So, this week I took Alex to the Orthodontist to have an expander put in the roof of his mouth. His palette is so narrow that his teeth are coming in crooked, and he also has a cross-bite. Every night I have to turn the expander one crank so that it can essentially push apart the roof of his mouth and allow new bone to grow there. He will have the expander in his mouth for about 6 months. In 2-3 months, he will get braces on the front 4 teeth and he will have those on until next August or September. Hopefully, this will prevent more extensive treatment in his teen years, although he will probably have to have braces for a while once all of his permanent teeth come in. Poor kid--he got his mom's mouth. Hopefully the rest of the kids have Brian's!
Nice view, eh? He still talks pretty funny, but it's understandable with that big thing in his mouth! His biggest pet-peeve was how food would get stuck in the roof of his mouth. He was also drooling all over his chin, which wasn't the greatest thing to watch. I worried about him eating at school and what that could do to a 2nd grader at a brand new school! At dinner the first night, he was so discouraged he said, "Mom, can I just not eat until I get this thing out?" I felt so bad! Luckily, I had the same thing when I was younger so I told him that it would get better after a few days--which it has. He said that eating is "no big deal now". I'm glad this isn't a long-term thing!
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