Display Patient Information Leaflets

Wearing Headgear

Posted Monday, 14 February 2022

Date issued: September 2021

Review Date: September 2023

Ref: B-366 v2

Wear your headgear, facebow and safety strap as instructed and as shown in this picture.
Always wear the safety strap. This is to prevent the facebow accidentally coming out of your mouth and causing damage to your face or your eyes.
Your orthodontist will have asked you to wear the headgear for a certain number of hours each day. It is important to do this if you want your treatment to work well. Keep a record of how many hours you wear your headgear each day and show this to your orthodontist. Remember, the more you wear the headgear, the sooner your treatment will be completed.
Put on your headgear at home in the evening, while doing your homework or while watching TV. Wear it all night, but take it out to clean your teeth before getting into bed.
Never wear your headgear while playing or doing sports.
Tell your brothers, sisters or friends never to grab hold of the facebow while you are wearing it. If anyone does ever grab the facebow, hold onto it yourself until they let go. Then remove the headgear and check that none of the parts have been damaged.
If you have any problems with the headgear, stop wearing it and arrange to be seen in the department as soon as possible.
If your headgear comes off at night, stop wearing it and arrange to be seen in the department as soon as possible.
If part of your orthodontic appliance or headgear causes any damage to your eyes, an opthalmologist (eye doctor) should have a look at your eyes straight away.