My Nearly 7 yr old has been told she needs an expander due her small upper jaw.
We went to the dentist for the first time last week (I know first time at 7. terrible parent!) she was all good. She was a fantastic dentist specialising in children But straight away she mentioned her jaw being very small which agreed because I have had comments in the past about it.
After her asking questions about thumb sucking and dummy's she looked at her medical history and realised she had her tonsils out and straight away said "sleep apnoea?" I said yes and explained that it took 3 years and going to many Drs to figure out she has obstructive sleep Apnoea and major eating issues from extremely large tonsils and adenoids.
She explain to me due to that, she slept with her mouth open causing a unnatural jaw position and that made her jaw to grow this shape. This made me more upset/angry about being called an over dramatic mother and Drs and people telling me I needed to relax for the 3 years of knowing something wasn't right. But really that's another story with the moral being MOTHERS KNOWS BEST!!!
The dentist went and got the orthodontist to come and look and he agreed and said that she needs a expander soon . He told me to book in to see him once she turns 7 to get the ball rolling. But was talking about her being emotionally ready.
I'm a little worried about it all and her being able to cope with the process. Plus the price of it all.
But also know it's needed or else we will have much more major issues in a few years when all her adult teeth struggle to come down. She has already lost 6 teeth and I already don't think there is any room for the adult top front teeth to fit. The dentist said its going to push the 2 next to it out.
Has Anyone been in this situation.
Is a expander a trumatic or scary for a 7 year.
Am I worrying over nothing?
7 year old needing Orthodontic work.
7 year old needing Orthodontic work.
Posted in:
Parenthood Guilt, Health & Wellbeing, Kids, Money
2 Replies
I think you are worrying over not much. I had an expander at 8, it was no big deal, a little uncomfortable sometimes but not painful.
As someone who personally went through this at a later age, please try to get it done sooner as it really will help her much later in life, I had my expander on in my later teenage years and it wasn't too bad but by that time it was a longer process and showed little result( I now need surgery to fix) my lower jaw didn't grow properly which resulted in Buck teeth of my upper jaw and apart from the teasing ect it makes it hard for me to eat, drink, breathe and because I can't close my mouth properly I. Mouth breath and suffer from dry mouth all the time and its affected my teeth,I know it's costly and as a parent of a child the same age I know I would feel the exact same but as a girl who went through this I wish it could have been sorted out sooner, best of luck to you and your precious child I hope it all goes well x