About four hundred and sixty three people have asked me why Aliya has braces at such a young age, so here goes. She has a really bad cross-bite, which you can see from my highly technical photo at right. I had been taking her to a regular dentist instead of a pediatric dentist, thinking that the only difference was that pediatric dentists had the TV’s, stuffed animals with big teeth, fabulous prizes…boy, was I wrong. The regular dentist didn’t even mention the cross-bite to me…I noticed it when she was getting a filling and the dentist told her to bite down on that little piece of paper they use to check the filling.
Since I really disliked the front desk ladies at Adlani’s dentist’s office and Norah hadn’t been to the dentist yet, I decided to find a new dentist for all 3 kids. We found a practice that we love…Dr. C and Dr. B in Wayland. Dr. B mentioned Aliya’s cross-bite and recommended that she be evaluated for braces, which consists of a series of photos, x-rays, and measurements.
After the evaluation was done, Dr. C sat down with me for a detailed discussion of his findings and a plan. It was obvious that she needed braces, it was just a matter of when. In the old days, kids got braces around 12ish, and had them on until 15 or 16. Obviously that varied, but you never saw an 8-year-old with braces. The orthodontist would wait until the permanent teeth were in place, and then try to maneuver everything around with braces, often pulling some adult teeth as well as baby teeth.
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Many orthodontists still follow this school of thought, but Dr. C has been a pioneer in the field of early orthodontics. Some of the benefits are 1) Aliya won’t have to have any permanent teeth pulled, 2) her growth can be used as an asset and her permanent teeth can be guided into the desired position instead of moving them after they’re in place, 3) her teeth are more likely to stay where they are when the braces come off, and 4) she’ll be out of braces by the time the she hits the awkward middle school years.
Aliya was excited about getting braces because she wanted to look older, but the first few days were rough. She had to re-learn how to eat and talk because she kept gagging on food and always had a mouthful of spit when she talked – so annoying! But she’s doing well now, even though she has a gigantic “appliance” on the roof of her mouth. She’s already planning what colors and patterns to get at her upcoming visits. .
Aliya was a great patient, and the most amazing thing was that her dental assistant was one of the dancing queens from Samba. She winked when she saw me, so I think she may have recognized me and didn’t want me to call her out in front of her boss. She’s really nice.
And the bottom line…yes, braces are expensive. The total is $5,500 but Ben and I each have dental insurance for the whole family so a bunch will be covered by insurance. The payment plan is $1,000 up front and $200/month, but Dr. C’s office manager offered to defer most of the 2009 cost into 2010 so I could put money in my flexible spending account and pay for the braces with pre-tax dollars. That would save me almost $2,000 if I was paying for the whole thing without insurance.
Let’s hope the other two have nice straight teeth and no need for braces!
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