About 9 months ago, while at Brooke's dentist appointment, they recommended that we go see an orthodontist to address the crowding of her teeth. I made the appointment and really loved the orthodontist. He explained that Brooke has a crossbite, meaning that her upper jaw is narrower than her lower jaw, so her upper jaw wasn't fitting probably over the bottom. I wasn't shocked because Kevin has the same problem. He recommended that we wait 6 months and see if her natural growth made any difference.
Fast forward 6 months, and we went back in to visit the doctor. He showed us the 6 month comparison, and concluded that we needed to start with a jaw expander. I appreciated that he tried to let her natural growth pattern help the situation, but since it wasn't enough, we had to take a more aggressive approach.
He showed Brooke pictures of what the device would look like, and asked how she was feeling. She was pretty quiet, but I think it was a lot to take in.
Then they showed me the price (nearly $2,000) and I was a bit shell shocked! I decided to get a second quote from the orthodontist I saw for my Invisalign. The office is right here in Mansfield, so overall it would be more convenient for us, but I was disappointed to find that the two orthodontists had sold the practice to someone else.
They did a scan of her jaw and gave me very similar information about the cross bite and the need for an expander. The price was better, and so I agreed to get the process started.
They used another tool to create the 3D image of her teeth to be sent off to the manufacturer of the expander. Unfortunately the turnaround time was like 6 weeks, but when it arrived, they had us come in for spacers. They looked like little pieces of rubber that they shoved between her back molars and the teeth next to them to create "space" for the expander to attach to her molars.
We went the next morning for the expander, and although she was sort of excited at first, she quickly realized that it wasn't any fun at all.
They glued the expander to her teeth and it looked kind of painful as they shoved it on and then made her bite down to ensure that it was tight. I loved that she wanted to wear her little sloth critter on her wrist for comfort :)
As soon as the expander was secure, they taught me how to "make the turns" that we would do every night for 28 days. Each turn would widen the expander, which would then widen her jaw. After the 28 days, they would reassess to determine whether her jaw was big enough, and then she would need to keep it in position for an additional 6 months. It all seemed easy enough :)
Update: There was definitely a huge learning curve. She ate a lot of pudding and jello those first few days, but eventually was able to eat a wider variety of foods. About a week in, the expander popped off one of her teeth. Of course it was on a Thursday night as I was making the turn, so we couldn't get in until early the next week. The hygienist made a comment about how it shouldn't have come loose, so she went through the whole process of re-gluing it into Brooke's mouth. She also commented on how dirty the top was, and asked how we were cleaning it. We had been told to brush it, so that's all we were doing. Along with the occasional syringe squirt when food was stuck, haha. She recommended that we get a water pik, so we bought one that afternoon. I don't know why they never mentioned that before, because it really helped with cleaning the expander. Brooke also used it quite a bit to get food out during meals.
Well, a week later, we were dealing with the same issue again. And it happened on a Thursday again, and since they aren't open Friday-Sunday, they couldn't fit us in until the following Tuesday. I was pretty irritated because I had only made like 12 turns, and couldn't do anything for days since it was barely staying in place as it was and when I tried to turn in, Brooke was in so much pain. I knew it was just pushing on her teeth/gums in a weird place, so I decided to do nothing until we could get in to see the doctor.
The hygienist seemed annoyed right off the bat and made some comment about how I shouldn't be using any force when I made the nightly turns. I told her that I wasn't, and then expressed concern that it had popped off 3 days after it was glued in. I said it in a nice way, but then she followed up with, "If it was due to a bonding issue, it would come off within 24 hours. If not, it's not a bonding issue." So she was placing the blame on me. I was super irritated. As the orthodontist walked past, I called him over and explained the situation and asked why this was happening. He was super condescending to his hygienist and said, "It definitely shouldn't be coming off. We just need to get better at our jobs." I couldn't believe how rude he was, and I could tell that his hygienist was irked as well. I didn't care for the way he was handling the situation, but just said that she would re-secure it in Brooke' mouth. I wanted him to do it since he just totally threw her under the bus, but I wasn't sure how to handle that.
So, she re-glued it in, tugged on it, and it popped right back out. I felt completely validated and she made a comment about how that shouldn't have happened. She took it to the back, and when she returned she explained that it was acting like a teeter-totter. Once she had one side attached, she would push it up on the other side, and the first side would pop down. It was a faulty device, so it was nobody's fault. Again, I flagged down the doctor and he explained the same thing. Just a faulty device, and when I questioned why it fit fine at first, he just brushed it of and said they needed to order a new one. And we'd have to wait another 6 weeks to get it.
Basically, we would be starting over. I felt so bad for Brooke because we had already been dealing with this for nearly 3 weeks, but it is what it is. So, we'll start this whole process again in February.
As we left the office, Brooke made a comment about kind of missing her expander, so I guess there's that, haha. She had gained her confidence back, so at least she will be prepared for when we start again. In the mean time, she can chew gum and eat all the sticky stuff she wants :)
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