Life Comes At You Fast

I half expected to hear that familiar Nationwide slogan coming somewhere from the periphery this afternoon as I sat in a chair opposite our family orthodontist and listened to the detailed plan of treatment for my eight-year-old daughter. What started as a mere suggestion a little more than a month ago has now become a painful reality--Peyton has officially entered the world of orthodontia.

At her regular check-up in June, the dentist pointed out some crowding taking place in Peyton's lower jaw and mentioned that one of her permanent teeth was trying to make its way through her gum; the problem is, the tooth won't fit. There's no room at the inn. I still remember his fairly innocuous words giving me a chill when he spoke them: "I believe she may need orthodontic intervention." Oh, the dreaded words.

I dutifully made an appointment for her, and was fortunate enough to get her in at the same time that I was taking Tyler for a check-up (as it turns out, he got his FULL upper braces today, so he had a big plate of mashed potatoes for dinner, with a side of . . . mashed potatoes). Quicker than you could say "gingivitis," the orthodontist was laying out a full-scale plan of attack: X-rays, spacers, molds and two--count 'em, TWO--expanders in her mouth--and that's all in the space of 7-10 days! Then, if I'm not mistaken, in approximately six months she will get BRACES on her teeth--my 8-year-old in braces!--at which time the dentist will perform a frenectomy.

Full disclosure: I am not exaggerating--I just Googled "frenectomy" and found a YouTube video broadcasting the procedure, and I nearly threw up at the sight of it! No, no, no, the procedure isn't a big deal and from what I'm told isn't painful--the ortho said most patients usually don't even realize they've had anything done--but trust me, it looks gross.

In case you're wondering what a frenectomy is, a little tutorial: A frenum is a fold of tissue or muscle connecting the lips, cheek or tongue to the jawbone. A frenectomy is the removal of one of these folds of tissue. Sometimes a frenum can be attached too high on the gums causing either recession or spaces between teeth. The procedure to remove this is a called labial frenectomy and involves the removal of tissue attachment between the two front teeth as the gap between the teeth can again pushed apart by the frenum even after it being initially corrected via a different procedure. The frenum can be attached in such a way that it prevents the baby teeth from coming through. (Thank you, Dentalfind.com!)

I must say, the silver lining in this cloud remains our choice of orthodontic practice. Our orthodontist came highly recommended and he is AWESOME. He is super-duper friendly and has a very calming presence, and Peyton was at ease from start to finish. He wasn't even above a little flattery--he told her, "I can fix your mouth up, but you're just going to have to live with those long eyelashes--I can't do anything about those!"