Barnyard Blessings: Braces...She's got 'em.

Gracie is blessed to have teeth like her momma... well, not so much. It's a terrible trait that she's inherited. I don't think my teeth were quite as bad as hers. She had to have two little crowns when she was 4 years old because of deep cavities, and we've been waiting for all of her baby teeth to fall out because almost everyone of them has a cavity. When her permanent teeth did grow in, they grew in big and beautiful, until they started crowding eachother out of the way. Her two front top teeth have been pushed to the side, which make her left front almost in the middle.

We debated a while as to whether we should start braces this early (at age 8). It seemed that anyone who has braces early, ends up getting them again later. After a trip to the orthodontist for her evaluation, I realized that starting them early was probably the best decision. It will help make room for the other permanent teeth to grow in and help the gums not to look so funky after she gets the braces off (the second time). Yes, she'll most likely have to have two sets of braces...

In order for them to start, we were supposed to have one of her baby teeth pulled because it was in the way of getting things started. We waited a couple months to see if she could loosen it by hand and pull it out. She had loosened it a lil bit, but it was still attached pretty well, so we made a make-shift dental chair by laying her on the bed with a pillow and used a bent needle-nose plier to kind of twist it out. We were all excited to show dad the tooth that we extracted!

The Before Picture

As for the actual braces, she was so excited to be getting them! Seriously. She was counting down the days since Christmas. Everyone kept telling her all of the foods that she wouldn't be able to have, but it didn't deter her at all. Caleb already has braces, so she was pretty prepared on what to expect.