Faithfully wearing a dental appliance can be tricky for your adult patients, much less your youngest ones. As you know, children don’t have the longest attention span or the greatest tolerance for following rules for retainer and/or appliance wear.

How can you help increase compliance? Try turning compliance into a game -- complete with rewards. Your game can take on different characteristics, but you’ll definitely need to recruit parents to help.

Ask parents to keep track of each day the child wears the appliance (correctly) as directed. When the child reaches a certain amount of successful days, you give them a prize. It may be something simple, like adding their picture to a special “superstar board” in your office or even a token of appreciation like a small toy.

Track compliance to see if it improves. And don’t forget to insist on the best quality appliance – make sure your dentist’s pediatric dental lab of choice is SML.