Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Brace Face

After wearing an expander for about two months (and for 5 more months), Maddie  finally got her braces!  She’s been so excited to get braces for years.

Here she is ready to get started:

before

What’s funny here, is that I quietly asked her, “Can I take a before picture?”  And she looked to her left at all of the slightly older teens sitting in the other chairs and whispered, “Mom!  No!”  So I asked her, “How about from here?  Just smile.  No one will know!”  But you can see she is feeling self-conscious.

During:

during

I have another photo of DURING that I won’t show you, but I took it to show her.  They put these huge C-shaped plastic inserts into her mouth to hold her mouth open.  Holy cow.  She looked kind of…creepy.  I almost couldn’t look at her.  I definitely can’t publish that photo!

After about 45 minutes:

after

She’s thrilled, and suddenly looks like a teenager to me.

The next morning she was not so thrilled.  Her poor mouth hurt all day.  This morning it felt better, but only slightly.  I told her it will all be worth it when they come off and she has a gorgeous new smile, but two years seems really far away to her right now.

4 comments:

Karen said...

I love the new look Maddie!!! And I promise it will be worth it and you won't even have to wait two years - before your very eyes you will see those brackets forming straighter and straighter lines! How very exciting!

Tara said...

I love her sweet, shy smile in the first picture!

Jemsmom said...

She looks beautiful but so grown up all of a sudden!!! Oh my!!! I got my braces on when I was 25 years old. I would eat Taco Bell but scrape the taco meat out. That was about all I could get down!!! Tell her to always take advil or something before she goes!!! I can say that it is totally worth it!!! Oh she looks so big!!! Especially to see the sweet baby girl Maddie in the picture below. Why do they have to grow up?

stephanie said...

I remember that appointment with Emily. I could barely watch, it looked so painful! Keep the freezer stocked with ice cream for after an appointment. They say it helps to eat cold things, I guess to numb the pain.