I Never Knew Teeth Could Be So Beautiful - Olivia Ordinary

After three years and four months, Olivia got her braces off on March 3. It was a big day for her. Not only were the braces that had abused her mouth for 3+ (THREE) years coming off, but she could finally chew gum and eat popcorn and Starburst and suckers. She could brush her teeth and not have to dig food out of the hardware in her mouth.

She could smile and see shining white teeth.

She was, obviously, ecstatic.

We all were.

And the cherry on this awesome sundae? Her sister happened to be home that evening when we got home from the orthodontist. Sure, said sister didn’t actually come home specifically to celebrate the loss of brace face. But we didn’t let that stop us from celebrating with KFC and root beer. Alyssa even let Olivia think she’d come home just for the occasion of the braces coming off.

I’m very proud of kind Lyss is to her sister.

Olivia took a lot of selfies that afternoon. She declared that her smile was now it’s very own filter. It was so bright and white. Her teeth are so straight.

She enjoyed the food, the attention, the selfies. She enjoyed running her tongue over her now-smooth teeth and asking everyone (me, Tom, Lyss, Gram, Pawp) to touch her teeth because they were so smooth and slimy (her word).

It was awesome; and gross, but mostly awesome.

I know this is a rite of passage. I know that everyone’s braces come off at some point but can I just say how glad I am that she got to have this moment? Some parents with kids with 5p- syndrome opt out of braces even though our kids tend to have some pretty serious orthodontic issues. I get why some do choose not to go the orthodontic route. It wasn’t easy.

I had to put her bands in for her for months. I am so, SO grateful to never have to put my fingers in her mouth ever again. Braces are painful and if a child isn’t able to comprehend why they’re being tortured. But with Olivia, she understood the point of the pain and was able to handle it.

And now that it’s over, I’m so glad we did it. She loves her new smile. She loves her teeth.

Just before she fell asleep the first night with her braces off, she said happily, “I never knew teeth could be so beautiful.”

That confidence, that feeling like she’s special and beautiful and perfect, you can’t put a price on that. Even though, in this case, we kind of can since this case of orthodontic treatment cost $6700. But it was worth every penny to hear her joy, her reverence as she beheld her new, perfect, braceless smile.

Wired aka Help

It sounds so simple. Just slap some wax on the weird wire in your mouth that’s poking the hell out of the inside of your cheek.

Sure.

I had no problem with that.

Alyssa had no problem with it.

Olivia…has problems with it.

First of all, her hands aren’t nearly as dexterous as yours, mine and ours. Second, sticking her fingers in her mouth grosses her out.

But that first problem is the one that concerns me.

Backstory: Olivia’s teeth have moved since the last time she saw the orthodontist, as is the point of braces.

One of her wires was very stabby one even last week. It was wreaking havoc on her mouth.

When I got home that day, I helped her with wax.

That evening, after snacks and brushing teeth, she needed more wax.

It was downstairs. I was upstairs. I sent her down to ask her sister to help her with the wax.

She returned a few minutes later with a glob of wax in her hand. She handed it to me to adhere it to the wire in her mouth, thereby protecting her mouth from the stabby wire.

The next morning I put more wax on the wire.

I sent Liv down for breakfast with the little container of wax.

As I was leaving for work, I pointed out the wax and told Tom and Alyssa that someone, ANYONE, needed to help Olivia with the wax after she finished breakfast and her teeth were brushed.

Tom said, “Yeah, Lyss.”

Alyssa rolled her eyes and said, “What’s the big deal, you just slap it on your teeth.

I was running late but paused long enough to tell her, “Yes, it’s simple, for you and for me but not for her. Please help her.”

Tom wasn’t much help when he said, “Yeah, it’s simple, YOU just slap it on her teeth.”

Alyssa huffed and puffed (maybe I’m exaggerating but in the moment it felt like a huffy and puffy reaction) and I repeated, “Please. Just SOMEONE help her with the wax before she leaves for school.”

I know that Alyssa thinks we baby Olivia. I understand why she feels that way.

I called the orthodontist that morning to confirm that they would have people in their Angola office (They work some days in Angola, other days in Kendallville, I never know which is which.) and then called Tom to let him know he could bring Olivia to town that afternoon to get that wire fixed.

She had an appointment already scheduled for five days from when the wire suddenly got stabby but I didn’t want to wait that long. Her mouth was already showing signs of trauma. It was swollen and raw from the wire.

She doesn’t need one more reason not to eat her lunch at school but that’s a post for another day.

Huh...

Olivia had an orthodontist appointment recently.

Because Tom hates (HATES!!!) appointments that are not near the end of the day, I specifically asked for a later appointment, even though it’s summer.

To be fair to him, he’s less loathing of early appointments in the summer but when school is in session, he can be kind of a jerk about having to go to the school, pick up either (both?) child(ren?) and then bring her/them to her/heir appointments.

He acts like I’ve committed one of the seven deadly sins if this happens. Which sin would that be? Probably sloth, I feel like I'm all over that one.

But anyway, this time her appointment was for 3:10 (pm, obviously, why on earth would I set up an appointment for 3:10am? I don't even know.) And since she (and he…for what it’s worth) are both home all day, bringing her to town for the appointment is not really a hardship.

And what’s more, I get leave work EARLY so that I can meet them at whatever appointment is happening so he doesn’t even have to STAY for the appointment.

Yeah, he’s got a really hard life.

So the morning of the appointment, as I was leaving for work at 6:30 so I could get my full 8 hours of work in and still leave at 3:00 for the appointment, he followed me around the kitchen (for the record, our kitchen is not that big) asking me to remind him of what needed to be done before he and Liv left for her appointment.

I ended up writing him a note with the time of the appointment and all the things I’d like him to do for Livie, such as brush her teeth (it WAS an orthodontist appointment, duh) and brush her hair because, well, she needs her hair brushed before going out in public lest she look like she lives in a van with her delinquent parents.

I’d already laid out her clothes for the day. I’d washed her hair the night before. I’d started even started a load of sheets in the washer that I will put in the drier when I get home.

I mentioned to him the things Liv and I were going to do after the appointment and that was when he said, “So you’re not going back to work?”

Wait, what? Why in the world would I go back to work? First of all, her appointment wouldn’t be done until at least 4:00, and hello, I’ll have the child with me, should I take her to work with me and let her watch me work for twenty minutes? The whole freaking point of making the late appointments (for ME) is that I get to leave work and NOT GO BACK.

He shrugged and said, “Well, they’d probably let you work until 5:00, which would give you almost another hour.”

Yes…he was sort of joking; but not completely.

And see, here's the thing, I wouldn’t have to leave work early to begin with if HE would stick around with her for the appointment, then schedule the next appointment and after that run to the bank and deposit Alyssa’s most recent paycheck and then go to Walmart and buy me a data card for my phone and then take Olivia to dinner because, hello, she ALWAYS gets to eat out after an orthodontist/dentist/eye doctor/regular doctor appointment. That’s just the way it is.

But that doesn’t happen and so…I go to work early to get my hours in so I can leave early.

Then I run around taking care of LIFE things while he goes home and rests on the couch because driving Liv to town and then driving himself home is EXHAUSTING.

Which, okay, it probably was very tiring what with him being BROKEN and all. But still!

When he made the suggestion of me working until 5, I just blinked at him because, seriously? You want to talk about who is working what hours these days?

Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Speaking of Orthodontics

As mentioned yesterday, Olivia started her orthodontic journey on Monday, January 7. She got the blue bands that wrap around the back teeth put on. This will make room for them to put on the bands that will anchor her braces next week. She’s going to get the brackets put on the top four teeth next week. These will be used to pull those four teeth together to make room for her canine teeth to come in. One is already trying to make its way in but the other one, the one on the left, is either being stubborn or there just isn’t room.

So we’re making room.

My mom has said several times that braces are going to drive Olivia crazy.

Maybe so, but could we maybe not say that in front of her quite so often? Because even if they do, is that a good enough reason to NOT put them on her? Is that a reason to let her have a bad bite and messed up teeth for the rest of her life?

I get that there are parents out there of kids with 5p- syndrome who choose not to put their kids through orthodontics. I get it. There are a lot of reasons to decide not to go the orthodontic route.

The thing with Olivia is that she’s capable of understand why we’re doing this. We can explain that the tightness and soreness in her mouth is temporary, she’ll endure, we’ll give her medicine to ease the pain and ice cream to numb it and it will be over in a couple of years.

She sucked her thumb until she was four years old. She has an overbite combined with widely spaced teeth. They need to be fixed to fix her bite and make it easier for her to close her mouth. She has chronically chapped lips due to her overbite.

I honestly think it would be unfair and unkind to not put braces on her. We did it for Alyssa for appearances mostly. Sure, there were a few issues with her bite, but nothing like Olivia has. So if we did it for one kid, damn it, we’re doing it for the other.

When we met with the orthodontist back in early December, he said we’re looking at about 30 months of treatment. That’s about what Alyssa had so…yeah, par for the course, right?

Alyssa had to have seven baby teeth pulled before we started braces.

Olivia had five pulled back in July in preparation for braces.

Olivia is a smart, capable kid. She can tell me when she hurts and I can help her deal. This will all be worth it.