Early in June, 2009, my oldest son started his orthodontics journey. For those of you who have been reading for a while, you may remember that he needed more treatment than most. His lower jaw was set so far back that his bottom teeth were hitting the roof of his mouth.
We were pretty much aghast at the device they wanted to put on him. It was called a herbst, and this is what it looked like.
We sought a second opinion, hoping there was something less-scary looking that would help. However, they recommended the same thing.
Reluctantly, we finally agreed. As hard as it was going to be to watch him go through it, it would be far worse to do nothing. His friends had already begun calling him “Buck tooth”. The picture below was his normal smile.
Much to our relief, he adjusted just fine and wore the herbst until the spring of 2010. It was exciting when that thing came off! However, his braces remained in place until just last week.
I couldn’t be happier for him!
While he’ll wear a retainer for a while, he is LOVING his “naked” teeth, lol! (And yes, he reluctantly agreed to let me take this “after” picture for you.)
I’m so thankful we decided to do it. So often, we as parents struggle to make a choice we know will be tough on our child.
Even when we know it has to be done, and there is no other way.
I’m also thankful for a God who totally understands on a much larger scale!
Click on the picture for more thankful posts! Or better yet, share something you are thankful for on this beautiful day!
4 comments:
What a difference. And I agree it's so hard to make decisions that will cause necessary pain to our children. Our 9 year old needs to have his pallet widened and we have yet to go to the orthodontist for it. *sigh* But I know we have to do it sooner or later.
Have a beautiful day my friend.
Kim
I'm so glad to hear it turned out well - what a blessing for him.
Congratulations to him on the end of his "braces" journey! Our ten-year-old has been in braces since January. Her teeth are adjusting well and they should come off in the spring. She may have to have them again for a short time when she's a little older; we'll just have to see how the rest of her teeth come in.
We had an orthodontist tell us that she might have to have the herbst device as well, but it looks like she will not need it. How well I remember having to wear head gear when I was a teenager in braces!
He looks great! I can see that this would be a hard thing to see him go through, but it was worth it!
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