tidbits & snapshots

braces.

Thursday was a big day here.  Brady got braces. 

When I was a kid we had lots of names for braces & for those of us who had to wear them.  Railroad Tracks. Metal Mouth. And then there was the talk about a boy and girl who both wore braces and might kiss...their braces were sure to get "locked" and it might take the jaws of life to separate them!  It was enough to deter anyone from kissing!!

But somewhere along the way, someone got smart & made braces "cool".  They added colors.  Little tiny rubber bands in different colors that hold the wire on the braces. I'm thinking that the makers of Silly Bandz might want to step in & create Silly Bandz for braces, where kids can choose shapes like footballs & drum sets & glow in the dark bands for their braces! But then would come the trading, and even a non-germ-a-phobic mom like me might get SERIOUSLY grossed out by kids trading brace bands!! Oh well, it was a thought.

SO...back to the braces.  Two months ago, I knew Brady was going to need  LOTS of dental work.  He had a lot of baby teeth.  He'd only lost 3 or 4 of his own, and usually there was already a permanent tooth making its way into his mouth before the baby tooth was gone. By September he had 2 permanent teeth pushing through the roof of his mouth behind his baby teeth.  We put off pulling teeth until after Cathy & Topper's wedding.  He had lots of baby teeth showing then.

But 2 days before his 10th birthday, he had his 4 front upper teeth pulled. (Expensive day for the Tooth Fairy!!) Let's just say the appointment did NOT go well...of all the medical issues we have dealt with in the past, this was one of the WORST things I had to endure.  But endure we did, and he did not hate me after all the pain. 

Last Friday we had to put "spacers" in his teeth in prepartion for an "expander".  That, again, did not go well at all.  A 4 minute procedure took over 30 minutes.  And it brought on a change to his orthodontic plan...we would now put braces on first because this would be easier than the expander (really??).  But we had a LOOOONG talk about what would happen and how he needed to be brave so that they could get the braces on him...and he listened!!!  He did awesome!!  I was SO proud of my little guy.

When it was all over, he thought the braces looked pretty cool!  And yes, he chose green & gold bands...and I let him!