Toothy time

I took emma for a follow-up at the orthodontist today.  I've lost track of how long she's had the lower expander in her mouth, but apparently it's really working.

Today she had "spacers" put in.  These are small pieces of rubber/plastic that were wedged between two upper teeth on each side.  Her teeth will move apart and in a week metal rings will replace them, fixed around one tooth on each side.

A week after that (two weeks time) the palate expander apparatus will be attached and we will begin to widen the top too.

Emma is very nervous, and I can't tell her for sure it won't hurt, but the spacers stopped hurting within a couple hours and the dentist said it might take a few days. Emma is holding on to that!

At the appointment they actually told me it would be two weeks between each appointment, putting the day for the expander to go in as the second day of school.

I politely but firmly told them that that was not going to happen.  She is already at a speech disadvantage with new people, under no circumstances will i handicap her the day after starting a new school!!

So, she'll have a week to adapt for eating and speech.  Her therapist will come in that week too, so she will help if necessary.

I'm glad I stood my ground, even offering to remove the spacers if they couldn't work with us!!