It is a different day and age. I had braces when I was 12. I am pretty sure I wasn't this excited. I did my best to not dampen Ian's spirit on what a pain braces are. How food easily gets stuck in your teeth, how you can't eat chewy-type foods (OMG! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE caramel -- so not fair!). How sore your teeth are each time you visit the orthodontist. The wearing of rubber bands, the wearing of head-gear (could you look more like a geek?? I think not) and the wearing of a retainer. I didn't tell Ian any of this. Let him have this moment to be excited. He will figure it all out soon enough.
The morning that Ian was getting his braces on, two twin 15 year old boys were getting there braces off. It was neat to the see the full circle. Ian's first phase includes 4 braces in the front of his teeth. It's a nice little introduction of what is to come. This is like dipping a toe in the pool before deciding to jump in. This phase should last 9 to 12 months. And then Ian will get a break before Phase 2 starts. Ian fortunately didn't need to have an expander -- the thought of turning that key weekly freaked me out. The main goal of doing phase 1 is to get Ian's overbite under control, because right now you could a sail a ship in the space he has with the top jaw extending over the bottom jaw.
Ian gets to chose what color to put around the braces. For the first 6 weeks, he has gone with a Hanukkah color theme and picked Blue & White. I love the Orthodontist. When the 15 year old boys were done, she handed them each a goody bag of everything they weren't able to eat -- gum, starburst, popcorn. How cool is that?
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| The before shot. |
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| He is still so happy!! |
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| The after shot. |
Another great thing about this orthodontist office is they encouraged me to come back to the area where Ian was being worked on and hang out. And, they didn't mind the camera at all.
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