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A whole new mouth

Thursday we spent our morning at the "Super Dentist's"!

For some, it was fun:



For other's (Arissa), not so much:

Arissa was scheduled to have her "palatal expander" removed. She's had the thing in for like a year and a half now, and the dentist thought her overbite was improved and her teeth were aligned to allow for the new teeth that'll be coming in.

Arissa was scared out of her mind. For weeks before the appt, she was dreading it. It wasn't good enough that Nana be there; she requested I be there too. That ought to tell you something!


So I was there, doing a lot of this:




Mariah got to sit in the waiting-room w/ Nana and do some of this:


While poor Arissa spent the hour going thru this:

She cried a little, and at one point said she was NOT going to do it. But the nurse who did it was very nice and honest with her, and made her feel comfortable.

The palatal expander is basically a permanent retainer on the roof of her mouth, cemented in to teeth on both sides, opening up the bones in the roof of her mouth to allow the teeth to spread out and to fix her bite (cause her lower teeth used to come up in front of her uppers when she bit down). So putting the device in was pretty labor intensive...but taking it out was just basically a big yank. Not fun for Arissa, I'm sure.

Before we started, the nurse took me aside and said "Now, I wanted to just let you know....sometimes when we remove the device, some teeth come out with it."

To which I responded with a look of shock and big gag. Then she continued:

"It's only baby teeth that were ready to come out anyways, but I wanted to give you a heads-up because it can be quite shocking to parents if they don't know about it beforehand".

Which I appreciated and thanked her for, but I also told her that if the thing comes out with teeth attached to it, Arissa is going to FREAK OUT for sure.

Luckily though, that didn't happen. A yank here, a pull there, and it was out.

Here's her "before" pics, taken a year and a half ago:



Here's her, right after the removal (can you tell she was in a little bit of pain??):







Rinsing the yuck out:




Then trying to smile for Mama:



So all in all, it was a success. I felt so bad for Arissa, but she was so brave and strong....and now she's so happy that it's done with!

Mariah was just happy to spend time at the "Super Dentist's". They even have their own "Super Dentist" water:





And their own "Super Dentist" car:


And of course, a "Super Dentist" license plate (this cracks me up for some reason):

So no more dental work or appliances for us for awhile!

Although Mariah, Mallory, Jesse & I all have appointments in September....and the dentist I took Mariah to a few years ago said she might have the same bite problem as Arissa.....
:o(

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