And so it begins...

My name is Christina and I have been a mom for 11 years to a little girl named Madison.  Although, the little girl is now nearly as tall as I am!  Madison is about to begin orthodontic treatment.  This comes as no surprise, as my husband and I have known since she was at least 5 years old that braces would be in her future (mostly thanks to genetics)!  Lucky for us, my husband, her Dad, Darren, is an orthodontist.

Madison is not an easy case by any means.  She has a small, crowded mouth and there just isn't enough room for all those teeth!  She also has a pretty significant overbite (she was not a thumb-sucker or a pacifier baby either!) which makes her self-conscious, especially when smiling for "selfies"!  Most of the time, she brings her lower teeth forward to make it look "better", but it's still not a natural smile (which we all know from awkward school photos, a real smile, is the best smile)!  On top of that, she's got teeth up in her gums, which need to come down!  Sheesh!

This is actually not the first orthodontic treatment she will have.  Madison had a palatal expander (RPE) when she was around 9 years old.  This device expands the upper jaw (roof of the mouth) and creates a wider arch, with more room for teeth to come in.  This creates a gap between the two front teeth (sometimes large) which closes over time.  It takes a little bit of time to adjust to eating and speaking with the expander, as we noticed at our first meal together as she was "slurping" her food and struggling to pronounce her S's and T's, but this improved pretty quickly.  They must be diligent with keeping it clean though, as food gets stuck under it very easily.  This was a relatively short, easy period of treatment (a few months).

Now we move into the tooth extraction phase.  She just doesn't have the space required to get all of her teeth lined up properly, so Dad explained to her that she would need to have 4 premolars removed (these are the first teeth behind the canines) and a baby tooth that hasn't come out yet.  WHAT??!!
I can empathize.  I am down 8 teeth in my small mouth, after wisdom teeth were removed.    However, Madison is a bit of a worrier.  She overthinks things ALL the time.  "What-if" is one of her most frequently asked questions!

So, Monday, April 14th, her Dad will take her to see the oral surgeon (on his birthday...) for a little bit of laughing gas and tooth extractions.  He will listen to her worries on the 30 minute car ride to the office and reassure her many times that all will be just fine.

We would like to share Madison's journey through orthodontic treatment and give a very personal perspective from a daughter who hears about orthodontics every day, but maybe doesn't know yet how it will take her from here to there.  From a "fake smile" to a real genuine SMILE.

                                                                     
                                                    MADISON

                                                  MADISON AND DAD

                 
                                                MADISON AND MOM