Brace Yourself

About 6 weeks ago we strolled into the orthodontists office with Andrew and Matthew. We knew both of them needed braces and finally are making time for that to be accomplished. Andrew's bite is fine, but his teeth need some straightening, Matthew... ugh. Like all things with Matthew when he has a problem it's in spades. We were told 2 years ago he needed braces since his lower jaw was bigger than his upper jaw, but at the time he was struggling with his speech and we decided to wait until he was more confident in his ability to yell talk to us before we put him through what was described as surgery that was nothing less than barbaric.

Essentially the doctor would have to cut his jaw into pieces in order to make it smaller and then put it back together. This would be done in stages with his mouth being wired shut at times. Now don't get me wrong, the idea of Matty's mouth being wired shut isn't completely unappealing, BUT the thought of Matty being in pain- I couldn't handle that too well. I think I have mentioned before Matt has always had different problems and struggles and has really grown remarkably ( and has forced us to do the same). He is simply the kid in this house who has a different set of rules for all sorts of reasons. It's the only way we get things to work many days. 

At this point however we realized that the work on his teeth would actually benefit his speech as well so we decided to make the time and do both boys mouths at once. I went into the orthodontists office thinking of this long awaited day nauseous at the prospect of having to prepare Matty for surgery. You can imagine how pleasantly surprised I was to hear this wonderful man say he too felt the surgery was barbaric and was willing to try a different approach to reach the same goals. I was so relieved!

This morning Fred took Andy and Matt in for the dental molds about 10am and also to fit Matty with springs ( which will prepare his teeth for a palate expander). I stayed home with the little ones who spent four blissful hours in the pool.

Around 12 noon I got the phone call...

Matty went in for the molds first. He sat in the chair and leaned back. The wonderful nurse got the epoxy glue mold ready and calmly explained the process to 11 year old Matthew. She asked him to open up his mouth for the mold to be placed. I am not sure what happened from here but apparently Matthew's gag reflex was triggered. He proceeded to toss his cookies all over the kind nurse. After cleaning herself and the room up, she decided to call for reinforcements. Fred was located in the waiting room and told Matt had been sick ( don't worry this is normal!) and they'd have to try it again. Fred trying to rise to the occasion headed in while putting on his most sympathetic face. They began to try again. Matthew then proceeded to upchuck on his father. (Fred described it as 'projectile vomiting'- which implies it spanned several feet- but I doubt he is correct. His clamoring about the receptionist not even being close by fails to account for the small office space in general) The third time not only the hygienist but also the receptionist was hit pretty badly while passing by . In all he got about 4 people, not including himself. Fred said the whole office reeked. 

I imagine they went very gingerly with Andrew hoping it was not a family trait. (Thankfully, Andrew's was less traumatic in every way!) Something tells me just like everyone who meets Matthew, they won't easily forget him. The flip side is he is pretty charming  ( especially when he is not puking)  and likely to have them all cracking up soon with his sense of humor. The next visit isn't for about 4 weeks,( and it turns out I unfortunately am once again unable to bring him- shucks!) I hope it will give everyone a chance to recover.