During the early teenage years, many children begin wearing braces. For some children, wearing braces can seem like an exciting experience. While for others, the experience can be embarrassing. For the individuals, who do not want to wear their braces to school or outside of the home, there is the headgear option. This device is usually worn while you sleep and attached around your head and onto your teeth. Sleeping with headgear can be extremely uncomfortable. Therefore, many children may struggle with wearing the device regularly. Skipping out on wearing the device can hurt the development of your child's mouth and teeth. In order to avoid this, it is important to make them as comfortable as possible with wearing their dental device to bed. Fortunately, there are a few tips that you can use to help you do this.
Purchase a Headgear Pillow for Your Child
If your child typically sleeps on a regular pillow while wearing their headgear, then this can result in very little sleep. The headgear will often dig into the back or sides of your child's head. In order to avoid this, you can get your child a headgear pillow. The pillow has an opening in the center that has enough room to fit the headgear. When your child lays their head on the pillow, the headgear has a place where it can sit comfortably. This prevents it from pushing against your child's head each time that they go to sleep. You can find a headgear pillow through a medical supply store.
Advise Your Child to Sleep on Their Back
Part of getting comfortable with wearing headgear to bed involves experimenting with different sleeping positions. Out of all the sleeping positions available, sleeping on your back is the most comfortable for wearing headgear. If your child sleeps on their side, then the device will most likely press into their skin. If they sleep on their stomach, then the headgear will apply too much pressure to their teeth. This can leave their teeth feeling extremely sore in the morning. Therefore, encourage your child to sleep on their back in order to minimize any pain and maintain a level of comfort.
Getting comfortable with wearing headgear to sleep can be difficult and will take some getting used to. Therefore, use the se tips to help make sure that your child is able to make the adjustment without any issues. Contact a facility like Centre Family Dentistry for more information.
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