I have a very-soon-to-be-teen and I am ALL sympathy--I totally get the small stuff issue.

OP for next time--when you get the bands, take a picture of the bag with the info on it and keep it on your phone. I've got pictures like this for, e.g., my hair color because they keep changing the box's photo of the model. And sometimes brands of food (like I finally found a bread that my kids like--so I took a picture of the loaf with logo on it, because all brands look familiar to me since I've tried them all)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't you call the ortho and get another bag?

Of course she can, why is why she says it's a minor issue. But braces suck - they are a huge time suck for parents between the millions of appointments, the lost rubber bands, the long dental appointment to clean around them, the endless complaining from your kid, the constant reminders to wear your retainer and having to check that they actually do. And, no matter how often you ask or remind them, rubber bands are always an emergency because even if you had enough yesterday, they are lost by today.

It's not a big deal. I had two kids in braces. One knocked off about 20 brackets during the course of treatment. Yes that meant 20 extra appointments. Get over it, it's just not a big deal.

At the risk of doing a thread hijack
I had just about every kind of orthodontia a kid could have from 3rd-10th grade, with some of my teeth in braces for most of that.
I NEVER knocked off a bracket. Not once. That's crazy. Either the kid or that orthodontist is doing something very, very wrong!
And I would be incredibly irritated if I had to take my kids to the orthodontist 20 times for bracket replacement. Like my mom and I didn't already have to schlep over there enough anyway.

Um, I had expanders starting in K, and finally got my braces off the month before high school. Yet I never knocked of a bracket... Broken wires? Yep. Wires that weren't crimped at the ends, tore up my cheeks and necessitated a return the very next day? Yep. bands that popped off so the wire was floating? Yep. Bit down through pasta and the band on the molar snapped? Yep, and it cut the gum. Assorted other issues, definitely. But not brackets popping off.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, what is with those packs? We walk out with 5 and then they are gone. So irritating. I started charging my kid for his. $5 a pack. He could have the money back if he could make it to the next appointment without losing hundreds of rubber bands!

Awesome idea! Do I dare ask if you've ever had to give back any money? I've been after him for a while to move a few days worth of bands into a dime bag (I don't know what else to call those little bags) so that when he does lose the bag, it isn't very many.

It took a few times but now he is getting money back.

Dime bag[i] is a perfect word!

dating us both...

I hate to break it to you but my DS had rubber bands....with Invisalign!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, what is with those packs? We walk out with 5 and then they are gone. So irritating. I started charging my kid for his. $5 a pack. He could have the money back if he could make it to the next appointment without losing hundreds of rubber bands!

Awesome idea! Do I dare ask if you've ever had to give back any money? I've been after him for a while to move a few days worth of bands into a dime bag (I don't know what else to call those little bags) so that when he does lose the bag, it isn't very many.

It took a few times but now he is getting money back.

Dime bag is a perfect word!

Anonymous wrote:The ever occurring tearing up the house to search for ____ drives me nuts. I get it, kids are not always great at organization but my one easy going, great kid can't find things in front of him. I've instituted a new rule, if I can find whatever he's looking for in under 5 minutes and it is sitting out in the open, ready to be found, he loses a privilege. This has worked.

I'm so glad to be done with braces. I hated everything about it. My second child is doing Invisilign. Holy crap it is so much easier. My first child had brackets break several times and he didn't eat foods on the no-no list. One broke while he was eating a hamburger. Several times the assistants messed up the wires and they poked him so we'd have to go back in for that. My kid was also in braces for forever as the ortho pushed us to start way too early.

I'm with you! We moved and the new ortho pushed us to put the young one in braces early, and of course, she'll get them twice. I HATE this ortho! The old was was very reluctant to do 2 phases unless the kids really needed it because she said the kids get non-compliant when they are in them too long. I've already seen this with my younger one. I have no idea how she will get through this twice and still have healthy teeth and gums.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't you call the ortho and get another bag?

Of course she can, why is why she says it's a minor issue. But braces suck - they are a huge time suck for parents between the millions of appointments, the lost rubber bands, the long dental appointment to clean around them, the endless complaining from your kid, the constant reminders to wear your retainer and having to check that they actually do. And, no matter how often you ask or remind them, rubber bands are always an emergency because even if you had enough yesterday, they are lost by today.

It's not a big deal. I had two kids in braces. One knocked off about 20 brackets during the course of treatment. Yes that meant 20 extra appointments. Get over it, it's just not a big deal.

At the risk of doing a thread hijack
I had just about every kind of orthodontia a kid could have from 3rd-10th grade, with some of my teeth in braces for most of that.
I NEVER knocked off a bracket. Not once. That's crazy. Either the kid or that orthodontist is doing something very, very wrong!
And I would be incredibly irritated if I had to take my kids to the orthodontist 20 times for bracket replacement. Like my mom and I didn't already have to schlep over there enough anyway.

I had braces as an adult. Just like you. Bite repair. I knocked off a good dozen brackets and broke 2 dozen wires. I ate properly and the ortho was very good and very cooperative. Some people just put more pressure on the braces. It was certainly irritating to me when going through this, but my ortho was cooperative about squeezing me in and it wasn't anyone's fault.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't you call the ortho and get another bag?

Of course she can, why is why she says it's a minor issue. But braces suck - they are a huge time suck for parents between the millions of appointments, the lost rubber bands, the long dental appointment to clean around them, the endless complaining from your kid, the constant reminders to wear your retainer and having to check that they actually do. And, no matter how often you ask or remind them, rubber bands are always an emergency because even if you had enough yesterday, they are lost by today.

It's not a big deal. I had two kids in braces. One knocked off about 20 brackets during the course of treatment. Yes that meant 20 extra appointments. Get over it, it's just not a big deal.

At the risk of doing a thread hijack
I had just about every kind of orthodontia a kid could have from 3rd-10th grade, with some of my teeth in braces for most of that.
I NEVER knocked off a bracket. Not once. That's crazy. Either the kid or that orthodontist is doing something very, very wrong!
And I would be incredibly irritated if I had to take my kids to the orthodontist 20 times for bracket replacement. Like my mom and I didn't already have to schlep over there enough anyway.

The ever occurring tearing up the house to search for ____ drives me nuts. I get it, kids are not always great at organization but my one easy going, great kid can't find things in front of him. I've instituted a new rule, if I can find whatever he's looking for in under 5 minutes and it is sitting out in the open, ready to be found, he loses a privilege. This has worked.

I'm so glad to be done with braces. I hated everything about it. My second child is doing Invisilign. Holy crap it is so much easier. My first child had brackets break several times and he didn't eat foods on the no-no list. One broke while he was eating a hamburger. Several times the assistants messed up the wires and they poked him so we'd have to go back in for that. My kid was also in braces for forever as the ortho pushed us to start way too early.

Anonymous wrote:Can yo buy those bands anywhere over the counter? My DD uses them and I always worry about running out on a weekend or something (our ortho is walking distance so she could go get them during the week).

Turns out no. This is OP. I would take a bag right now and copy down all of the information about size so you can at least order it. That was one of the issues -- we didn't even know which to order. I also found it hard to find latex free on line. I thought the "secret stash" idea of the PP was a great one.

Anonymous wrote:Have the teen call the office and ask them to mail them to him at camp. Orthodontists are a good time for the teens to start making the appointments etc.

Totally agree.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't you call the ortho and get another bag?

Of course she can, why is why she says it's a minor issue. But braces suck - they are a huge time suck for parents between the millions of appointments, the lost rubber bands, the long dental appointment to clean around them, the endless complaining from your kid, the constant reminders to wear your retainer and having to check that they actually do. And, no matter how often you ask or remind them, rubber bands are always an emergency because even if you had enough yesterday, they are lost by today.

It's not a big deal. I had two kids in braces. One knocked off about 20 brackets during the course of treatment. Yes that meant 20 extra appointments. Get over it, it's just not a big deal.

Brackets don't reflect irresponsibility on behalf of the teen. Sure, I will get over it, as I do pretty much every other annoying thing my teen does. If it isn't obvious I will spell it out. My kid wasted my time and behaved irresponsibly. Pissed me off, as it should.

How do brackets not reflect irresponsibility? He fidgeted and chewed pens till brackets fell off. My kid wasted tons of time.
Stop being obsessed with work. Would a SAHM fret over this?

obvious troll is obvious?

Can yo buy those bands anywhere over the counter? My DD uses them and I always worry about running out on a weekend or something (our ortho is walking distance so she could go get them during the week).

My dad had a secret stash of rubber bands. I was the last of 4 children to go through braces and he already knew how the rubber bands went. He'd still make us feel bad for wasting his time and being irresponsible, but he could break out the stash if it was truly necessary (like leaving for a trip and no time to drive on a 2 hour round trip to get bands). It might be something to consider.

You must be very insecure to bring the work/sah issue up in a thread about teen crap and orthodontia.