It's been a week already since the "Unveiling" as I like to call it. I took my now-17-year old daughter Sarah to her orthodontist last Tuesday. It's been over 2 1/2 years since we consulted with Dr. Crain, Sarah's orthodontist, concerning her need for braces. And every six weeks since then, I have taken Sarah to her treatments.
Well, this particular appointment was a long time in coming and greatly anticipated: Sarah can now celebrate having straight teeth without braces for the first time! A hearty congrats are in order, wouldn't you say? Believe me, I personally understand what it's like to go through such a treatment for an extended period of time; and according to Dr. Crain, she was one of his best patients.
And now she has a beautiful smile to show for it!
So, the big day arrived; I picked her up from school, and we headed to Plano, Texas where Dr. Crain's office is located on Coit Rd. Since this was to be her last treatment visit, I asked her if she wanted me to go in with her. So I accompanied her for the "Unveiling."
First, Sarah had to pick a movie to watch during the proceedings. She couldn't decide between High School Musical and The Princess Diaries. I thought they were both good choices. But since Sarah already had music playing in her ears with her MP3 player, I suggested she go with Princess Diaries since it's not a musical. It was very interesting watching people walking upside down from my point of view in the extra chair I was sitting in. But I did enjoy some of my favorite lines, like when the grandmother, played by Julie Andrews, tells her granddaughter, played by Anne Hathaway, that she is a princess by blood, and she responds to such news by saying, "Shut up!"
I think the thing about the "Unveiling" that surprised me the most was how quickly the braces come off at the end of treatment. Dr. Crain basically used what would amount to orthodontic pliers to remove the brackets all in one straight line, removing the whole top portion of braces in one fell swoop! He did the same with the lower brackets. Then I realized that the removal of the braces are not the part of the procedure that makes it so time consuming. It's the cleaning off of the cement, the preparation and installation of the permanent lower retainer, and then the dreaded cleaning of the teeth, which turned out, as it usually does, to be quite a bloody procedure, mainly on the top teeth.
But Sarah was a trooper, watching her movie, listening to her tunes, and laughing at the funny lines while she checked out Anne Hathaway's acting prowess.
After all the clean up, it was time for them to take an impression for the preparation for the removable retainer she would wear every night in order to keep or 'retain' was she worked so hard to achieve: A pearly white smile that would make Julia Roberts proud.
Then we left to have lunch and do a bit of shopping.
We returned for the retainer fitting and instructions on the retainer's daily care. Much to my surprise, Sarah's retainer was not the usual wire retainer that most come to expect from post orthodontic care. It reminded me immediately of what an invisalign would looke like. It is clear plastic in the shape of Sarah's teeth as they are perfectly straight, based on the impression. So when she puts it on, you can't even tell she's wearing it. I thought that was truly cool. She did, too.
So, Sarah is officially 'Unveiled' and happy with her new look.
At this point, she's ready for her close up!
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