Ben & I had hoped to avoid this day. After all, the girls did have a 50/50 shot at having perfect teeth. My teeth are artificially perfect, meaning two years of orthodontia, while Ben was blessed with perfect alignment from the get-go.
Gabby and Greta each took their turn in the orthodontist chair yesterday, as the doctor feverishly wrote notes on which procedures he would need to perform in order to align their teeth. "I'm sorry," was all I could say, knowing that it was my genes that were responsible for their current predicament.
So, Gabby will officially be a brace-face come September 13th, while Greta will need to get a tooth pulled and will have a very cumbersome retainer that won't allow her to fully bite down until her cross-bite is fixed. She'll even need to eat with it in. Then her braces will be applied.
The most shocking moment of the visit, however, was the mention of "head-gear" for Gabby. I had no idea they still did that sort of thing! Visions of Joan Cusack from a certain 80's teen movie, unsuccessfully attempting to drink water from the drinking fountain because her overwhelming head-gear was in the way kept creeping into my head. She'll only need to wear it at nighttime, or whenever she's inclined to wear it around the house. Gabby actually took the news pretty well. I was proud of her.
The next few years will be filled with metal, band changing, lots of brushing and picking, maybe a few cut gums, and a new set of monthly bills, but the results will be priceless!
I had my braces through seventh and eighth grade, so as Gabby begins her seventh grade year, there's just another reason to utter the proverbial phrase "Like mother, Like daughter." Sorry, girls! It'll be worth it in the end!
Got any good braces stories?
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Brace Yourself
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10 comments:
Of all the years of braces we've had over here, only one emergency occured. Emma had a wire sticking straight out of her mouth (really)! Dr. Schofield had to take a picture to use for his lectures to new orthodontists ... he was laughing so hard! Come Monday we'll be DONE with braces! Unless Lily needs them!!!
Our kids have a 50-50 shot at good teeth as well. I never had to undergo braces, but Jason did.
So far we are 1 and 1. Maggie doesn't need them, but Molly does. Molly and Greta will be doing it together so I'm sure that will be nice for them to commiserate over the woes of braces.
Secretly I always did think they were kind of cool and wanted to get them. I even made retainers from paper clips to wear.
Make sure to tell the girls that glow in the dark bands are even available now. Braces are so much more fun with all the colors and everything.
Oh, and a tiny confession-I was just making fun of headgear the other night with an unnamed person (her last name is King). I promise to stop doing that though:) I'm sure it is more attractive now than I remember it being.
Oh the joys of braces. My parents forgot to tell me that I needed to have two rounds of braces. So as a result about a year and a half ago I was finally done with braces. Unfortunately I was not able to wear my retainer when I was first pregnant with Richie so they aren't as perfect as my OCD self would like them to be.
Tell the girls I feel for them. I fortunately never had to have headgear, but I here that they aren't as bad as they used to be.
Our kids have a 50/50 chance too. Phoebe looks like she needs them now. Braces and headgear changed my life and gave me so much confidence. And now I just can't stop looking in the mirror.
I wanted braces so bad in jr.high and high school. At one point my friend and I made retainers out of paper clips and rubber bands. I now look back and am thankful for God given straight teeth. But, Rock on Gab and Greta, braces are cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gabby could make even the most horrindous head gear look great!
Braces for 3 1/2 years. Headgear for...I don't remember how long. The ortho had me stop and restart multiple times. It's to stop the jaw from growing. Mine just kept starting to grow again. (I would have looked like a Simpson had I not had the headgear, according to my mom.)
The assistant would say as she was tightenting my braces "bear with me". WHATEVER! I don't see someone forcing your teeth to artifically move!!
Just be glad that your children won't have to have what one of my sisters had to have. Due to a bad crossbite, my sister had to have a metal plate of some sort put on the roof of her mouth. Every night my mom had to take a little key and turn it half a turn. This expanded the plate and BROKE HER JAW, little by little every day! PAINFUL, PAINFUL!! She was just a little kid (Greta's age or younger...pretty sure younger) and she was so good to let my mom do that to her every night.
I really, really hope that my kids don't need braces. They are no fun and so incredibly expensive!! I'll have to take a job if our kid/s end up needing them!
I tell Jude all the time how lucky he is. I can't even see his braces! They are the clear plastic ones. Yay for us that his aunt works for an orthodontist. We got quite the deal!
I myself was the so called Joan Cusack! Yes, I had metal braces, a rubber band going diagonally across the front of my mouth and the head gear that I wore 24/7. I was quite a sight! Luckily for me self-esteem has never been an issue. In fact if the whole experience knocked me down a notch or two...no one even noticed!
I'm of the poor crowd, who needed them, no doubt, but never got them. Of course as a kid I thought that was GREAT! Looking back it so would have been great to get them and have nice, straight teeth. But oh well. My teeth aren't perfect, just like the rest of me, I'm still loved and that's what matters. Violin music please...
I'm sure Josiah needs them but we can't imagine adding that to our budget right now. I hear praying for finances works, maybe I should try that?
Good luck to Gabby and Greta, they'll do great and as always they will look beautiful!
I had braces for 4 years. I wore a head gear too! I hated the head gear! I had to wear it at night and it was so uncomfortable. I remember waking up in the middle of the night to pain.
The thing I liked most about braces was right after I would have them tightened, I would get a shake or smoothie, the cold helped with the soreness of my jaw.
And even after all those years of braces, my teeth are still NOT perfect! Partly because I never wore my retainers but I insisted they take them off before they were done correcting my overbite. For the most part, my teeth are straight and you can't really notice my snaggletoothed bottoms, much less my slight overbite!
They (the dentist) has referred me to an orthodontist even now to relieve some of the crowding in my mouth but seriously, I don't care enough to want to go through all of that again.
With all the options now, it probably would be fun for that reason, but no thanks.
I've had braces since the beginning of 8th grade. I was mad at first but i got really attached to them. I like the whole idea of getting to match my elastics with certain times of the year like holloween or x-mas.......I'm now in 10th grade and december i'm getting them off. I know this is weird but i'm gonna miss them.
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