Luke had not one, but two orthodontic appointments yesterday. At the first one, he got his braces and his expander taken off. Yay! He kept saying how weird it was to feel his gums and the top of his mouth. I don't think any of us will miss the sucking sound he would make to try to clear out food that got stuck up in the expander, LOL. I still can't believe the difference that 6 months of the expander, plus a few months of braces, made in his mouth. Wow.
While he was there in the morning, he had impressions made to fit him for a retainer that he will mainly wear at home and at night. The orthodontist also came out to talk to me and tell me that he also needs to wear a head thing to help his lower jaw grow forward, since it is really small, and his teeth are not lined up properly. He asked me if I thought Luke would wear it, and I said he would probably wear whatever we told him he had to wear. Luke needs to wear the head gear for 14 hours, most of which will be at night while he's sleeping. This is the good thing about homeschooling--Luke seems totally unaware that there might be any sort of stigma against orthodontic appliances. I was a bit worried that he would be really self-conscious and not want to wear the thing, but last night he didn't really seem to care. He wore it for about an hour and a hlaf, while watching a movie. We have to work up to the 14 hours, and he did say it was uncomfortable after awhile. I hope he can sleep with it! I'm not sure that a picture will be forthcoming, but we'll see.
When we went back for our afternoon appointment, Luke picked up his new retainer. I don't know if he just only needs a small one, or if retainer technology has really come a long way since I was in junior high, but it looks nothing like what I remember people wearing! Those were these huge things with a big pink palate part, and wires everywhere. His is clear plastic with no wires, and it is not noticeable at all. He's just supposed to wear that at home, not out, which should be easy. I'm not sure how long he'll have to wear these things. We go back next week to check on the progress.
3 comments:
When I wore braces back in 1974-76, I had a headgear that went from my mouth and circled around to the back of my head and back to my teeth. It wasn't too bad once I got used to it.
But I went to school w/ this guy (crazy guy who didn't care what other people thought!) and he wore this headgear ALL THE TIME, and it was a full head headgear. It's kinda hard to remember now (35 yrs later) what it looked like, but it was different!
I wore mine as much as I could so that I could get my braces off sooner. And I did! I got them off a year sooner! So, tell him even tho it may drive him crazy, remember the goal! And get em off sooner if you can!
Good luck!
You let Luke know that AC wore her head gear all the time! I was in 9th grade no less! But, by doing so I cut my time in half. I ended up only having to wear it 18 months. You just keep reminding Luke he is going to have a $1,000,000.00 smile just like Pilot when he is all done!! :D
Here's a large orthodontist directory that may be of help to your readers. - Sherpy
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