When your child gets braces, it’s an undertaking for you as well. It’s important that you help them through the transition and keep them comfortable. Try these tips to help your child get through the first few days of having braces.
Prepare Them Soft Foods
Your child goes through a lot when they get braces installed. There is new machinery filling their mouth, and their teeth are already starting to shift. This can cause some difficulty eating for the first few days. While they’re adjusting to having braces, it can be helpful to stick to soft foods during the first few days. With all the stress their teeth are under, chewing hard foods can be painful and uncomfortable. In the beginning, stick to foods like soup, pudding, mashed potatoes, ice cream, and other soft foods. Prepare these foods for your child during the first few days of their braces treatment to help them stay comfortable.
Help Them Manage Pain and Discomfort
Because of all the new things happening in their mouth, it’s normal for your child to experience some pain and discomfort in the first week or so of having braces. Avoiding hard foods can help minimize your child’s pain and discomfort, but other things can help as well. Usually, the pain and discomfort that accompanies braces can be managed with traditional over-the-counter pain medication. You can give your child over-the-counter pain medication to manage pain after getting braces. However, if their pain lasts more than a few days, it could be a good idea to contact their orthodontist to ensure nothing is amiss. Orthodontic wax can also help protect the inside of your child’s mouth from the metal of the braces.
Remain Supportive
Getting braces is a difficult transition for anyone, and there are times when it can feel like more trouble than it’s worth. When times get tough, it can help to remind your child what they’re doing this for. Their pain and discomfort should only last a few days. Afterward, they just have to make a few subtle lifestyle changes until their treatment is complete. When it’s all over and done with, your child will have a straight, dazzling smile that they can be confident with. During these first few days, when things get uncomfortable, reminding them why they’re going through treatment can be a good way to keep their spirits up.
Beginning braces treatment can be a rough transition, but there are ways to help your child through it. If your child has just recently started braces treatment, consider doing these things for them. Doing so can help ease them into things a bit more smoothly.
Check out this article on how to speed up the treatment process with braces!
