What can you do with an extra several thousand dollars you just have laying around the house?
Some people buy new things; cars, landscaping, new furniture, etc.
Some people invest in
HARDWARE
Like most long-term projects, installation of the hardware can be extremely tricky.
But the result will make all the blood, sweat and tears
worth it.
On this particular Cinco De Mayo, Dallin got his braces.
He brushed his plain teeth one last time.
And I took one last 'before' picture.
He looks tired.
He hadn't really slept, he hadn't really eaten.
He was just too nervous.
Doesn't this just break your heart?
He could not look more apprehensive.
And it begins.
First thing they do is sandblast your teeth.
It feels like you have eaten the beach,
minus the seagulls.
Still, the anxiety was really high.
Then you look like you ate a really blue cupcake.
This is a primer they put on before the glue.
Then the actual brackets.
Dallin got these cool ones that are little,
and have little gates that open and close.
It makes it really easy to change the wire.
That white thing in his mouth is a 'cheek keeper'.
It keeps your cheeks out of the way while they work on you.
He also had a tongue barrier.
It was blue and kept his tongue in the back of his mouth so his teeth remained as dry as possible.
And still there was the anxiety.
So we have the bottom front,
and the top front,
then the back ones on the left,
then the back ones on the right.
The Orthodontist adjusts them before they are set with an ultra-violet light.
Then the wire.
In this case,
he had to spend even more time in this very
uncomfortable position.
Since his teeth tip in towards his mouth, he was unable to bite down without hitting his teeth on the new brackets on his bottom teeth.
So they used the concrete
(or whatever it is they use)
on his brackets and filled his back molars with it.
This built up his teeth so that he could bite without hitting those bottom brackets.
This, like the installation of MOST hardware took longer than anticipated.
We had figured about 1 1/2 hours.
Even though we have the most amazing Orthodontist
IN THE WORLD
poor Dallin was a shell-shocked, tired, sore patient after
THREE HOURS.
Yes, it took
TWICE
as long as anticipated.
Poor kid.
Poor cheeks.
Poor sore teeth.
I gave him the option of staying home, or going back to school.
I encouraged him to curl up on the couch under a blanket.
After a short period of time, he decided to forgo the
Cinco de Mayo
party at school.
Once he had made up his mind,
and got
COMPLETELY COMFORTABLE
and let go of all the anxiety
this is what happened. . .
He earned it.
Danielle
