Our very first experience with braces began on 4th March 2016 when I brought our son to the orthodontist to get his mouth and teeth x-rayed, and a mould made. It was supposed to take 1.5 hours but it took just slightly over an hour. Because he had to fast 3 hours before the x-ray and mould making, I booked the first appointment of the day for him. I believe they require the 3 hour fast because many patients gag and throw up during the mould making process. So to be safe, fasting 3 hours before the procedure makes everything go a little smoother for all involved.
Before the official start of the programme, we had visited the orthodontist (Dr L C Lien) a few times over the years to check the appropriate timing to get them fixed. Dr Lien prefers to wait till all his permanent teeth have pushed through before starting braces so he is only starting them at the grand old age of 14! And I am all for it! I have heard of some orthodontists starting kids on braces as early as 9 years old! And then they keep them on till puberty! That’s a lot of time spent wearing metal bits in your mouth! Not to mention the mounting expenses!
After the first appointment, we had to make another one to actually fix the braces on. That was supposed to take another 1.5 hours, but thankfully again, it took slightly over an hour. After everything was checked and doubled-checked, he thankfully only had to fix the bottom 6 teeth. This meant that :
- he would be in less discomfort,
- he would spend a much lesser time brushing and cleaning his teeth, and
- a shorter duration of wearing the braces, 6 months instead of 18 months, if no complications arise.
Dr Lien warned us that Aaron may feel great discomfort that night and how he responded to it depended on his threshold for pain. He did feel achey for 2 nights in a row and was ache free after that. Because it is his bottom teeth that are affected, no one can really see the braces unless he chooses to grin 🙂 Sorry, there will be no pictures to respect his privacy.
Why we went the private route instead of going through the School Dental Health Clinic?
I must qualify that this is from hearsay since I have no personal experience. A friend shared that she had to wait 1.5 years, yes years! to get an appointment for her child to get braces. And then when she finally saw them and got the price quote, it was as expensive as the private ones that she had inquired around for! And then it was another long wait to actually get the braces fixed! Plus Dr Lien has been a great blessing to us. I like the fact that she doesn’t push for us to do the treatment. She always leaves it to us to decide how we want to proceed. She would list the pros and cons and leave the ball in our court.
Before our braces experience, she had helped to correct Sarah’s teeth with the use of an expander which eliminated her need for braces. By the grace of God, our previous dentist, Dr Ernest Rex Tan, had caught on early that Sarah’s teeth were horribly messy due to her narrow jaw. He was the one who recommended Dr Lien to us. Because we caught it early (she was 9) an expander was recommended in the hopes that her jaw would widen correctly and no braces would be required in the future. There is no guarantee that an expander will remove the need for braces, but it can. In my opinion, although it is an expensive treatment, it is well worth it because the other alternative for narrow jaws and crowded teeth is extraction!!! A friend’s son had many, many teeth extracted over the course of a year because he had the same problem. He hated it so much that he just refused to enter the dentist’s room when he had to. His mother had to cajole and bribe him so that he would do it. All in all, very traumatic!
As with all other health issues, I believe in a natural and gentler treatment, if possible. Removing body parts and extracting teeth unnecessarily can’t be good for our bodies in the long run. For example, if a tooth is wobbly and the dentist wants to extract it, I would almost always say, “no”. Except once when I was caught unprepared and went along with a new dentist’s suggestion. It is better for the tooth to fall out when it is ready then to force it out before its time. Unless it is causing a lot of pain, I often discourage the children from getting an extraction.
Back to the braces story. So we are required to visit Dr Lien monthly from now on to make sure that everything is progressing along correctly, and for the tightening of the wires (ouch!). Meanwhile, Aaron just has to tahan* 6 months (only 6 months, I tell him!) of discomfort and prolonged teeth cleaning. And no eating sticky, chewy and/or hard food for him!
Have any of your children worn braces? Was the experience pleasant? Did any of you have a better experience with the School Dental Health clinic where braces (not regular cleaning) is concerned?
*tahan – Malay for endure
**A very big THANK YOU to those who took time to respond to my little survey on how I can improve my blog posted last week. However I realised (too late!) that those of you who subscribe to the blog via WordPress itself may have had difficulty accessing the poll. Somehow, the poll did not show up in the update but just showed “Take My Poll” instead of the questions! Argh! Sorry about that. If you still would like to help me (pretty, please???? 🙂 ) can you click HERE to get to the post itself? The poll only shows up on the blog itself apparently. Thank you again for responding!