Orthodontics – Helping our Kids get Healthy Smiles
Did you have orthodontics procedure done when you were younger or perhaps as an adult? Or have you not and you wished you would have? My husband and I have always said that if our daughters ever need orthodontic treatments we would do them and would do so as soon as it would be recommended. Some things can wait, but in our minds health and dental health come first!
Helping our Kids get Healthy Smiles – Orthodontics
Ends up that both our daughters need orthodontic treatments. Gabrielle has had braces for already two years (she got hers in February of 2014). Our little Emanuelle got a palatal expander put in two weeks ago (I’ll go into more details shortly.). Yes, getting dental work done is expensive. My husband has dental insurance which is great HOWEVER it does not cover orthodontics, which means we have to pay everything in full. But regardless of how expensive it is, it’s important to us to help our daughters have the healthiest smiles possible. We want their oral health to be the best it can be along with having a beautiful smile to be proud of. It would break my heart if I noticed them starting to change the way they smile because they are embarrassed of their smile (teeth). I’m certain you know the smile I’m taking about, right? The smile showing no teeth. I want them to have the freedom to smile & laugh without feeling like they have to hide their teeth.
Orthodontics – Braces
As I mentioned, Gabrielle has had her braces for two years already. When she had the braces put in, they put them on her top teeth only. Actually on her 4 front teeth as they were the only adult teeth there. I would say that within a few months we could already see a difference in her teeth, she no longer had a gap between her front teeth and they were able to make more room on the sides for her adult teeth to come in. In November they added braces to her bottom teeth. Basically she needs braces to give room for her adult teeth. She has a small jaw, which comes from me (I have teeth growing inwards to prove it. hehe) So you’re wondering then why did she have a gap between her front teeth if she has a small jaw? Because she was loosing baby teeth prematurely because of the lack of space. So when 4 front teeth started growing, they caused many of her baby teeth to fall out before they were supposed to. So when the front teeth starting coming out they had a bunch of room, room that wasn’t meant for just them.
On the right is Gabrielle the day she had her top braces put on. On the left is a recent photo of her with both top and bottom braces.
Orthodontics – Palatal Expander
Emanuelle’s orthodontics procedure is different from Gabrielle’s. Emanuelle has a crossbite (misalignment of the dental arches). The installation of braces alone wouldn’t be enough to fix her crossbite and to give room for her adult teeth. Her orthodontist put in a palatal expander to fix it. These guys are not comfy. They are made to stretch out the bone and cartilage of the palate. Every night before bed, we have to make an adjustment to her palate expander to what I would say sorta looks like a gear. We have to turn it once, which makes the palatal expander expand to one setting bigger. On top of that, because Emanuelle is young, hers is made to stay in place for at least 4 months, which means it’s fixed. It’s glued into place over her teeth, what goes over her teeth looks like a mouth guard.
Below are photos of Emanuelle the day she had her palatal expander put in.
The right photo is the before and the left photo is the after. You can see on the after photo that it’s molded over her top side teeth.
Orthodontic Procedures can be uncomfortable
As you can imagine, orthodontic procedures are often uncomfortable. That’s why I have a few homeopathic products on hand to help soothe my girls. My go to homeopathic products for dental health are: Teething for kids, Bumps + Bruises for kids, and D3 Drops 400IU for kids.
Yes, I realize that my kids aren’t teething anymore, but Teething for kids can help with dental pain, inflammation, and irritation. Also, in Emanuelle’s case, the palatal expander can cause bruising, that’s why I love having Bumps + Bruises for kids on hand to help with the bruising and the discomfort. As many of you know Vitamin D is one important vitamin. However did you know that it’s vital for the development and maintenance of bones and teeth? Well, it is and that’s why I make sure my girls get their Vitamin D with the D3 Drops 400UI for kids.
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I’d love to know if anyone in your family or yourself have had orthodontics treatment done?
How many years of treatments?
Have a GREAT day!
Disclosure: I am part of the Orange Naturals Mom Ambassador Program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.
I always enjoy reading posts like this and finding out how many different things there are that can be done to help teeth. I never had braces myself, but I always thought they were an awesome display of technology in action. Thanks for sharing your experiences with orthodontia – I found it super insightful!
As my kids get older I’ll have to schedule a visit to the orthodontist since it looks like there are a lot of benefits to scheduling a visit at an early age. I think it would be better to have braces put in at an early age rather than later, so I’ll look into that. Thanks for sharing the story of your kids dental procedures and the advice in your post.