and our adventure with the orthodontist begins...

At their last dentist visit, the doctor wanted Marcus to see an orthodontist for a crossbite. His upper teeth line up slightly behind his lower teeth. I finally made the appointment and took him last week. The result: a retainer for Marcus. I didn't think he would need one, but was not surprised after seeing the xray of his upper teeth and being explained that Marcus had a small mouth. This retainer will create more space for all his "big" teeth to come in and hopefully (per the orthodontist) he will only need braces (probably) once all his adult teeth come in.

Marcus is so funny about new situations. When the orthodontist said that he would be getting a retainer, he said, "I don't think I want one." We told him it would be okay and the orthodontist said, "I bet there are other kids in your class with retainers." I said, "He's in the second grade." I'm pretty sure he's the first kid in his class with a retainer. Anyway, Marcus was anxious about the retainer so I helped him decide on what flavor that the molding would taste like (fruit punch) and what color his retainer would be (green, glow-in-the-dark). He liked both the decisions. We got the molding done and shelled out a fair amount for this thing and then had to wait a week while the retainer was being made. And, actually, Marcus was excited about going back to get the retainer.

Well, on Wednesday, we went back to get the retainer and thank goodness I remembered that appointment because I had forgotten to write the appointment down on the calender. I looked at Marcus at 4:50 and remembered that the appointment was at 5:40. I still needed to feed the boys and put on "daytime" clothes (since I was still in jams-I had worked the night before). We made it there 10 mins late, fed and dressed :-). Marcus got his retainer and let me take his picture.




A nice close-up. He gets to wear this for 6 months with periodic check-ups to adjust if needed (and, I already wrote the next appt on the calender). He gets to take it out for meals, recess and basketball. He's done great with it and I'm curious to see the outcome.