Brace Face

Back when Arden was about 2 years old, we brought her to the dentist for her very first appointment.  The dentist looked in her cute little mouth, got a concerned look on his face and said, "Hmmmmmm..."  

Not good, right?  

Turns out Arden's cute little mouth is too little.  The dentist could tell back in toddler-hood that when permanent teeth started trying to find themselves some room in there, the results were not going to be pretty.  He advised us to start saving our money for some pretty serious orthodontia.  Yay!  Just what every mom of a 2-year old wants to hear, right?

Well, fast-forward 6 or so years, and the dentist's prophecy is coming true.  Arden's two front teeth came in relatively straight, but the ones next to those had nowhere to go, and started coming in a row in front of the rest.  Just what every little girl wants, right?  Rows of teeth!  Like a shark!  

The dentist reminded us (again) at our last appointment that we should take Arden in to an orthodontist as soon as possible maybe they could get started on her early.  So off we went.  One of Arden's good friends actually got braces a couple of months ago, and Arden was SUPEREXCITED about the idea that she might be able to get some too. The x-rays of Arden's teeth showed that the permanent teeth waiting in the wings were already jostling for room, and pointing every which way but where they were supposed to.  So, the orthodontist granted Arden her wish and STRONGLY recommended two phases of braces, with phase one starting as soon as possible.  Of course he did!  Arden couldn't wait.

Last Thursday, I told Arden that it was the day she was going to get her braces, and the girl actually clapped her hands and jumped up and down.

Weirdo.

I tried to warn her that braces are not all fun and games.  In fact, there are no fun or games involved at all.  She didn't care.  She was excited for some silvery teeth jewelry!  Here she is, in the office while I was arranging the not-so-fun business of paying for the shiny little torture devices.  I thought I had better get one more picture of the braces-free smile I wouldn't see for a while.

The very nice dental assistant got Arden all prepped:

She sent Arden to rinse and I had to get just ONE more picture of the excited-to-be-getting braces Arden, because I had the sneaking feeling that this might be the last time I got see her.

I was right.  The very next thing they did was stick a HUMONGOUS rubber contraption in my baby's mouth that stretched her lips farther than they were meant to be stretched and exposed every surface in her little mouth that you were never meant to see.  You can tell that the enthusiasm has drained out of her eyes and been replaced by apprehension:

At this point I reached over to pat Arden's hand and ask if she was okay.  She grabbed hold of my hand in a death grip and didn't let go for the next half an hour or so.  Luckily for her, the orthodontist promised to work quickly to release her from the lip-stretching device as soon as possible.  It couldn't be fast enough for either of us, I am pretty sure.  My poor Arden!

After what I am pretty sure will go down in Arden's memory as one of the longest half-hours of her life, the brackets were on.  Smile, Arden!  Somehow, the smile isn't quite reaching to her eyes, is it?

Arden's lips were actually bleeding from the stretching torture, so they gave her a chapstick and a smoothie certificate to try and make it up to her.  We grabbed the swag and got the heck out of there.  Here is a genuine smile of relief that we were out of the building:

Turns out the smoothie was a good idea.  Not only did they put braces on this poor girl, but they put something called "Bite Turbos" on her back teeth.  They said they were there because Arden's top teeth were touching her bottom brackets, and she was going to knock them off when she chewed if they didn't put the Turbos in.  Turns out, they also prevent Arden from closing her back teeth all the way together.  Huh.  How is she supposed to chew anything?

We couldn't figure it out, so here is her lunch for the next day:  Yogurt tubes, applesauce, and pudding.  Yup, we are back to baby food.

It was kind of a rough couple of days for poor Arden.  Any lingering excitement she had about her braces completely evaporated as she read the list of "forbidden" foods, which included some of her very favorite things, like popcorn and any sticky candy.  Is life really worth living if you can't eat Hi Chews?

It has been a few days now and Arden is starting to get the hang of chewing in different places, but we are a still having a lot of soup and yogurt and stuff.

Hopefully she gets used to them soon.  Hang in there baby!