6 year old needs expander & headgear

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#1 Post by **dogbreath** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 10:26 pm

hi all,
both my daughter and myself are beginning our journey with braces at the same time! just like when she hits puberty, i'll be hitting menopause, but that won't be fun....just thinking about it makes me quake in my boots!

anyhow, she's got a strong crossbite (underbite) (so do i ) and she needs an upper expander and 'head gear' or a 'mask' ...this is all part of her Phase I treatment.

she wants to go to her friend's daddy (an ortho) and NO ONE ELSE...so we haven't received any other consults but i'm sure he'll do a good job...i have to go with who she's comfortable with and he's it....don't know if he's the best ortho (he's just opened his own business and does family dentistry AND orthodontics) but i'm confident he'll be good enough.

if any of you have comments about underbite (crossbites) and upper expanders for 6 year olds, please let me know. also, this Phase I treatment costs $2500! (add my treatment of $5800 and ouch, kids are expensive...but worth all the wonders).
thanks,
dogbreath (note: the tiger on my avatar is my lovely 6 y/o daughter~)

#2 Post by **LargeMouthDad** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 9:44 am

My 6 yr old just started treatment for his crossbite. He will be getting the quad helix applicance on Mar 28th. He has the blue spacers in now. And we have the same cost as well, ~2500 dor Phase I after insurance. We're waiting to put in the quad till after his SAT tests. Hes nervous about them as it is, and we didnt want to introduce any additional stress factors.

#3 Post by **dogbreath** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 8:11 pm

hi largemouthdad,
thanks for the reply. i am going to try to find pics of the quad helix appliance. i just realized that my girl's ortho didn't give and estimated length of treatment and i'll need that and i also want to ask him if completing phase I treatment will reduce or eliminate the need for braces in adolescence.

he said she won't have to wear the 'headgear/mask' during school hours but also said she'll have to wear it for 12 hours...i guess that will mean wearing it during sleep????????

did your ortho for your child give similar instructions?

thanks!
dogbreath
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#4 Post by **momof2grlz** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 3:02 pm

My daughter had RPE treatment when she was just more than 7. No headgear though. We turned the key every night for two weeks and then the expander stayed in place with no more turns for about 6 months. She really didn't have any problems with it. It was harder on me thinking about hurting her when I turned the key than it was her. Your daughter may find it interferes with her speech a little at first, but that passes quickly.

Just be sure you're prepared for the fairly large gap you'll start to see between her front teeth. That means it's working, but it's a little unnerving. RPE worked great to correct my daughter's crossbite and now at 11-1/2 she's just waiting to lose 3 more baby teeth before full braces.

Hope this helps.

Chris

#5 Post by **dogbreath** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:02 pm

i just had my 2nd appt. with her ortho and he mentioned only 8 months of wearing the head-gear....he also said we'd have to use the key to turn the appliance to make it tighter like you did with your daughter...how frightening!

my daughter will have to wear the reverse-pull face-mask at night/after school and will use something like the RPE too....yikes!

we had a hard time taking impressions...the mouth piece he put in first was too big and used the longer-to-harden material and it made my girl gag and throw up a little...POOR THING! i didn't even know she had thrown up until she told me later, i was sitting right behind her and just thought she gagged...i hope the rest of her treatment doesn't go like that....she was crying and it was the first time she's had a bad experience with an ortho/dentist....

did your girl have troube with the impressions?

thank you for your reply, and it did help...the gap betwn. her teeth will be fine, bec. she's had her left front tooth out for a long time so it'll just be more of the same!

take care,
m
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#6 Post by **pruettmj** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:00 pm

My 8 year old daughter has an RPE on top and another type of expander on bottom. She had a similar experience with impressions and did not enjoy that at all! After that, the only troubles she had were 1)a little pain and slight bleeding when they seated the RPE, and 2)some swelling in that same area a couple times later on. The swelling was remedied with warm salt water rinses.

I was very nervous about turning the key at first, but most times when I did, she acted like she didn't feel a thing! The times when she felt something, it was only for a few seconds. Also, it was not pain, just a little discomfort. She never even needed Tylenol or anything. The spacers gave her more discomfort than anything else.

Anyway, we turned 1x per day for just under 2 months, and the top is done now. It has to stay in place for about 4-5 months to keep everything stable. I hope this helps alleviate your fears.

#7 Post by **dogbreath** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 3:43 pm

thanks pruettmj,

i'm hoping the rest of it will go smoothly for her. she gets her expander & headgear tomorrow.

thanks again!

Metal Mouth Message Board

6 year old needs expander & headgear

6 year old needs expander & headgear

thanks!

thanks for your reply chris!