The boy is off to get his braces at the moment. He’d been OK with the idea until he mentioned it to some of his friends yesterday at school. Apparently, a bunch of 6-year olds were amazed he was getting braces at such a young age. Or something like that. Anyway, after that encounter he wasn’t so keen on the idea.
But he trooped off this morning without much in the way of complaint. I decided to give him a heads up that his friends may laugh at him when they see him with the braces on the first time. He still doesn’t like being laughed at, so I just wanted to prepare him and reiterate taht the best thing he can do is laugh along with them. I don’t anticipate any problems. Though I’m sure he’ll be a bit depressed about the whole thing.
This’ll be one of those character building experiences, I reckon.
UPDATE:
He’s doing well after the first few hours. The ortho was impressed enough with him that he told the Wife he wished all his child patients managed as he did. So +1 for the boy.
7 replies on “Braces”
It might have also been nice of you to remind him that his teeth will hurt just because his lips will be resting against them in about 12 hours…they will feel like every single one of them individually has the worst bruise you could possible imagine and they will do this relentlessly for about the next week.
He should probably also know, that while his friends are making fun of him, he will be sipping his meals through a straw because his teeth hurt so bad he won’t be able to chew anything for about the next week.
You should also remind him that he will get the joy of going through this discomfort every single time he gets his braces adjusted.
You should also remind him that the braces are necessary so that he has a beautiful smile for the rest of his life.
You should also remind him that if his hockey career reaches the highest levels, there is a realistic chance that all of this expensive dental work will be worthless.
He’s aware of the coming discomfort, though not the degree. He’s figured out that it won’t be much fun.
The point about hockey is amusing.
Yeah I was building to the punchline…glad it worked!
I was not aware of the degree either…at first I took it as a badge of courage, but it f-ing hurts…lots of nerves up there in the old dome and they all fire at the same time when you are essentially pulling on teeth 24/7!
On the bright side, nothing teaches you to wear your mouthpiece quite like having braces, he won’t ever get penalized for that in a game!
Aside from the abrasions, he may not be too bad for a couple other reasons:
He won’t have a full mouth of braces, just across the front and the anchors on the molars.
Initially, the front braces won’t be tied to the anchors. Guess they’re going to straighten out his front teeth first before compensating for the cross-bite.
Actually, speaking from experience of that situation, you never know how truly valuable your front teeth are until they are being twisted by braces. Try biting into something without using your front teeth some time, it is enough to make you cry without the pain!