Metal Mouth

Jared began the adventure of getting his braces on a couple of weeks ago…he has four braces on his top front teeth. Next month they’ll finish putting the braces on his top teeth and will probably start on the bottom in two months. I have to digress and say just how very much I appreciate and like our orthodontist – for taking the time to work with Jared and helping him adjust to this huge change in his life. Jared is adjusting quite well, all things considered…from having been adamant that he was not going to get braces six months ago to now we’ve come pretty far. But it’s going to be a long road ahead! I’m feeling mother’s guilt though…I’m feeling bad for his pain (and I’m personally very familiar with the type of pain he is experiencing) and I’m also feeling bad that I should have been able to anticipate at least some of his questions, especially since Justin (and Jeff for that matter) went through this whole process about five years ago. One thing I definitely tried to avoid was the subject of pain – I didn’t want to give him any preconceived ideas. If he’d asked I would have been honest, but thankfully before this adventure began he did not ask. But I still should have anticipated some of his questions…the first question he asked after getting them on was if he’d ever be able to eat. Shortly thereafter he asked the question of whether or not he could take them out to go to sleep. Followed by the question of how long he’d have braces. Of course he’s already asking how they take them off too. Some of these questions I could have and should have anticipated, but others I couldn’t have begun to foresee. Overall, he is adjusting extremely well. He’s learning what he can and can’t eat and figuring out how to eat the things he really wants to (break up the cookie rather than just biting into it). Thankfully, the pain issue has diminished as well – as it does…of course it always goes away just in time to go back to the orthodontist!