S Teeth Bling

This lovely young lady has the most beautiful smile, but she's bothered by 1 tooth that's hanging out up higher than the rest of them. See that stinker of a tooth?
She's smiling now, because 10 seconds after taking this picture I explained the procedure that was about to take place. She would need to have a baby tooth pulled to create space to move this high tooth into place. She's petrified of shots! She takes excellent care of her teeth, and one of those main reasons in her mind os for the sole purpose of never having to get a shot to get a cavity filled. She was a very brave soul and was surprised with how quickly the dentist was able to pull it out. The next step was for the dentist to put 1 brace button on the high tooth and then she has a retainer with another brace button on the bottom of it and she attaches an elastic band to the button on that tooth and to the button on the brace, with the hope that it will pull that tooth down in to place.
I love the crooked smile from half of her face still being numb. Too cute! Close up of the button with the elastic pulling the tooth down into place. One more numb smile before hitting the road.

Update: Here's Shaylin's progress in just 2 weeks. That tooth is moving down nicely. As soon as it's far enough down to be covered by the retainer, then she can stop wearing the rubber band and they can take the button off of her tooth, and she can just continue to wear the retainer to keep it all in place.

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Update: 12/1/10

That tooth is coming right down into place and looking great. She has to do extra twists on the rubberband when she puts it in to keep that tension tight and keep it pulling down. The dentiest thinks she'll just need the rubberband/button part for another 3-6 weeks. Then she'll just have the retainer to keep it all straight until her permanent teeth are all in. So far so good.