Today I* took Dalton to get braces.

The first time we ever sat down for an ortho consult was like 5 years ago, in Michigan, when he was 8. Our dentist had already been riding us for a few years at that point! It was never even a question of if,  but, when. When he was 8, braces were the furthest thing from his mind. He did NOT want them, he had no issues with his grin. I held firm to the mindset that they were his teeth, his body and his smile - if he did not want them, I was not going to push the issue.

Then a year or two ago he started saying that he wanted them after all. His teeth were increasingly crowded and uncomfortable, they were difficult to clean and they were bothering him. It was time. And then Tony lost his job and we moved out of state and became broker than broke from all the, well, job loss and long distance moving and all. That was the first of the many excuses. Really there was never a good one and its been a guilt I’ve carried around like a monkey on my back for the last two years.

Last week the kids all had cleaning and our new dentist mentioned the braces again and we had already been giving lip service to finding an orthodontist here in Texas and getting the consult. But enough was enough. I finally called, made the appointment for later in the week, went in, listened to what they had to say and committed on the spot. Less than a week later, we have braces! I feel sort of guilty for not getting a second opinion but I feel like we already HAD another opinion back 5 years ago in Michigan and what I heard here was like music to my ears compared to there. Plus I really really liked the office which, if you are going to spend thousands on braces, I think it matters right?!

I had no idea that braces were a) a lot more affordable than I thought b) a lot more easy to make a payment plan with and c) a lot less painful than they used to be. I almost felt guilty about putting this off for so long but then both my dentist and orthodontist said something that immediately made me feel 1000% better.

Turns out braces are yet another thing that is done differently in the south. Either that or orthodontia theory has changed in the last 5 years. Because when we had that first consult 5 years ago we were told that we were already “too late” for *optimal* care, that Dalton might need extractions, that he should have his teeth done very very soon. Dude, he was 8.  People I know were having their 5 and 6 year olds’ in braces. The oldest kid I knew with braces was 10. And I had gone out of my way to research orthodontists and find one who was conservative in his treatment and would not try to sell me on the most expensive or unnecessary procedure! I can’t imagine what the other orthodontists were recommending at that time. But I distinctly remember sitting in my dentist’s office afterward, having him reprimand me for STILL not having braces on my kid and trying to explain to him that my own child’s opinion about his orthodontia weighed heavily on my decision and omg - you’d think I had just beaten my child with a stick. He was obviously disturbed and offended and I got a lecture on Who Is The Parent and Who Is The Child. Apparently bad parenting begins when you give your child power of the decisions regarding his own body. 

Contrast that with my consult here where the orthodontist actually waivered about doing the work “so soon” at 13 years old and only decided to go ahead because Dalton has a tooth that is not coming down due to crowding. My dentist had forewarned us that they would not do work on kids much younger than Dalton but with my only perspective being the ortho-happy North, I thought she was full of it! And the thing that finally really sold me on this orthodontist was their attitude about wanting kids to be on board with the treatment. They were totally respectful and supportive of my age-old parenting views and instead of lecturing me on my permissive parenting they actually applauded me for bringing in a child who would be far more likely to take care of his mouth and would have a far more successful experience. Very nice. And I actually asked if they would have suggested doing the work earlier and they said no way.  I guess good parenting is in the eye of the beholder.

You know, I was also really stressing about Teegan, at age 10, needing braces and feeling like his window of opportunity had come and gone and how horrible was I to have TWO kids who needed braces YEARS ago! Come to find out they don’t even want to see Teegan for several more years. *love* And that’s a good thing becuase Teegan is totally not interested in braces at this point.

But also I love this place because it is like Club Med. I have to say I wish I needed braces! Haha. The office is SO nice. It is nice on the outside - like a little cottage. It is within walking distance of my house, which is an added bonus (becuase I will almost never have to go BACK to the office with Dalton - I can just send him on his own). It is BEAUTIFUL inside. They use state of the art technology which is sadly ridiculously important to me - the kids check in for appointments via computer, xrays and pictures are all printed out digitally within seconds of the consultation, I get email reminders for appointments, etc. They have TONS Of cool contests and promotions for the kids where they can earn gift certificates to anywhere they love to shop by taking good care of their teeth, showing up on time, etc. The staff are SUPER nice. The atmosphere is SO family-friendly - there is a huge play area with more technology (a touch-screen computer with games, a flat panel tv showing kids movies, etc all inside a safari vehicle in the waiting room!!) and yet another play area with nothing but video games. It was like going to the park! Well maybe it was not exactly so fun for Dalton but when he said that they were practically done putting on the braces before he realized that they weren’t still just cleaning his teeth, I didn’t feel bad for him at all! Plus I think he looks cute in braces!

* And here is where I explain and remind that phobias are, by their very nature, irrational and illogical. It is true that I can not step foot in a dentist office, that I can not have my teeth even looked at without vomiting AND crying and without my blood pressure going through the roof (literally) and can not have my teeth cleaned without sedation, it is true that I spend all day pacing and vomiting and having panic attacks during the days my kids have cleanings (while my poor husband has to take time off work to take them) and often spend several days beforehand completely out of sorts and pissed off at the world (think PMS on steroids) in awful anticipation. It is true I frequently have PTSD flashbacks of dental trauma my kids have endured (or even almost endured) that literally drive me into hysterics provoked by nothing at all. I am sure I need therapy and then some! And yet……orthodontia doesn’t bug me a bit. Not one little tiny bit. I admit that there was one tiny second today when I saw some latex gloves that I almost threw up in my mouth but I reminded myself that latex gloves have many uses outside of dentistry and I was ok. Crazy? A little.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 8:02 pm and is filed under Health, Things I Love, Venting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.