Help! My 8 year old has an underbite and will soon get headgear. (Woopeee! Said no child ever). My husband has been taking him to the ortho appointments but doesnt know the exact name of the headgear or the brackets put in my sons mouth.
My question: my son has (name unknown) hardware in his mouth and now speaks like he had a hockey mouth guard in, and drools sometimes when he speaks. Is this normal? Is there anything I can do to help him have clearer speech? My husband thinks the slurred speech will go away - but I'm imaging 18 months of my son being the kid no one wants to play with because they can't understand him (and he drools).
Thoughts?
Well - now my son REALLY mumbles - he woke up yesterday morning with the darn thing only half attached. The whole left side is hanging down. :(
The piece in the top of the mouth was bent, they made a new one, and now he speaks almost as clearly as before.
L.,
My son had headgear. The first week he had trouble speaking due to the movement. however, after that? He was fine.
I would call the orthodontists office and tell them what is going on. They need to know when things aren't "Right" to the parent. I'd call
Both of my younger sons and I have had palate expanders, which is a pretty common device for correcting and under bite. It's the appliance that is anchored to the top molars and presses against the roof of the mouth. I'm guessing that that is what your son has. It's normal for the wearer to take a few days to get used to having the appliance in. While they are getting used to it, it's normal to drool a lot, slurp excess saliva and have "slushy" speech. After a few days, he'll adjust and sound normal.
Having hardware in your mouth makes it hard to talk for a little while.
And then he'll figure it out and talk around it just fine.
18 months seems long to you and him.
But I had braces for 7 years (in the 70's) and to me it seems like 18 months is not long at all.
If he's finished with braces before middle school, he'll be in great shape and his smile will be wonderful.
Have patience, be upbeat for your sons sake, and this will pass before you know it.
One of my sons has had a number of things like palate splitters, retainers and brackets. Each time he'd go through a couple days of talking funny and stuff but he always quickly got used to it and it stopped. There was some extra drooling when he got the first set of splitters.
The paperwork we were sent home with said it's all normal and it will stop in a couple days when they get used to it. It's annoying until then but it will get better.
My son has a device called a bionator. He had trouble talking for about a week, then he got used to it. His speech isn't perfect with it in even now, but he's definitely understandable. And no more drooling now.
it's tough when a kid needs something like this at this age, but it'll work out fine.
mine didn't need headgear, but as a pre-teen had to have hard palate surgery followed by a couple of years of RR track braces. each time he had another procedure or the braces got tightened there would be a few days of drooling and slurred speech. then he adjusted and off he went.
be briskly sympathetic but don't turn it into a Big Thing, and nor will he.
khairete
S.
My son had internal head gear. Called a Herbst Device. He drooled a little at first. It goes away in a matter of days. They get accustomed to it. I read all sorts of horror stories about herbst devices and drooling kids, but my son adjusted just fine without any sort of major drama. He drank milkshake smoothies for a day or three, then soft pastas and baked potatoes, soft chicken, boiled eggs, etc. Then he was able to eat normally, pretty much whatever he wanted (that is allowed with braces rules--no meat off the bone, no chicken wings, no popcorn/peanuts, no jerky, no sticky candy).
If you have concerns, always talk to the treating doctor. But try not to blow it up into major drama. It's unnecessary and creates more emotional distress for your kiddo. Acknowledge his issues (pain/awkwardness/difficulty eating), double check with the ortho, and then be matter of fact about getting through it, or having adjustments made if that is necessary.
