Gotta Love that Smile

Ariel and her teeth have been a story of our life for many years now. When Ariel was three, she knocked out her two front teeth. I will never forget that day. It was the day before Mother's Day and we were moving furniture. We still lived in the apartment, and I had been bugging Mike for weeks that we needed to move some things around to get ready for Cecily. In doing so, we moved the dresser into the hallway.


To this day, Ariel will say that it is not her fault. She was running down the hall and she turned around to make sure her "Super Dog" (her make believe dog) was following her, and when she turned around again---WHAM! Teeth were pushed back into her gums. Don't worry, I'll spare you from the gory details. To this day, Mike believes that it was my fault. If I hadn't of wanted to move the furniture, it would never have happened because he kept saying, "what I wanted to do, was not going to work." . I remember going to church on Mother's Day (Mike stayed home with Ariel) and crying my eyes out blaming myself and thinking what a bad mom I was. Trust me, it took months for me to work that guilt out. Luckily they were baby teeth, and her teeth grew back.


Not only did they grow back, but they grew back fast. By the time she was 5, she had her teeth back, but not her cute little baby teeth. They were big, crooked teeth. From that time on, we realized she had Mike's teeth and boy were we going to be in for one expensive ride. And a ride it has been. Because of her overcrowded mouth, she has had to have all of her baby teeth pulled by a dentist to make room for her new teeth-15 in fact. Well, all but three-the two she knocked out (well those had to be pulled out from her gums) and one loose one that Mike pulled out because he refused to pay the dentist for doing something that he could do.


Ariel is the youngest patient of Dr. Greenleaf, her pediatric dentist, to have braces put on her teeth. When she was in kindergarten at the young age of 5, Dr. Oliver, her orthodontist began phase one of Ariel's treatment. Can I just say, our entire family LOVES Dr. Oliver--except for the money we have to pay him. (Actually, if you ask my girls what Mike and I want them to be when they grow up, they will both say: An Orthodontist. ) They normally don't put braces on children this age, but because Ariel's teeth were so bad (they were very crooked, bucked an protruding) and because she was clumsy (and had already knocked out two teeth) we all decided it was best to go ahead and try to straighten the two front teeth. She got braces on her top teeth. Lucky that we did because not even 6 months after getting her braces on, Ariel ran into the cultural hall door at church. We were told, had the braces not been on her teeth, and broke the impact, she would have probably caused permanent damage to her teeth.


Ariel loved wearing braces in kindergarten. All the kids in her classed loved the different colors etc. and would tell me that they wanted braces too. Ariel was a great patient. She did not eat hard candy, gum, popcorn etc. She followed the rules. In Feb. of her first grade year, phase one was done and it was time for the braces to come off. Ariel was sad. She loved wearing her braces, she loved seeing Dr. Oliver each month. But she was happy when Dr. Oliver gave her a big bag of all the stuff that she was unable to eat.


Last July, Ariel started phase 2 of the braces. On they went again, this time top and bottom. It does help that they have the colors now. It doesn't make it seem so bad, and I'm glad they are taking care of this before the rough teenage years. It is a lot harder for Ariel to get the brushing done right. It's hard to get under the brackets. She has gotten a couple of bad reports on her brushing. So, Mike decided to do a "good brushing"every night himself. He wanted me to do it, but I said, "NO WAY! She is big enough to brush her own teeth." But he did make a good point. We have put thousands and thousands of dollars in her teeth (let's just say that by the time we are done, for those of you who read Annie's blog, we could have bought Bro. Emmertson his bike). Mike did not want to see the money being wasted. The funny thing was that on the visit before our last, they said Ariel still needed to work on her brushing! HA, HA--it's a lot of work! When I told Mike, he was mad. Now we have a water pick and electric toothbrush that helps get the job done.


The Friday before last, something new was added to the braces:rubber bands! AHHHH Now, I'm finding these everywhere.

This is a crucial part of her treatment apparently. She has to wear the bands for at least 20 hrs. a day, and change them out three times a day. If she does not do this, they can not guarantee the results of her treatment. We both had to sign an agreement that she would do this and that if she did not, the orthodontist would not be held reliable. So far, so good. Hey at least she doesn't need head gear! The rubber bands were hard to get use to at first, even a little painful or so she says. But if she does everything right, in about a year, we should have a brand new mouth with an even more beautiful smile.

But guess what? At the girl's last dentist appointment Dr. Greenleaf, who we also LOVE, informed us of something we already knew: Cecily WILL need braces. She has an overcrowded mouth too. At Ariel's last appointment with Dr. Oliver, she had her first consultation. Guess what Cecily is going to need next Friday: 4 teeth pulled so that she has room for permanent teeth that are trying to push through and a space maintainer for her bottom teeth. Thank goodness for tax returns. Gotta love those Odom genes!