Dr. Lang’s assistants took a panoramic view of Kristen’s teeth. As he sat down to apply the brackets to each teeth, he commented to Kristen, “You and I are going to become really good friends. You win the award for the most complex teeth in your family.” Indeed she did. Besides the two intact baby teeth, she has impacted 12-year old molars (they are sideways in her jaw), tender roots from existing adult teeth, and some crazy spacing. Yay for us! They will begin to move her teeth slowly to keep from damaging a couple of her front roots that are being infringed upon by other teeth.
Once the teeth are straightened, then we will have to take Kristen to an oral surgeon where he will add small brackets to the impacted molars and a couple of her front teeth so that wires can be attached to begin to slowly move the teeth into place. If her two baby teeth aren’t out by then, she will likely have those pulled and maybe her wisdom teeth while we are at it. Lucky her huh?
As she woke up the next morning, Kristen commented, “I didn’t think they would hurt as much as they do.” They did hurt but have improved over the ensuing days. Our dentist recommend two Advil and one extra strength Tylenol every four hours (three if the pain is really intense).