Daughter just got Herbst appliance

[chrisk]

Hi,
My 11 year old daughter just got her Herbst appliance yesterday to correct her overjet. Unfortunately she inherited her mum's jaw. Fortunately she is very motivated since she has seen what will happen if she doesn't have this now and waits, as she has seen me go through braces and jaw surgery to correct my 15mm overjet.

So far she is doing really well. After the initial drooling problem she has started swallowing better, but I can see my major problem being her diet.
Her bottom jaw has been pushed past her top jaw, and besides one front tooth, NONE of her other teeth meet.

At the moment she is eating custard, yoghurt, thickshakes and soup and I just wanted reassurance that she will be able to at least eat pasta, porridge and other soft foods once she gets used to all the appliances in her mouth.

Will she be able to eat meat and things later? She has 6 - 9 months in the Herbst appliance and then will have braces to straighten everything up.

Chrisk

[retainerjoe]

hi , how is your daugther doing with her herbst, i hope well
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http://community.webshots.com/user/headgearjoe?vhost=community this link also has my video of me getting my braces

[chrisk]

Much better now thank you.

She can't manage steak, but can now cope with sandwiches and chicken and roast beef cut up really small. The first 2 weeks were pretty tough but she is doing really well now.

Her next visit to the ortho is on the 14th of August so I'm guess that means we'll have to start with the expansion stage of her upper jaw, now that she has adjusted to the all the appliances in her mouth.

Chrisk

[kerrih]

Hey,
When I was a teenager I wore the Herbst for over a year. This appliance is absolute torture. I would not recommend it for anyone. My twin sister had to have it removed after 6 months because it was causing sores and infections on the inside of her cheeks. Almost 5 years after getting them off both of our jaws now click every time we open our mouths or chew anything. I also have a permanent lisp and dimples under my bottom lip where the appliance stuck out at the front. Plase keep an eye on your child's mouth and don't let any of this happen to them!

[retainerjoe]

the herbst is a great appliance , an works well for most everyone that needs it, but there are a few like myselfan a few others that it can be a bit rough, i found that while wearing mine everything is fine , but when i take it out , an yes i have a very bulky removable herbst my jaw joints can't stand it , you can click on the bottom of the page an see mine in action
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http://community.webshots.com/user/headgearjoe?vhost=community this link also has my video of me getting my braces

[chrisk]

My daughter is now doing fantastically well with her Herbst device. She had a few problems with her face swelling a couple of weeks after we started expanding her RME device, but we went back to the ortho straight away and we had a week off expanding.

At the last visit to the ortho a couple of weeks ago, he said that after the next 6 weeks of expanding we will probably be able to stop. We turn the RME device 3 times a week.

Then we will have a few more months of the devices without expansion and she will have braces after that to straighten everything up.

Having been through the whole jaw surgery route, although it was 150% worth it, I would still not put my child through that unless I had no other options. I would not like to have my child have the possibility of permanent numbness for the rest of her life. As an adult, I was aware that this was possible and I live with this outcome but would not put this on a 12 year old.

I also trust our orthodontist (He is a university lecturer for orthodontics in our state) as he and the maxillofacial surgeon did such a fantastic job on my teeth.

[retainerjoe]

thats good to hear , the whole orthodontic thing is not as bad when there is very little pain , i see my orthodontist agian on nov 10th ,
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http://community.webshots.com/user/headgearjoe?vhost=community this link also has my video of me getting my braces