We Need To Rob A Bank!

How did it come to this!?!

THREE kids in braces. At the same time!

Ethan is on his 2nd set. Ally is on her only set. Both of them will be done in about 2 years. Here is hoping Ethan has his off for his Senior pictures!

Ryland is on his first set. He should be out of them in time for Halloween. 

*Braces Off: CHECK!!

My smile has sure been through a long journey. (As I told you in a previous post: Vanity January 2010.) With this new milestone behind me, I recognize that I still have more dental work in the coming months to look forward to, dread, whichever. However for now, I am happy to just enjoy my current state of being train tracks free!

You Really Should Check a Horses Teeth BEFORE You Buy, I Mean Marry It

That is what I always tell Nate after returning from the dentist/orthodontist with a laundry list of issues that we have to deal with. I am more than a year into my braces, all three gaps from the extracted teeth are closed. I was able to get away with only looking like a hillbilly for about two weeks and it really wasn't all that bad. I have endured an immense amount of pain from the rigorous movement they have put my teeth through while trying to keep me on schedule. All the while, I have been repeating to myself, "It will be worth it! It will be worth it!" I told myself that once the last gap was closed and that bittersweet romance with my fake snaggle tooth was over, it would all be downhill from there. Just get through the last 9 months of my braces, get my veneers on and voila! Instant beautiful smile! As I mentioned in my post "Vanity" (Jan. 2010) I expressed how I have always been self conscious of my teeth. It has been heightened with the subtraction of the teeth, and the addition of the braces and fake snaggle tooth. Well, about a week ago, I was relishing in the fact that my last gap was completely closed and repeating my "It will be worth it" mantra when I noticed something. Oh NO!!!! Are you kidding me? Please, Please, Please tell me it is just the lighting! Nope, no such luck. One of my teeth was going a nice deep shade of gray. It was dying or already dead. I immediately called my sis Jen who is a dental hygienist to get her take on it. Probably died from the trauma of Orthodontia, better get in for an x-ray to find out. Greeeeeeat. I kept telling myself it would all be downhill from here. I didn't mean for my teeth to go further downhill! So, on Monday, I went in for my regular braces adjustment. It was a great time like usual. They came up with new and inventive ways for me to feel so much pain over the next 5 days that I drop ten pounds like the next Biggest Loser contestant. They lamented that yes, the trauma of the tooth shifting is probably what killed it, but atleast I am on track to get them off at the end of the year. Yeah, great. Once I was done I went across the street, literally, to my dentist for an x-ray. When what to my wondering eye should appear? Not one, but two dead or dying teeth. Are you kidding me!?! If you recall, some of my dental woes are from the injuries my teeth sustained while in a car accident with Nate while we were dating. My front left tooth died immediately and the rest of my top row of teeth were cemented together for the next ten days to keep them from falling out basically. Good times. Well, apparently the front right tooth and the right canine tooth were traumatized enough then that they have slowly been dying ever since. Thirteen years later with the trauma of the braces they gave up the ghost. So, I will be going in for 2 root canals, which will take about 3 months to complete. In the meantime, they will continue to grow darker. Awesome. The best news is that I get to enjoy that beautiful shade of gray/black for over 8 months, til I am ready for my new veneers. Even awesomer. If there is any good news to all of this it is that these two teeth were already slated to receive brand spanking new veneers in January 2011. So, atleast they aren't ones we weren't planning on doing. Also, if you want to really look for a silver lining in all of this, it is that hopefully now the insurance will cover the veneers of these 2 teeth as well as 2 others so that I now only have to pay out of pocket for 2 veneers instead of 6. Whew! Let's cross our fingers. So for all of you people out there with naturally beautiful smiles, COUNT YOUR LUCKY STARS!
So, in the coming months don't be surprised if you see me doing this:

Or this:

Yes, I really am THAT vain. Atleast until I look like this. I can't wait, I have never looked like that before!

Vanity

All my life I have had terrible teeth. I have always been self conscious of them. I was one of the unfortunate few in my family that didn't have all of my permanent teeth come in, because of that I have always had too much space on top and too little space on the bottom. While in the sixth grade I got braces on the top just to pull my top teeth together. They then put a permanent brace behind my front teeth to keep them from seperating again.

Fast forward about 9 years, Nate and I were dating when we got into a a pretty bad accident.
Long story short, while the car was rolling our heads made contact with each other and I sustained major dental damage. Once the car stopped rolling I could feel the permanent brace they had put in almost ten years earlier lying on my tongue. I was taken to the dentist later that day where they cemented my top row of teeth together for the next ten days. Due to the trauma they sustained a couple of my front teeth died. They eventually turned dark and I had veneers placed over the top of them. Even with the veneers they still look darker than the rest of my teeth. I have always hated that. Nate and I looked into getting me braces years ago but the prospect of having to wear braces for 4 years and the cost just didn't work at the time.

Then last year I got serious about getting braces. I was finally so beyond sick of my teeth I looked into getting them again. I was liking what I had to hear, not 4 years but around 2 instead. Although I wasn't terribly excited about being a thirtysomething with four kids while wearing braces I was ready to finally feel good about my smile. Some of my treatment was a little hard to swallow but I knew it would be worth it in the end. So in January 2009 I bit the bullet and had THREE teeth extracted.......ouch! Two molars on the bottom and the little tooth on the top right side next to my front tooth. The top one was the most difficult to part with. I will admit I am vain enough to not want to be missing one of my top front teeth. Luckily they were able to create a false tooth that connected to my braces. Every time I go in for an adjustment they just shave it down a bit while they close up the space. We are getting to where the tooth is getting too tiny to hold a bracket, and while the space is considerably smaller it is still quite noticible when my tooth is off. My days are numbered with it and fairly soon I will actually be a toothless hillbilly. NOT looking forward to it but it is a necessary evil. No turning back now though.

Prior to getting my braces on Nate was feeling bad about all that I would have to go thru and he graciously agreed to getting braces on himself to support me. I fell in love with him all over again for being so self sacrificing. Although once they were on he told me that if he had had any idea what he was going to go thru with them he would have told me "Sorry, dear, you're on your own." What a trooper. Imagine my surprise when 6 months into the deal Tiny Man got braces on his top front teeth as well. I now had my own braces support group! I loved it! It was much easier running around with half the family in braces than being the only one, and a grown up at that, with braces. Although I will admit there are a HUGE amount of adults that are sporting braces lately! LOVE IT!

Well, the Monday after Christmas Tiny Man got his braces off! He is only done with phase one and in a couple of years he will be wearing a full set. Two days later on Wednesday, after only 13 months of wearing braces Nate was able to get his off too! While I am very excited for them it is difficult losing my support group, especially with the knowledge that my hillbilly days are coming soon. I am so grateful for the men in my life and the support they have given to me this last year, even if it is just to ease my vanity burden. My continuing mantra for the next year will be "It will be worth it, it will be worth it, it will be worth it....." Wish me luck!