Well, I guess I missed a post!
For the many readers who have been following D’s palate expander to braces journey, I have quite an update. Braces are off!
Now, let me back up for a bit, because I neglected to mention that D had his braces put on in October 2014. We had been in a holding pattern for about a year, waiting for all of his baby teeth to fall out prior to resuming treatment. He also has that residual arch appliance (a little bridge, if you will, to keep his palatal arch from moving) from after they removed the palate expander until about 6 months into his braces journey. Then, they removed that and he just had the braces.
The journey went very fast, thanks to D’s compliance with wearing his elastics religiously, and the skilled hands of our orthodontist. D’s braces were removed on Feb 8th, 2016 and we are now in the land of retainers! Time-wise, he had his braces on for exactly 16 months which really flew by. In all, since his early treatment with the palate expander, he spent just over 4 years fixing many, many issues he had (some of that time was spent waiting inbetween). Every cent spent was worth it.
Remember his broken teeth from the bike accident? We had those bonded shortly before the final impressions for his permanent retainer. So, I guess, with the exception of retainer checks, we are done treatment.
I will tell you, the time went so very fast.
If you are seeing this post for the first time, please take a moment to read my archives to find out about the journey.
Also- there are so many of you that commented on my first post, if you are new to the land of orthodontics and specifically want to hear from others about their journey, there are nearly 100 comments to read that may be helpful. Almost all center around the palate expander since it still is the hardest to find information on this torture device (kidding). There is no reason to fear the expander!!
Of course, if you have any specific questions, you can comment here, I will answer, and maybe a few of my fellow readers will as well!
Keep Smiling!! 😉
Braces off!! February 2016
BagMomma 