The boys went to the dentist for a checkup back in August. For the first time in a very long time, Rylan actually let the hygienist do everything she needed to. Last time was awful with the screaming through clenched teeth. I'm really proud of Rylan because I know it was hard for him, but he did it!
Carter did great too!
And no cavities - woohoo!
However, Carter got the official recommendation to go see an orthodontist. We know he has a very small mouth - his baby teeth overlap. So this wasn't a surprise.
The dentist showed me Carter's x-rays which show his upper 6-year-old molars coming in at an angle and eroding his baby molars. They have not gotten to the nerves of these teeth yet but they most likely will and start to hurt. Also, the reason Carter has only lost 2 teeth (it was only 1 at that appointment) is because his permanent teeth are blocking one another from coming in. The dentist described it as cars all trying to merge into one lane at the same time. So the permanent teeth aren't pushing on the baby teeth because they are kind of stuck. They will eventually push up but come up very, very crooked. His recommendation was to pull the back baby molars to allow room for the 6-year-old molars to come in straight (EEK!!!). But he wanted us to see an orthodontist first.
Here is an xray from an orthodontist that I took a picture of:
We had consultations with two of the more populars orthodontists in our area. I asked several friends with older kids for recommendations because I really wasn't sure who was good.
We first saw the orthodontist that the boys' dentist recommended - Dr. Kemp. He had a very nice office with lots of fun tech things (like you check in with your fingerprint) but he was just a little too odd for me - he looked like he still loved the early 80s (mustache, collar a little too open, gold chain). The office seemed to be run very well and I'm sure Carter would end up with very straight teeth. Here is the summary of what they recommended for Carter:
They wanted to go ahead and do upper and lower palette expanders to try to create more room in Carter's mouth. From talking to other parents, these are not very comfortable and Carter was a little freaked out when the orthodontist was talking to us about them.
A couple of weeks later we visited another office - Dr. Lucas. While still nice, his office is much smaller and basic. Dr. Lucas is younger with children the same age as ours. Though the office wasn't as high tech we just got a better vibe with Dr. Lucas. He also automatically saw that Carter was nervous and wanted to treat Carter less aggressively. Carter will probably still be getting palette expanders in a year, but first Dr. Lucas wanted to first install a bracket in Carter's mouth to try to get those 6-year-old molars to come down straight. This would be a little easier on Carter and also allow him to build a relationship with Dr. Lucas and a little trust. He also is going slow on the bracket to allow Carter to get used to it.
First Carter got spacers put in to create some room for bands to go around his teeth:
Unfortunately the assistant at his first appointment only put the back spacers in and there wasn't enough room on the front side of the molars for the bands so Carter had to get the front spacers put in at his second appointment. At Carter's third appointment the assistant sized the bands for the molars and took a mold of Carter's mouth so his appliance could be made. The spacers were put back in for another week and on Monday, Carter got the appliance installed. Here's a picture of it:
In six weeks, Carter will have something attached to the brackets on the bands to push those 6-year-old molars into place. Once again, Dr. Lucas wanted Carter to get used to this first. He has said that because Carter's teeth are moving so much still with being young, we're not in a huge hurry (though we do need to go ahead and start treating him to make it easier later). Thank goodness no one wants to pull any teeth like the dentist recommended!!! Carter is already freaked out enough and super nervous before each appointment.
I never thought we'd be starting orthodontics this early but Carter has a super small mouth. And we should have expected it considering both Brian and I had permanent molars pulled to make more room in our mouths!!!
