Jon’s braces began yesterday. What more to say? (Hint: I’ll find something)
Post-orthodontic casting, Jon thinks he’s Bono!
He wasn’t used to a lip protector, which held his mouth open abnormally wide.
Aside from a couple of short bouts of quick-breathing—not quite to the point of hyperventilating—he stayed calm and got through it just reasonably well. Nothing like the time he had a filling put in, and then replaced some months later, to correct previous errors. Both those times he turned into a BEAST. Seriously feral.)
Break time. Some of the anchors are bonded, but no bumpers or wires yet.
At the end of the three hours.
We’re due in next week to complete the top set—a couple more back anchors and a pair of bands on the back teeth. Meanwhile today, the morning after, Jon wasn’t exactly delighted to wake up with them. Nor with the cheery dad saying “Nope, they’ll be on your teeth for a couple of years, probably. I had mine on for longer.” He remained disgruntled. Heck, I didn’t even tell him about the crazy headgear I had to have!
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Laura says:
February 16, 2012 at 4:29 pm (UTC 0)
According to Peter, who was a survivor of braces back in the paleolithic era (*snerk*), orthodontic procedures have modernized considerably, and seem much sleeker and less unwieldly than when he endured them (for some reason I keep having mental images of Lisa Simpson’s braces with vs. without Homer’s dental plan). At least there’s no headgear nowadays!
Laura says:
February 18, 2012 at 5:17 pm (UTC 0)
And it’s not an exaggeration when we say that Jon turned into a beast when he had his filling. During the procedure dad pretty much had to lie on top of Jon to hold him down, while Jon emitted a low, constant, feral growl. (Seriously, it was scary.) And afterward Jon pretty much chewed his frozen tongue to mulch, so we swore that if he ever had another filling on the bottom jaw again we would have to shell out for general anesthesia. Hasn’t happened again yet (touch wood).
Reid says:
February 18, 2012 at 6:45 pm (UTC 0)
Oh there’s still headgear. Ronnie had to wear his while he was at home but not at school thankfully.
Laura says:
February 18, 2012 at 8:08 pm (UTC 0)
Oooh nasty. Guess that shows what *I* know, since I never had the pleasure of braces! (Peter had the sasquatch teeth in this family and unfortunately Jon got those.)
Peter says:
February 18, 2012 at 8:17 pm (UTC 0)
From what our orthodontist says, in her practice headgear is far less common nowadays than it was in days past. I had both back of the neck and skullcap headgear (the kind ham radio operators used to use to get Radio Moscow!). There were 6 weeks stretches where I had to wear it at school. Wheee!
A small sample of my teenagehood.
That said, Jon’s program is specifically tied to a gent who will not be as physically able to follow the rules. Elastics, which are part of the equipment to shift the jaw position, wouldn’t be terribly practical with Jon—he’s more likely to fiddle with them (and thus pop them) and is unable to replace them, and it’d be a real chore for any body to have to fish around in his mouth and anchor new ones the many times it will happen. So we’ll be using an alternate spring system called the Crossbow. (Yes, orthodontistry has come along way, but no so far that it can’t refer back its root in the Spanish Inquisition).
So headgear is not likely in Jon’s future. And neither is anything that he just cannot tolerate, or that overtly or consistently distracts him from his schoolwork or life. One of the benefits of this particular brilliant doctor is that she’s anticipating Jon’s special needs as much as she can, and she doesn’t want the orthodontistry to become the centre point of his life. She’s very much aware that he has other challenges far greater. She’s a good one.
Paul Mason says:
April 4, 2012 at 5:26 pm (UTC 0)
welcome to the braces season. mm i think the hard part will be the cleaning around them. good luck.
on a totally different tangent. how many people reading this blog think Peter should try SUP this year:)
link as to what SUP is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtnJcfOof4o&list=UUWd1MxAR7_YAkzty7UcrXQg&index=14&feature=plcp