Adventures in Orthodontics

We had a dentist appointment last Wednesday, A7 and I. The dentist recommended that I take A7 to an orthodontist, she sucks her thumb, she's done it since she was a baby... so he set everything up, gave us a copy of her teeth x rays and made an appointment for today.

I wasn't sure what to expect because I've never been to the orthodontist, I guess I never need it to. A7 was a little nervous as well. Well... what an experience! When we got there the receptionist(she was very sweet) addressed her(A7) at all times, gave her instructions on how to sign in(touch computer) and told her that's how she is to do it from now on... hhhmmm... from now on?? Is she under the impression that we are coming back?? more than once?? Ha ha! I had no idea what I was getting into.

They took her away for about 10 minutes, the woman she was with had a digital camera with a huge lens. She told me "I'll call you when we are ready for you" oookay.... They were taking pictures of her face, her profile and her mouth, her teeth. When she was finally "ready for me" I went into the room and saw A7 filing out a paper, she was sitting very comfortably in this huge chair, she was answering questions like, what's you favorite sport, food, tells us about your family, favorite store etc. She had no problems writing down the answers. She was having a ball!!

It was so different from any doctor or dentist office I've ever been to. Another peculiar thing, they wanted her to become familiar with the place, they showed her around and told her were everything was. Everything in the place seemed so comfortable, they had Nintendo games, TV, books. They had a cart with lots of goodies, pencils, papers, stickers... you name it. Now I know why they go through all that trouble.

A7 is going to need braces, but not for a while. Right now she needs some type of "tongue crib". It's going to help her stop sucking her thumb and it's going to retrain her tongue.That means, we are going to be visiting this place a lot in the future. Three appointments in the month of December alone. They are going to be doing a lot to her mouth...x rays, impressions and more pics. She showed us the tongue crib, it's going to be cemented?? on her mouth for six months. They are going to check on the thing every six to ten weeks.

The best part??? Our dentist insurance does not cover orthodontist stuff. This is coming out of our own pockets, all I have to say is thank God we already bought the kids their X-Mas gifts... ha ha!! They do have have a payment plan(thank you again God!). But we have to pay 1/3 or 1/4 up front then the payment plan kicks in... of course!

She also told me it's around $6000 for braces...yyyaaaaayyyyy!!! they also have a payment plan for that!! Well, we don't have to worry about that till she's 11 or 12 yrs old.... Now, her thumb sucking has nothing to do with needing braces, even if she never sucked her thumb she would still need them. I just hope X5 is not going to need any of this!!!!