Try these easy tips to make your child’s time with braces more enjoyable! You’ve just heard the news that your child needs braces. This can be both exciting and nerve-wracking to hear. Dental braces are a popular treatment for preteens and teens since brackets and wires are more effective between 10 and 14 years old. During this time, most of their permanent teeth are in, and their jaws are still developing. Put together, this means that less time and pressure are required to achieve incredible braces before and after results! However, braces also take a lot of adapting for patients—no matter their age—to get used to. While parents are often more concerned about braces’ cost and scheduling visits to the orthodontist, their children focus on the treatment itself and all that comes with it. A child’s middle school and high school years are nerve-wracking and even embarrassing times. Kids are particularly self-conscious of their appearance, and bracket braces’ obtrusive look can often do a number on their self-esteem. Many end up hiding their smiles behind closed lips and raised hands. Braces also require making changes to your child’s daily life. They need to change their eating habits, cutting out foods like popcorn, peanuts, and gummies. Their regular dental hygiene routine can also see its own adjustments. Braces can also be particularly uncomfortable during the first month as brackets and wires rub and poke abrasively against the gums, cheeks, and lips. Still, braces are well worth the wait and discomfort that they can come with. Orthodontic issues like crooked, crowded, and buck teeth or overbite and underbite can make their own dent in their self-confidence, with unattractive smiles and speech problems. Plus, they can also impact your child’s dental health, leading to frequent cavities, gingivitis, headaches, and even TMJ disorder! That’s why it’s so important to take care of these problems as quickly as possible, especially when braces treatment is faster and easier. As parents, we want our children to enjoy themselves as much as possible—even when it comes to their time with braces. Helping them be more comfortable wearing their braces can go a long way towards making the whole process easier for them AND you. To help make your child’s treatment more enjoyable for them, here are several things you can do:

Let Them Personalize Their Smiles When many of our younger patients are told that they need braces, they feel like they don’t have a choice. It’s Mom and Dad who make the big decision. And for preteens and teens who are still finding their identity and independence, this can be frustrating. One major way to help your child better enjoy their time with braces is to let them customize their treatment as much as possible! For example, many younger patients find choosing their braces colors can be the best part of orthodontic visits. Braces’ rubber bands come in a wide variety of colors and color combinations. Let your child show off their creativity and personality! This month can be their favorite color, their school or sports team’s colors, or even the whole rainbow. If your kid is anxious about their upcoming appointment, try asking them what their next set of colors will be. This can help them feel more at ease and even excited about their next visit.  For some kids, they might want their braces to be less noticeable rather than calling attention to their treatment with fun colors. That’s fine—we have a perfect solution. Our dental office offers multiple types of braces. Besides metal braces, we also have “clear braces.” Using ceramic brackets rather than metal ones, these braces are designed to be much more discreet. Do ceramic braces take longer? No. Ceramic braces work virtually the same as metal ones, so your child’s treatment timeline will be about the same. The main factor is their bite’s severity. Share Your Own Experiences Many kids worry about braces because they don’t want to set themselves apart from their friends and classmates. This is particularly common with younger children who may need orthodontic treatment earlier than their peers. If you or your partner have already had your own time with braces, why not show your child that they’re not alone and break out the childhood photos? Not only can this show them that you understand what it’s like, but you can share your personal experience with your kid. Tell them what it was like when you had to wear braces. Give them tips and advice to make the entire process easier. Answer any questions they may have, like “What happens when my braces are put on?”, “How long do I need to wear braces?”, or “How do I take care of my braces?” And, most importantly, help them understand that getting braces is perfectly normal, and the final results are well worth it! Opt for Invisalign Instead Invisalign is known as the “invisible braces” of the orthodontics world, except there are no brackets, wires, or elastics involved at all! This method instead uses transparent aligner trays customized to your child’s unique smile. Clear aligners are an almost entirely invisible treatment, and even many dentists find it challenging to spot them! How do invisible braces work? Each tray applies gentle but consistent pressure to a specific target area. By moving to the next aligner in the set every two weeks, your child can experience more streamlined and comfortable teeth straightening. Along with their apparent aesthetic advantage, clear aligners have a long list of other unique benefits: More comfortable: no brackets and more consistent tightening makes Invisalign overall more comfortable to wear and easier to adjust to than braces Removable: Invisalign trays are easy to remove and are worn for only 22 hours a day Easier cleaning: your child will remove their aligners during their normal dental hygiene routine, so they can brush and floss their teeth like they usually do No food restrictions: clear aligners are taken out for meals, so you don’t need to make any changes to your child’s diet Faster treatment: in most cases, patients only need clear aligners for 8 to 18 months, cutting out months of treatment time However, when comparing braces vs Invisalign, please note that Invisalign is recommended for mild and moderate orthodontic issues. While aligners can handle some more severe and complex problems, traditional teeth braces are typically used for a more comprehensive approach. Your child’s orthodontist will perform a complete examination to determine whether Invisalign is an option.

Celebrate When You Can Since orthodontics isn’t completed in a day, it’s important to celebrate your child’s progress along the way! Showing them that their smiles are noticeably improving over the months can be exciting, especially since it’s hard to track their day-to-day progress. We recommend taking photos throughout their treatment to make their before and after results that much more obvious. That way, they can see gaps closing, teeth no longer overlapping, and jaws coming closer together. Another fun way to celebrate is with rewards and prizes. This can be after every trip to the orthodontist or something much more spontaneous. Why not take them out for lunch or to get some ice cream? Let them choose a movie to watch together that night. Set up a fashion photoshoot at home. Don’t be afraid to get creative and personalize it for your child! Remind Them That There’s An End While braces and aligners take more time than other cosmetic treatments, they’re not forever. Younger patients often require less time than adults to see their final, beautiful smiles! Depending on their orthodontic problem’s severity, most patients with metal or ceramic braces only need treatment for a year and a half to three years. Invisalign is even faster, with treatment often lasting 8 to 18 months. Minor problems can be corrected in as few as 6 months! For those kids starting braces as early as 10 or 11 years old, they can often be done before they’re even out of middle school. Are you ready to start your child on their orthodontic journey? Call our Cypress dental office at (714) 828-4010 today to schedule an appointment with our orthodontists!