Orthodontia

Jordan needs orthodontic work. This is not the least bit surprising; both Dale and I had braces and various other devices. Jordan's issues may be exacerbated by thumbsucking or may be just hereditary. Like I did, he has a very high, narrow palate, which is messing with how his top teeth line up with the bottom teeth. In my case the bottom teeth bent inwards to meet the top teeth. In his case, there is a crossbite: some of his back top teeth sit inside his back bottom teeth, instead of outside. This will not do.

We (now) have a terrific pediatric dentist, who recommended an orthodontist, who we saw for the first time this morning. We were impressed! The orthodontist was informative, convincing, a good communicator, and worked well with Jordan. Jordan seemed to enjoy the experience. He was not only very chatty about camp and birthdays and such, but was also completely honest and very articulate about his thumbsucking, not evasive at all. (He told me later that he thinks it's wrong to lie to a doctor. I agree with this.) The office is very organized and efficient, and it's conveniently located, which is helpful because we're going to be there a lot. Jordan likes the movies that play in the waiting room.

Jordan will need a palate expander. I had one of these. Back then they called it a palate "splitter," ouch. Thank god they appear to have improved the thing quite a lot in the past, um, thirty years. The concept is the same: the device sits below the roof of your mouth, and every day you turn a little key to make the device a bit wider, which gradually widens the palate. Mine involved a plastic plate like a retainer, but well below the roof of your mouth, so that it was hard to talk and eat, and food got stuck above it like you can't believe. It was miserable. Now it's just a wire and small screw thingy across the roof of your mouth. It still takes a few days to get used to, but it's significantly less horrible. Jordan will have that in for about six months. This may address the thumbsucking too (because there's a device in the way) or it may not. After the palate expander, he will have a device called a "crib," which is also on the roof of the mouth, and is built to get in the way of thumbsucking. After that, braces on just the front teeth, and after that, retainers. This will all take about 18 months and will line everything up very well. Most often, the adult teeth come in on the tracks established by the baby teeth, so there is a good chance that the corrections needed on his adult teeth will be minor. This is part of the rationale for starting orthodontic work now, rather than waiting until middle school: It's much easier and more stable to correct the shape of the palate now, while the bones are malleable.

I am oddly cheerful about the whole enterprise. It needs doing, we have a good orthodontist, and thank goodness we can afford it. But also it feels like a rite of passage. I must be a grown up, to have a kid that needs braces.