Would you go this far to get braces on your teen?

Question

My daughter is 15 yrs old with very crooked teeth and discolored teeth from fevers as a baby. I went to get her braces on and the ortho told me she needed palatial exspanison because her top palette was far smaller then the bottom. He mentioned oral surgeon needing to break her jaw and widen the top palette and then braces could be put on. This sounds really scarey and painful but daughter does want to be a journalist and has straight A's and really could be a model if it werent for her god awful teeth which she hates.She is 5'11 and all legs and beautiful but has these "austin powers" teeth..I can;t seem to find anything about this surgery online and wondered if anyone has had a child go through this and what the risks are, would you do it again? etc? Anything helpful....thanks

She is afraid of the doctor breaking her jaw...and the risks and pain yet she does want braces. She is also afraid that the surgery will make her face look different. She is too old now for the key turn method where it slowly exspands and would need the surgery.

Answer 1

I swear you just described my daughter. I have been told the same thing, but my insurance co. wouldn't pay for that type of work.If I had the money or the insurance coverage I would do it in a heart beat. I know how badly my daughter would like to get her teeth fixed. What does your daughter think? Is she is willing to go thru the procedures? If she is then do it, after all she is the one who has to live with her teeth.

Answer 2

It is not as bad as it sounds. I had to have the same procedure. In essence I never had to go get my jaw "broken". My ortho. told me that the device that is used to spread the palette was what actually slowly broke the jaw. It was a metal device that goes over the palette of the mouth. There was a small hole in the center which was a key hole. I was given the key to it and the ortho told me how often to use the key. The key was used to tighten the device which put pressure on the jaw causing it to break and all the palette to spread. It wasn't painful to me, but it was uncomfortable with a good amount of pressure at every key turn. The good thing is because it is gradual, the discomfort goes away in a couple days. The other negative was that food always got stuck between the device and my palette, so I would take a toothpick to push it out. It is essential to keep it very clean. I am glad I went through it because it helped my tongue lay better and my crooked teeth to straighten out. Plus, I had such a small mouth going to the dentist was painful to stretch my mouth enough for the cleanings, now it isn't painful just slight discomfortable...all in all if you daughter can handle pain and discomfort go for it, if not, really explain the situation to her. Also call your ortho back and ask for more detail. It has been about 8-9 years since I had this done. Hope this helps!

Answer 3

Well coming from my own experience I think that she is old enough to decide if she is willing to go through all of that. I had oral surgery (not to that extent) twice and braces for 6 years 4th grade-10th. It wasnt my choice then and I still wish to this day that my parents had waited until I was a little bit older and have some sort of say in it. If your daughter is willing to go through the pain and inconvenience of the proceedure and you can financially swing it it think you would be a supermom to give her the opportunity to have the beautiful teeth that she deserves. Good luck!

Answer 4

Absolutely. It may be scary and painful, but it sure beats being turned down from a job because of her teeth. Good jobs keep raising their expectations, and being a journalist is a job where looks are pretty important. You wouldn't want to send someone who appears to be unprofessional to interview people. Just get her over it and it will be well worth it. Plus, having mouth gear while she is a teen is a lot better than getting them as an adult.

I wish both of you good luck!

Answer 5

My mum had to have this operation. She had an under bite. It sounds really horrible. My mum's face was swollen for 2weeks and for ages she had to drink out of a straw and eat like mushy foods like custard. It took her ages to get back in to real food. My mum said she was in a lot of pain and all they could give her was panadol and codine. Her operation made a huge difference. One of my friends had the some procedure done.

Good luck and if she gets it done tell her to make the most of eatting crunchy and solid food before her opp.

Answer 6

my niece had to go through that but it worked and now she has beautiful teeth. if your that worried get a second opinion.