<p>Our orthodontist says he has an especially hard time getting boys to comply with wearing appliances that can be removed. Both of my boys wore something called a Herbst appliance. It was permanently cemented in so they couldn’t take it out. It was used to align the jaws. They each wore it for one year. Their teeth are beautiful now. Neither one wears the retainer anymore (ages 16 and 19). I don’t nag them about it. Didn’t expect them to wear it their whole life anyway. They do have the small wire ones that were put behind their front bottom teeth.</p>
<p>my oldest “forgot” her retainer,( she was 19) when she went off to work at camp for the summer. She had been wearing it for a while, but often spit it out in her sleep and would find it across the room.
When she finally admitted to me and to her Dr that she hadnt been wearing it, it didn’t fit anymore, but at that point we had been dealing with braces and their accoutrement for years and I just said never mind.</p>
<p>Is there some kind of confusion between the rubber bands that are removable, and the bands that go over the brackets???I’m a little lost, but here’s what I can add:</p>
<p>I NEVER wore my rubber bands, because they annoyed me. I’m not sure what difference it would have made in treatment length, but I wore braces for 5 1/4 years. I wore them so long that they actually stopped charing us for each visit! But that happened after switching orthodontists, ect. </p>
<p>emerald, weren’t you furious about going to the trouble of getting the braces on and paying for them, only to have your D pull them of a half hour later??? My mom would have KILLED me, but I wouldn’t have done it anyway, because my teeth looked horrible before the braces. But because of all the time and trouble and money it took, I wear my retainer religiously :).</p>
<p>My d also had to wear the exact same rubber bands to correct her bite…and she also refused to consistently wear them. So our orthodontist refused to remove her braces in the summer before 9th grade as scheduled. She was furious to have her freshman school picture taken while she still had a mouth full of metal. You better believe she wore those rubber bands after that! By that Christmas, she was out of her braces…and her smile is so beautiful, parents constantly call for the name of her orthodontist.</p>
<p>I didn’t haggle with her over it though and she learned the hard way. Sometimes, especially with the stubborn ones (lol), that’s what it takes.</p>
<p>No I wasn’t mad-, I know what things are like for her. I was just irritated that if there was a problem that neither my daughter or the clinic had let me know beforehand.</p>
<p>FOr years she couldnt try clothes on in the store, becuase the plastic that attached the store tags bothered her so much she would rip them off, she did it without thinking.
( this hatred of tags went so far that when I used beanie babies as an “incentive” to help her change schools about 8 years ago she cut the tags off of them- lol)</p>
<p>When she was younger, and she had to wear the same outfit everyday, I had to wash it when she was asleep. ( because by the time she found an outfit that she settled on, it was usually after we had, had it a while, and the same thing wasn’t in the store anymore to get another copy)
If it was still warm from the dryer in the morning, she would freak out that I washed it, and run outside and rub dirt from the garden on it-</p>
<p>She had been tested, but she wasn’t at a level that either the school district would give her PT/OT services or where our insurance would cover therapy.
So although the OT at the district said that she would benefit from therapy for sensory processing, the district only covered more severe cases.</p>
<p>We tried to do some of it on our own, but for her, it was impossible to have your mother be your therapist. So we tried to control & anticipate environmental changes as much as we could to give her time to adjust.</p>
<p>Im sorry if this is TMI, but as I think many people have these issues, and might have kids with these issues, I think it is important to realize that it they are actual symptoms and not necessarily a case of a “spoiled” or manipulative child.</p>
<p><a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensory_integration_disorder[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensory_integration_disorder</a></p>
<p>She has made amazing strides, and now that she is 16, I often forget just how difficult life had been for her ( and us), but every once in a while, an incident happens like with the braces, that reminds me that she is wired differently.</p>
<p>I second the advice to let your orthodontist handle this.</p>
<p>Our son’s experience with braces was similar to your son’s but from the opposite perspective. Our son did everything the orthodontist told him. As a result, he was in so much pain that he was unable to eat and sleep for a good part of the first week. He lost weight and was miserable. We finally called the orthodontist’s office, who told us (1) “We rarely have patients that do exactly what we tell them” and (2) “No problem - We can do things different and help ease the pain”. After that, it wasn’t perfect but it was tolerable.</p>
<p>Bottom line: Your son’s orthodontia, as presently configured, may be too painful for his tolerance level. Talk to your orthodontist.</p>
<p>Thank you for all the stories and the perspective. Emeraldkity, congratulations on helping your daughters come through those hard years so beautifully! </p>
<p>I asked my son yesterday whether he’d thought any more about the elastics, intending to make the suggestion about talking to the orthodontist. He told me that he’d decided to wear them! I suggested that he speak to the orthodontist anyway, to find out whether there are alternative treatments and to be sure of the consequences of not wearing them consistently. He’s been wearing them since yesterday, but only part of the time. He’s also too disorganized to remember to keep putting them in. A new (minor) issue has cropped up - time for a new thread! What would I do without CC?</p>