First Day with HeadGear

Now both of us had head gear over a year and a half ago. We remember feeling excited, anxious and in pain for most of that day. Looking back, it really wasn’t a very big deal, but we know that it is when it’s happening. If your first day is coming up, here are some tips.

1. Be excited! It’s a good thing! It is exciting getting something new, starting a new experience. It will all go well.


2. Take Tylenol before your appointment. That way the pain will not set in immediately. Trust us, it hurts even around 15 minutes after you put them in the first time.

3. Be prepared for some remarks. Even family probably can’t resist making a few metalmouth cracks the first day. Don’t worry though, chances are your parents had head gear when they were little too, ours did!


If you have any questions on the first day and what happens, please leave a comment!

-Amanda and Erik

Gingivitis Part 2

The fact that we are having a second post on gingivitis just goes to show you how big of an issue it is and how important it is to avoid/treat it. (See our previous post Gingivitis.)

Some things that are important to realize are the consequences of it. If it goes unnoticed your gums will become excruciatingly painful to the touch, your whole mouth/gums can become severely infected, and in the very, very worst case you can loose teeth! Imagine after all that work with braces or headgear loosing some of your teeth just because you didn’t keep up on cleaning your mouth regularly. Remember, they don’t grow back!

There are also different ways you can get gingivitis. There is one form that is caused by plaque build up. There are also ways to get it that has nothing to do with plaque build up. Some examples are through genetics, foreign bodies or viruses, and by fungus.

If you are interested here are some other links to learn more about gingivitis and its effects and treatments.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gingivitis

http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/gingivitis/overview.html

http://gingivitistreatment.org/

Makes you just want to go brush your teeth, doesn’t it! The main cause of gingivitis is not cleaning your mouth properly. But keep in mind that it can also be caused by unclean orthodontist appliances so if you have braces and headgear brush those too.

-Amanda and Erik

Old Orthodontics

Chances are when your parents were your age, they had braces or headgear. But their orthodontics were much different then yours. Here’s a little blast from the past to make you appreciate your gear now!

Braces: Back in the day of our parents, instead of gluing brackets onto your teeth, they would wrap a metal wire all the way around each individual tooth! Apparently this was an extremely process. And your teeth hurt for weeks and weeks after you got the braces on. These braces also dug into your gums way more than modern braces do. Every time you had them tightened it was like the first day all over again! They were bulky and there wasn’t any such thing as colored braces.

Headgear: Peoples view on this orthodontic equipment has come a long way. Around 40 years ago, head gear was one of the worst things you could get as a teenager. You got teased horribly even though it looks the same as it does today. Luckily for all of you nowadays it isn’t a big deal at all.

Other than that most of the things you have now (bands, retainers, brackets, bite planes) are the same as now. The main change is that since most of these were new, not that many kids had them because they were expensive. So anyone who had them were treated as pariahs. Be glad that today your braces just sit on your teeth and that orthodontics aren’t that big of a deal!

-Amanda and Erik

Checking Retainer

After you have had your retainers about six months or so, your orthodontist will probably tell you to wear them only at night. This is because your teeth are setting in and so they don’t need to be held in place 24/7.

Now the next time you have a checkup they will check your teeth to make sure they are not shifting back. They will check this by fitting on your retainers and seeing if they are tight. If they are you will probably have to go back to wearing them all day long. Do not stress if this is the case you will soon be able to be metal free! It just means you are still growing and your teeth haven’t settled yet.

-Amanda and Erik

Head Gear, All Day Long

Although most people who have an overbite and get head gear will only have to wear it for 12 to 16 hours a day, there are some who will need to wear it all day long. This might come as “earth shattering” news for those of you in junior high through high school because this means you will have to wear it at school! But don’t despair, there are ways to limit the impact this will have on your social life:

1. You can talk to your orthodontist and parents and see if it is possible to shorten the amount of time you have to wear it a day. Keep in mind that if you decide not to wear it 24/7 you will lengthen the overall time you have to wear headgear. Also, keep in mind that although we are posting this as a suggestion sometimes it is nonnegotiable. For example if you are going to stop growing soon, and you want to get rid of your overbite, you will need to wear it all the time to get the desired results. (Just think - you will thank yourself when you are an adult with a perfectly aligned jaw if you stick it out now!)
2. On your lunch period, you will obviously have to take it off so you can eat so that is one period you will have without it on.
3. There are two styles of headgear: full head brace and neck strap. The head gear with the neck strap is much less bulky and noticeable, but the full head brace is much more comfortable (see our other post The Handy Head Gear Guide). The only issue is that they do different things so chances are if you have a full head brace it is not reasonable to ask to switch to the neck strap, although you can ask your orthodontist.

Assuming you do decide to wear it all day, school is probably the biggest issue for most of you. To be blunt, the first few days you have to wear it, you will probably have your friends making comments or people staring. What you can do to counteract this is to be upfront about the whole thing explain to your friends what the situation is. If you do this, chances are they will be more supportive/sympathetic. The good thing is that after the first week people will be used to it and it won’t be such a big deal anymore. So stick with it!

-Amanda and Erik

Cleaning Guide to Headgear

Your head gear will eventually become, to be quite blunt, caked in dried spit and plaque. When it gets to this point, you will probably not want to be putting it back in your mouth anytime soon. This calls for a thorough cleansing.

One way to clean your head gear is to brush it using you’re toothbrush and toothpaste and brush it like you would your teeth. Or if it still smells funky, you can soak it in mouthwash. Just leave it in for about 5 minutes and then brush it thoroughly. Doing this should clean up your headgear nicely and make it clean!

We recommend you brush your headgear every couple of days so it doesn’t build up. Plus, when you think about it, if there is still plaque on your headgear then it is similar to not brushing your teeth. The plaque sits in your mouth overnight (or however long you wear your head gear) and will cause bad breath /or cavities.

Keeping your head gear clean will also make it less of a big deal to wear, after all no one wants to put a dirty piece of metal into their mouth for hours on end!

-Amanda and Erik

Sleeping with Headgear

One issue you might run into while wearing your headgear, but not really think about until you have to actually do it, is sleeping while wearing it. This may not even be a problem if you only need to wear it for a few hours during the day. Many people choose to wear the head gear at night though because that means you don’t have to be out in public with it on.

We have both had to wear the headgear at night and know all of the good and bad positions:

1. On your chest: Although it may seem rather obvious, this is probably the worst position to try to sleep in. It is actually painful to lie down in this position because the metal of the headgear pushes your teeth to the side and your mouth becomes really sore after just a few minutes.

2. On your side: This is sort of in the middle. It is not too difficult to fall asleep like this since there is a lot less pressure on the side of your head, and thus, on your teeth and jaw. You need to be careful about this one though because it might end up making your jaw a little asymmetrical if you continuously sleep on the same side since the headgear would be pulling on one side more than the other.

3. On your back: This is by far the most comfortable position. When lying down like this, there is very little strain on your teeth aside from the normal amount you would feel while wearing the gear. The straps also do not dig into your neck too much. You can even position yourself so that the headgear strap isn’t even on the pillow and then there will be no outside strain on your head at all!

Hopefully this will help you find a comfortable position and make the time you have to wear your headgear just a bit better.

-Erik and Amanda

The Overbite

A condition that some people have (us included) is called an overbite. An overbite is when your top jaw has grown more than your lower jaw, so your top teeth hang over your bottom teeth. The result is usually what is known as having “buckteeth”.

Here are the two fixes:

1. The Faster Way: In this way you go to an orthodontic surgeon. They will break your lower jaw and then push it forward and position your jaw so that your teeth are straight and line up. Then the surgeon will insert metal pieces that fit into the space that was made by moving your jaw forward so that it permanently stays in place.

2. The Slower Way: The classic way to rid yourself of an overbite is to get head gear. With head gear, the idea is that the gears hold back your top jaw from growing so that your lower jaw can catch up. Naturally this will take longer.

The first fix is typically used for adults or people who have stopped growing, since head gear requires that your lower jaw is still actually growing. Similarly head gear is used mainly for kids and teenagers, if they haven’t stopped growing.

Our opinion on fixing an overbite:

Both of us have done and completed the head gear fix. Though it takes quite a bit longer and is kind of a drag to wear, the results are definitely noticeable and worth it. This method has been around for decades (chances are your parents even had headgear!) and has stood the test of time. But it is not reasonable if you have stopped growing, which is when the fast surgical way would be a better choice. But for kids we recommend the head gear, since the whole breaking-the-jaw part is generally probably not a good idea in kids who are still growing.

-Amanda and Erik

The Handy Head Gear Guide

Besides braces, here is another device you may
encounter on your road to perfect teeth. The head gear. Head gear fixes your overbite. It is usually a wire frame inserted into a bracket glued to your back teeth. The strap can either go across your neck, or over your head. Now both of us have head gear. Trust us even though it looks weird, hurts, and is a big pain, it really does work!

Now here are a couple tips for dealing with the headgear:

1. Do not eat while wearing it.
2. Schedule how long you wear it so that it you can fit all your hours in without screwing up your day.
3. Wear it routinely. You will just pay for the time you skip wearing it by having to wear it longer.

We know it's hard, but, if you do end up getting headgear, following these tips will make it a lot easier.

- Amanda and Erik