The tears were flowing

When Brady and I found out Emma was going to need braces, we weren't surprised. Needing to get them now was the part that caught us a little bit off guard. Emma has very little room in her mouth for the eroding permanent teeth. Within the past eighteen months five baby teeth have been extracted. At Emma's last check up her dentist strongly encouraged us to get the needed ortho records done and to meet him about two weeks afterwards to discuss the results and his recommendations.

I took Emma for the ortho records appt which involved some special x-rays and molds of her teeth. When they put the mold material in Emma's mouth for the top teeth she got pretty upset. If you've ever had this done, you know why. It goes so far back it makes you gag and makes you feel like you are choking. I was scared she wasn't going to let them do the second round (bottom teeth), but Emma was brave. I exhaled and breathed a sigh of relief.

Brady and I met with Emma's dentist to discuss our options. Dr. S explained his findings, throwing out phrases such as inadequate eruption space for permanent cuspids, retrusive upper and lower incisors, single tooth crossbite, mildly retrusive profile, and so on. After his spill we knew without a doubt we needed to do this and do this soon. Emma's permanent right lateral incisor has almost turned completely sideways because her cuspids are trying to push through into one millimeter of space where seven millimeters are needed! (see the next pic) If we wait, I can't imagine what her teeth will end up looking like when her permanent teeth push through and crowd the others. I want my Em-Em to have a big beautiful, confident smile. So the next step was to start phase one of ortho treatment by scheduling an appointment for spacers to be placed between Em's teeth.

This past Thursday I took Emma to her spacer appt. At Emma's dentist's office there are no individual patient rooms. It's just one big room with several dentist chairs with a bench that extends the length of the room for parents and siblings. The dental assistant started pushing the spacers (see the blue spacers)between Emma's teeth and I could immediately see Emma's body tighten. Her feet were flexed, her hands were gripping the sides of the chair. Then I saw the tears. It was hurting. Emma was crying out. I got up to check on her and to reassure her. Next spacer. Again she was crying. I looked over to my left at John Brady when I saw these HUGE crocodile tears in his eyes and then I looked to my right at Abby. BIG tears, too. Ok, I was feeling pretty bad by this time. Seeing your first born trying to be so strong and then her siblings crying for her. Too much, I tell you. Too much for a mama's heart.

I mentioned Emma's overly dramatic response to the spacers. The assistant said it really does hurt so give her some ibuprofen as soon as you can. Poor thing. So we went immediately to the grocery store! There was a torrential downpour about the time we pulled into the parking lot. Three kids, pouring rain, lightning, wind. What did I do? I called Brady. Luckily he was at his office. He drove to the grocery store, bought the meds, and brought them to us in the parking lot. Bless his soul! He was soaking wet! He's a great daddy!

Emma will get braces this Wednesday. I'm hoping for no tears. I want to see her big precious smile like in the pic below. The only difference will be the little brackets and wires. Emma will wear the braces 12-14 months. Remember me calling this phase one? There is a possiblity Emma will have a phase two in her future. Maybe not, but it's possible.