Brace Free…at Last!!

The day finally came.  Emma is now brace free forever!  She’s had braces for a long time, since March of 2007 to be exact, except for a nine month break.  I had to get a few last pictures of her brace face.

When they were off she got to ring the celebratory gong with Dr. Sessions.

They gave her a big bucket full of treats that she wasn’t “supposed” to eat while she had braces, that she can now enjoy.  She also got an iTunes card when she cashed out her coins. 

So here is the official ‘After’ picture.  She is beautiful!

As much as we love Dr. Sessions and his office I will not miss the long drives.  Next time we will choose an orthodontist closer to home.  We had to make the long drive a second time that day to get her new retainers.  Lucky Emma gets the clear retainers, no ugly wires for her!

Of course we aren’t quite done.  She still needs a tiny bit of correction that will be accomplished with the retainers.  So, we will still be making a few regular visits, but after a few months it won’t be nearly as often.  The long wait has been worth it, look how far her teeth have come!

Quite the transformation!

March 2007

August 2010

June 2011

November 2012

Metal Mouth…Again

Emma’s brace-free mouth lasted for less than a year.  She started her second phase on June 1st.  At the appointment for her spacers the week before, Emma shocked me and her orthodontist by ASKING if he would pull two of her teeth.  We have been waiting for those teeth to fall out for a very long time and Emma was pretty adamant that he not pull them (she was going to let the oral surgeon do that while she was asleep).  Those teeth were bugging her enough to finally let Dr. Sessions do it.  He actually pulled out 2 1/2 teeth, she had a shell of a tooth that just didn’t want to let go.  A week later she was the proud owner of another set of railroad tracks.

Emma is such a trooper.  We have hardly heard a complaint out of her.  I think she’s lucky not to have to deal with this in high school.  Soon she will have a beautiful set of teeth.  She’s not looking forward to the oral surgery she will need later this summer, but she is looking forward to the end result once this is all done.  Here’s to a smooth phase 2 and hopefully she won’t break any more records at Dr. Sessions office this time around.

Her Teeth Are Free At Last!

Emma FINALLY got her braces off last week.  Boy was she excited!  She still holds the record for being Dr. Sessions’ longest first phase patient, and she has been incredibly patient for the past 3 1/2 years.  She totally deserved to ring the gong with Dr. Sessions after the braces came off.

   She cashed in all of her gold coins before we left the office and she had enough to get 2 movie tickets, a $10 Target gift card, and a $2 Baskin Robbins gift card.  We stopped at Baskin Robbins on the way home!

BEFORE: March 1, 2007

AFTER: August 19, 2010

 Her smile was huge that entire day!

Unfortunately, she is nowhere near done.  The braces will be back on for the second phase in 9 months to a year, and she will get to visit the oral surgeon somewhere in there.  But for now she is happy to finally be able to bite into a whole apple again!

And she is the proud owner of sparkly turquoise retainers.

A New Record

The orthodontist congratulated Emma today as being his patient who has had the longest first phase of braces. Ever. She has set a new record. Poor Emma. Good thing she has such a good attitude about it! He's hoping only 2-3 more appointments...

Rubberbands

Emma got rubberbands for her braces yesterday. She was very excited...

...until she woke up this morning and realized that her teeth REALLY hurt.

I remember what it was like. Poor Emma.