u/TrailNameLoading

Hi all! Not looking for medical advice but how to best help my kid move forward.

My child (8) is refusing the next step of their dental treatment. They had a palette expander put into 1.5 months ago and now it’s time for the first key turn (once a week). Even though they’ve never had any fear or anxiety about the dentist, they walked in to the most recent appointment and absolutely refused to open their mouth. Their reason being “I don’t want to”.

We had prepped for each step of the appointment: watched videos of other kids having it done, talked with family members who had the same equipment, etc. Everything was *very* positive. We offered treats the day of and support throughout but it was all met with total refusal to even try.

Obviously we won’t pry their mouth open and force it but they will do yearly vaccines even though they hate them. It’s coming up on 2 weeks since the last appointment and they‘re still refusing.

Any words of wisdom or things that worked for your stubborn kid? We haven’t made any progress despite support, reassurances, incentives, removal of privileges to show seriousness, etc.

Hi all!

I’m looking for advice from anyone who’s gone through this. My child (8) is refusing the next step of her dental treatment. It’s “turning the key” of her palette expander. Even though she’s never had any fear or anxiety about the dentist, she walked in to her most recent appointment and absolutely refused to open her mouth. Her reason being “I don’t want to”.

We had prepped her for each step of the appointment: watched videos of other kids having it done, talked with family members who had the same equipment, etc. Everything was *very* positive. We offered treats the day of and support throughout but it was all met with total refusal to even try.

Obviously we won’t pry her mouth open and force it but she will do her yearly vaccines even though she hates them. It’s coming up on 2 weeks since her last appointment and she is still refusing.

Any words of wisdom or things that worked for your stubborn kid? We haven’t made any progress despite support, reassurances, incentives, removal of privileges to show seriousness, etc. We’ve told her that pushing this off is only going make it worse down the road.