Okay, so she’s 12. She is still my baby, even if she hates it when I say that.
Anyhow, she got braces on last week, and we are going through the whole convincing-her-to-brush-her-teeth thing. She does not want to do this after lunch when she is not at home - ie, at school or at her summer day camp. She is at camp today, and school starts in two weeks. Any suggestions on methods of encouraging her to brush when she is away from home? Also, from those who have experience with this - is it really going to be as bad as her orthodontist claims if she doesn’t?
According to her orthodontist, if she takes good care of the braces - including keeping them clean - she will be more likely to be able to get them off sooner rather than later. That is the main encouragement of the moment. But to her, there is little difference between 18 and 22 months.
Well, aside from all the disgusting garbage that will be hanging from her teeth after lunch if she doesn’t brush . . . (I’d think the chance of peer ridicule would be enough right there, but . . .)
I confess to taking poor care of my braces when I had them. I do have some visible marks on my teeth (they’re not bad, but they’re there – feel free to omit this when talking to your daughter!) and I also had to have braces put back on my upper teeth – when I was in college – because I didn’t wear my retainer. Embarrassing and painful. The orthodontist wanted to put them on a third time (to correct a crossbite of one tooth) after I also didn’t wear my second retainer, but by then I was 22 and I just said no. (My current dentist said that compared to how my teeth used to look, the crossbite is very minor and he agreed with my decision to stop the orthodontia already.)
Perhaps not exactly the experience you were looking for, but yes, I should have done what the doc said, and I wish I had – I’d have spent much less time in tinsel teeth. As for the time difference, have her imagine that today is the day she’s finally supposed to get them off, but then whoops! They have to stay on another 4 months because she didn’t brush. Not so much fun.