I have a miserable 15 yr old

He needs a little dental work doing before the orthodontist will fit him with a brace,he is overcrowded and the placement of his teeth is all over the place,he need two teeth taking out from the back,two need filling so those are the two which are coming out.
Anyway he needs a few other fillings and went this afternoon,he was fine but the local anaesthetic didn't numb as well as it should have so they have only managed to do half the tooth,they have put a temporary filling in for now and he's due back in two weeks to have it finished.Now he has a sore mouth

He was going down the local youth cafe tonight with his friend but has since changed his mind.
He is going to have his tea (my homemade shepherds pie) and have a couple of hours on his lappy been quiet he said

Aww, I feel his pain
My teeth were awful...had to have 5 out before having braces, as they werem't straight at all.
Had braces for years, but didn't wear my retainers so bottom teeth have gone back, but am still happy with my top teeth, as they only moved back slightly!

So it is worth it, as long as he does everything they ask him to!

My son had recently had fixed braces fitted on the top and and bottom and had to have teeth removed to accommodate it, its worth it in the end thats what i tell him, at least they'll have nice straight teeth, no pain no gain as they say ! he did have quite a bit of pain at first but its easing off gradually, they get used to them.

I often wonder why more parents do not sort their kids teeth out.

I have seen LOADS who are happy to spend hundreds of pounds on transient things like clothes with logos etc but fail to do something that will be of long term benefit for their offspring.

Its actually very hard to get orthodontic treatment under the NHS now. They have to be fairly severe before they are allowed to carry it out, otherwise its only offered privately which most parents cant afford. The waiting lists in my area are very long and a lot of teenagers get fed up waiting and don't bother. Also, nothing is done unless the child is 100 percent committed to it. Even if the problem is really bad, if the child shows any sign of not wanting it done, they wont do it regardless of the parents wishes. I agree with you, the long term benefits for the child are enormous but sadly most teenagers are more worried about getting laughed at than what orthodontic treatment could do for them long term.

I think you just have to do a photo shop of the hero/heroine they look up to with bad teeth........

I know SB,it's a sad state of affairs.
Tom has been under the hospital since birth,so his teeth have been closely monitored,we had to wait until all his second teeth came in before the orthodontist decided what he was going to do and which teeth were coming out.

He is feeling much better now,just had his bedtime drink of milk and said his mouth isn't so sore

He isn't allowed juice to take to school,only bottled water,the only juice he has is at mealtimes,the rest of the time it's water or milk,very occasionally a drink of fizzy pop,he has a few sweets on a saturday that's it for the week,he loves fruit so not a problem in giving him that for school

When I was studying for my Nursing course, they actually teach you that. They say one of the ways of getting teens to go ahead with treatment or take care of their teeth is scare tactics, ie you wont get a boy/girl friend. Your friends will laugh at you, you'll get bad breath etc etc!

I never realised it was that bad,see Tom has always seen the orthodontist as it's part of the cleft team.He did actually say back in July to the team that he wants his teeth fixed Bless Him!
Apparently the alignment of the teeth with them been all over the place is fairly common with a cleft