The girls are now six months into their tween-age journey of Life in Braces! We have had several adjustments, a bracket break and a couple of wire pokes, but thus far, all has been rather uneventful. Each time the girls have had a minor break or wire that needed attention, we were easily worked into the schedule and taken care of immediately.
There are three things over the past six months that have stuck out as important issues. Those things are:
- The importance of oral hygiene
- Keeping our regularly scheduled appointments
- Dealing with small breaks in brackets or wires
Even with good oral hygiene, one of the girls still ended up back in the dentist’s chair to get a cavity filled. Before we went in to get her cavity filled, the dental hygienist requested we get her wire taken off, stating it was easier for the dentist to work in my daughter’s mouth. Once she was finished at the dentist’s office, we were able to have the orthodontist put her wire back on, and she didn’t have any disruption in her treatment. I had not even considered that. From now on, I will have the arch wires removed before the girls get their regular cleanings and replaced when the cleanings are done.
With the scheduling, rescheduling, and format change to the TNReady testing this year, I have had to move appointments around to keep the girls in classes during testing times, or at least when we thought they would be testing. It was during a rescheduling call that I realized how important it is to keep the appointments as close to the original scheduled time frame as possible. The appointments are spaced out to make the most of each adjustment, and missing or putting off appointments can lengthen the overall time spent in braces.
Loose or broken brackets, poking wires, or broken bands can happen to even the most conscientious rule followers. When these things happen, the first thing to do is call the office and let the staff know exactly what is happening. Sometimes it is possible to wait until your next appointment, and you will be advised the best option for your situation. The girls have experienced poking wires, and only one has broken a bracket. Each time this happened, the girls were quickly seen and the problem was fixed. While we do keep wax on hand for the pesky times when a bracket is bothersome or a wire is poking, we haven’t needed to use a lot of it.
Being six months in with little drama in their orthodontic treatment plan has a smile on my face!
Our orthodontic experience is at Starling Orthodontics in Brentwood where we are receiving discounted orthodontic treatment in exchange for an honest review of my experience. All information and content are an honest review of my experience.