Orthodontist Update

(forgive the wild hair - rainy & windy!!)

Natalie had her follow-up with the orthodontist.  Back in September, we began our journey with them.  Natalie had a crowded top jaw and a resulting cross-bite.  As she lost her baby teeth, it was clear that it was going to be a mess as her larger permanent teeth started erupting.

We found a fabulous guy who is very proactive and we were able to start treatment almost immediately.  In October, they placed an expander in her mouth.  We used a "key" to essentially unscrew it each morning and night for a total of 28 turns.

The final result is a jaw that is 7mm wider than when we started and according to our visit this week, has now created plenty of room for her permanent teeth to come in.

For now, our only thing to monitor is her top right front tooth.  He noticed that it's coming in a bit "behind" the left one and said if it's too pronounced, he'd like to just put 2 braces brackets on those teeth and correct that before it gets worse.

Otherwise, we got back in a few months.  The expander is still in her mouth to allow the bones to fuse and maintain the space in there.  Once she has her 4 top teeth in, they will use braces to straighten them out and then put a permanent wire behind them to hold until she's ready for her "real" set of braces at 12-13 years old.

So far, so good - it's made a world of difference already!