H Teeth Bling

Hailey's two front teeth are quite crooked and the more they come in, the more they're going to rub on those bottom teeth because they are so turned. So the dentist has a plan. He put on these brace button things, with a clear elastic to pull the outward edges of the teeth forward and straighten the teeth, then they'll put in a retainer to hold them in place until all the permanent's come into place. The picture below is 4 hours after having the band put on (notice that the gap in her teeth already closed off in just 4 hours!)

The next morning this is what we found. Aghh! Wrong direction! Her teeth are in an erupting stage and moving so quickly, but these moved the wrong way with the band at the bottom of the teeth. We quickly called the dentist and headed back in.
They added a 3rd brace button to hold the band up on the teeth to cause them to move in the right direction. These are looking much better. We were all amazed with how quickly her teeth are moving around.
Two weeks later the dentist took the buttons off and put her in a suck down (clear invisalign retainer) until her other retainer is made in a week or so. Here she's slid the clear retainer off her teeth for the picture (thanks Hailey =)
Here's her nice straight smile with the invisilign retainer holding it all in place for now. It's amazing how much her teeth moved in just 2 short weeks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Update: 12/1/10

Today Hailey received her wire retainer in place of the invisilign retainer. This will allow her teeth to still grow and adjust, but keep them from turning back the way they were while all her permanent teeth come in. She's doing great with the retainer and learning to talk with it in. Who knew there was anything out there that would slow her down with talking. =)