My orthodontists said my jaw will collapse if I don't where my rubber bands?

Question

I asked my orthodontists what it meant that my jaw would collapse and he ignored me and said if I don't wear them bad things will happen.

What is he talking about

(tell me hes crazy!)

Answer 1

My son would not wear his rubber bands.  His teeth ended up moving, but not where they were supposed to.  When he closed his mouth, his back teeth touched each other, but the front ones were still apart!  Yuck!  It took 6 years of wearing braces (and finally he wore his rubber bands) to finally correct everything (it would have taken only 2 years if he had just worn his rubber bands).

My advice:  Wear them!!

Answer 2

Rubber bands are used with braces to apply constant pressure to make the jaw and teeth conform to a new favorable shape as they grow. Without the constant pressure from the bands, the jaw and teeth will grow differently, and not maintain a desired shape to correct any natural defects. I do not know specifically what he meant by "collapse" but I suspect it is something like an overbite (my younger sister had this problem and wore braces for years) which will get worse instead of better without the constant pressure to change the shape in a favorable manner.