Oh, happy day!
Both boys got their braces on at the same time right after we moved to Texas. They were only 10, but their teeth were pretty bad and we desperately needed something done. We knew we would have to switch orthodontists because we were only going to be there a year. We moved to California and found a new doctor that we really liked. He was happy with the way Nate's teeth were moving and his under bite had been corrected. Tanner's teeth seemed to be responding a little slower and he still had an under bite. The treatment plan he presented for Nate was to just keep doing what we were doing, the treatment plan for Tanner was to remove his braces (it would have just been the 1st phase), do surgery to move his jaw back, and put braces back on (phase 2). I did not feel good about that at all. Just the surgery alone made me have nightmares (we have spent his entire life trying to help him gain weight, surgery that included wiring his jaw shut and being on a liquid diet was more than I could handle.). He said the other option would be to leave Tanner's braces on and see what happened. I immediately chose option B. With the help of really strong rubber bands that Tanner wore very faithfully, his jaw started moving. His teeth started moving. They were looking more and more like Nate's, and we knew we were making progress. Nate got his braces off at the estimated time, and Tanner got his off about a month after Nate. The orthodontist said he could not believe that Tanner's teeth/jaw had moved as much as it did to get his braces off that early, since his projected date was another year out (which would have made his treatment 4 years). I am grateful to Heavenly Father for giving me direction, and for the power of prayer and how it helped my little guy!!
