Orthodontist

I have a feeling we'll be getting to know our orthodontist quite well over the next 10 years. And possibly buying him a new boat.

Little Man and Sweet Pea had their first consult this morning. It went well, but unfortunately didn't surprise me with wonderfully good news. Little Man needs to stop sucking his fingers, like, now. It will potentially keep his (new, adult) front teeth from coming fully down, and apparently if their growth is stopped, it's pretty hard to fix it. 

Sweet Pea also needs to stop a "finger habit" (thumb sucking). But more drastic than that, her petite bone structure is causing issues with her adult teeth, which are laughably large for her jaw. To buy us some time, the orthodontist recommends pulling her four baby canine teeth. If we don't pull them, then her lateral incisors will likely come in behind them, which is much harder to fix down the road. So getting her canines out of the way now will allow her adult lateral incisors to come in closer to the correct position, making it easier to straighten them the rest of the way when she gets braces.

True to her personality, Sweet Pea took the news in stride. As Little Man and CC collapsed to the ground in horror, she shrugged and frowned. I told her that kids who have to get teeth extracted get lots of ice cream.

We got to take home the photo collage of their teeth. "Cool!" said Little Man, laughing. But Sweet Pea didn't feel the same. "I think it's kind of disgusting."