children’s dental care tips

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Headgear

 

Remember, if you only wear the headgear 11 hours per day, then you're missing 3 hours each day. That means you’re losing 21 hours every week.
At that rate, we'll never get your teeth corrected. Remember, patients who consistently get in their 14 hours everyday achieve excellent results in the shortest time.

 

How will I get 14 hours every day?

If you get home from school at 4:00p.m and wear your headgear until 6:00p.m that's 2 hours. Put it back on at 7:00p.m and wear it all night until the next morning at 7:00a.m. Well, that's it- 14 hours. Getting more than 14 hours per day on the weekends will certainly help you reach your goal faster.

 

How long will I have to wear this thing?

That depends on 4 factors:

1. How consistently you get that 14 hours

2. How much correction needs to be done

3. How fast your face is growing

4. What your individual treatment response is

 

Without a doubt, the most critical factor is

your compliance of 14 hours every day. If you

can wear it to school (even if you get an additional 3 hours of wear at school in the morning) and get more than 14 hours 14 hours, you'll finish that much sooner. Average treatment time is 12-14 months of full time (14 hours per day) wear.

 

What will happen after we are successful?

You'll change to wearing it during sleep only. This helps stabilize the results. Gradually, you'll decrease the amount of time you’re wearing it until you stop.

 

What is the proper care for my headgear?

Patients must not play with the headgear. Hard, sticky, or brittle foods such as Jolly Ranchers Gummy Bears, Now or Laters, Skittles, Taffy, gum, eye Poppers or ice will loosen or destroy the molar bands that the headgear attaches to. This will result in discomfort and added expense. These types of foods and snacks must not be put in your child's mouth at all! Carrots, apples, steak, pizza, or similar foods should be cut into small pieces before being chewed. Teeth should be brushed and flossed in the usual manner.

 

Trouble Shooting for headgear

 

If a band does come loose, carefully try to remove it from your tooth. Place the band in an envelope and bring it with you when you come to the office. If the band will not come off, but stays in place on the tooth, stop wearing the headgear, then call us for an appointment to re-cement the band. Please call us early in the day so that we can arrange for you to be seen. True emergency is when something is loose or broken and you can't fix it and can't eat. If something like that were to happen, call the office at 919-220-1416. Remember always bring your headgear to every appointment!