trapped in it, and it still annoyed me to some extent. Braces didn't faze me one bit...not at all for the entire 19 years (yes, you read that right) I had them. I actually liked getting the different color bands because it was fun to make different combinations! 😊 So yeah...I had them from 15 to 34. It's only been 5 years since I've had them off, so I've pretty much had them for as long as I HAVEN'T had them in my lifetime so far! My orthodontist was amazing, and VERY patient, which he had to be, haha! I had Invisalign afterwards as my retainer, which worked well, until my dad accidentally flushed them down the toilet! True story 🤣 Since I'd had the braces for so long, I don't think my teeth are going to "travel" too far. They've shifted slightly, but not enough to cause me any major distress :)
So, now that I've told you my story, I'd say that the pendulum did a good job of making more space. Since your son is still so young, it would probably take an even shorter time for him to see results with it. I had it for several months at a time, but then again, I was already in my 20s when I had it. His palate is probably much less static than mine was. Hope this helps! 😊
I have no experience in that, but you know your son, and even though some things seem rough at the time, it's the longer outlook that you need to focus on for his health.
Myself, if it were Stephen, I'd just have those teeth pulled, just to get them out of the way and for the future health of My Son.
@A MyAutismTeam Member not too late. That’s helpful, thank you! One orthodontist said to come back in December and I also just got info for another orthodontist I will call.
Hi! I'm not sure if I'm too late to answer this and not sure what you chose to go through with in the end. I have a son who is 8yrs old and went through jaw widening for 2 months and then was applied braces. So far the experience was not that bad. I had to first prep him by showing him the jaw expander that was placed on the roof of his mouth. Do your research to help him better understand. The after about 2 months they applied bracket and his underbite is now fixed. His treatment is expected to last 18 months. I made sure to really brush and do everything I needed so that his teeth and braces and expander are well kept. Mind you the expander stays there as they apply the braces. Once the teeth are where they need to be then they remove the expander and braces and do the retainer.
@A MyAutismTeam Member I had those springs, too, to make room for those stubborn canine teeth! :)
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