Advice please! My son is getting braces.

[tenshi816]

My 14-year old son is getting braces next week. Top teeth only (to correct overlapping front teeth) and he only has to wear the brace for 9 months but you'd think the world is ending.

I know that braces are a big deal to kids and they'd rather not wear them, but my son - who despite being flooded with teenage hormones is, or was, still normally fairly easy to live with - is acting as if life is no longer worth living. He's alternating between yelling (about the braces), slamming doors and (most ominously) making vague threats about experimenting with drugs and alcohol if we insist on the braces.

For information purposes, the reason his teeth need correcting is that his top front teeth overlap and there's a danger some of his others might follow if he doesn't get treatment now.

My argument is that he'll thank us down the road for orthodontic treatment he receives now, but he keeps insisting nothing is wrong with his teeth. He can't see beyond the "9 months of hell" we're insisting on putting him through, nor can he accept that teeth problems only look worse when people get older - because he's 14 and to him anyone over about 25 has one foot in the grave anyway, so why bother with things like orthodontia.

Have any of you been in this situation with your kids? I feel we're doing the right thing because his teeth will look better after treatment, but my son will barely speak to me right now, and when he does he gets so upset that we both end up crying - all over him wearing braces for less than a year. My heart is breaking over this. I hate to see my boy this unhappy over something that will be beneficial to him in the long run.

Any advice?