This morning Rachel had her first of what turns out to be many, visits with the orthodontist. Let me start with I LOVE this office. The people are amazing. Everyone from the receptionist to the orthodontist himself. They have like 4 video arcade games for siblings to play if they so choose. They have a huge fish tank which I cannot wait for Garrison to see. They gave not only Rachel a capri sun but Natalie too. After Rachel was done she got like 4 full size candy bars. Probably not the best thing for a girl who just had 2 cavities filled but after all she went through today, she probably deserves them. They were just so family friendly. It was wonderful...until I got "the news." Poor Rachel has her fathers teeth only worse. She has a very significant over-bite. Her mouth is way too small to fit all of her teeth in so the crowding is out of control.
We will go in on April 2nd and get a "guard" which will fit in the top of her mouth. We will crank it every day to slowly expand her upper teeth to allow more room for her future permanent teeth. That will stay on for 3-4 months after which she will get braces on her top and bottom teeth. Those will stay on for a year. After those come off, we will wait until she is 12 or 13 at which time she will get another full set. Hearing this I became incredibly dizzy with dollar signs floating around my head instead of birds.
The funny (okay not so funny) part of it all is the secretary told me that we have incredible dental insurance. So $2300 is a good price for all of this??? Wow!!! I know it will all be worth it for her to have a beautiful smile but my wallet will be MUCH lighter for the next year as I pay this off.
In short...my husband definately picked the wrong profession.
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6 comments:
Holy moly! I love how the dental people give you a total with a smile on their face like they are doing you such a favor. I suppose it could be a deal of sorts, but $2300 is a lot of money!
Good luck with it all. She is so beautiful already, but I am sure she will love her new smile!
I'd shop around before spending so much money, although that is less than HALF of what Max will cost us (WITH insurance!).
I went to 3 different Orthos and got 3 different treatment plans and 3 different prices.
Luckily for me, I don't have to make a choice.....we have NO money!
This is exactly why I told Nicholas that he and Christian should open an Orthodontics practice together. Our Ortho made 1500 per hour. YIKES!!
Sounds like she has a Hopkins mouth. Nicholas was a little younger than Rachel when he got his expander. The good news is that it makes the braces a much easier experience. Alyssa got her expander in with her braces, it was horrible.
I hear you on the price, as we had three children in various stages of braces at the same time. And when they were paid off, I got my own (at age 52) and insurance sure doesn't cover that! But it was all worth it, and the expander does an amazing job. If you need some tips, the American Association of Orthodontics has good info at www.braces.org.
It will definetly be worth it. I'm already gearing up. I can see Maylee will be a definete ortho case. That is funny that they were all excited for you that it would only be $2300. I would have fallen over!
I remember when I got my braces off, my dad would always tell me to smile for people, so I could show them "his new boat". Yeah, I guess it's one of the sacrifices of parents!
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