This was a bit of a whirlwind week for Glor! This is the week she had been looking forward to and finally get braces put on. Only thing she wasn’t looking to was dealing with the discomfort. All in all, she’s excited, happy and utterly amused about having braces on her teeth. If you happen to have young kids who need to have braces this will serve as a mini guide (not expert advice) for what to expect, what to do and not do. Read along for the exciting process Glor has experienced thus far…
You wouldn’t know it by looking at Glor’s teeth that she needs to have braces, but the truth of the matter is that the adjustments she needed go beyond the superficial. I touched on the reasons why she needed braces on this post but rather than repeat everything, I’m gonna let Glor tell you all about it herself. I’m attaching a few TikToks that she made about the process and how she feels about it.
First the Palette expander. 
Now for teeth brackets.
BRACES PART I
For Glor’s procedure she had to have a palette expander placed in first. In this clip she talks about the expander. Right now Glor’s top jaw is smaller than normal and has caused her molars to grow inward creating a cross bite. The palette expander is meant to, you guessed it, expand her top jaw. Because she is still growing we have this option. If we were to wait a few years to correct this, the procedure would involve surgery instead of the expander.
This process will align her top and bottom jaws thus correcting her bite. She will have this in place for about 7 months. She also has all four wisdom teeth in place, thankfully these won’t grow out until much, much later. The treatment will also help for when those future molars finally begin to grow out.
Placing individual brackets. 
Sealing brackets to teeth.
BRACES PART II
In this clip Glor talks about the braces part of the treatment. She also has what is called an ‘overjet’ sometimes mistaken for ‘overbite.’ This happens when the upper front teeth push outward causing a horizontal misalignment.
Kids who grow up sucking on pacifiers or their thumbs eventually create an extreme overjet. Glor didn’t do either when she was a baby/toddler but her misalignment happened naturally. Whether genetics or simple imperfection, Glor’s development of a smaller than normal upper jaw may have contributed to the overjet.
We’re just a couple of days into the treatment and so far its going well. Aside from pressure and some pain Glor seems to be doing pretty good. Obviously she had a lot done. Not all kids require both an expander and braces so any discomfort will definitely vary. Her pain level has been consistently around 5-6, 10 being absolute worst. The pain will minimize as the days go on but any pressure she is feeling will continue on and off as the expander is adjusted. She’s not one to complain much but I have her take children’s ibuprofen for inflammation and acetaminophen for pain in intervals.*
This will be a learning process for us both in terms of the types of food she will eat for a while. Also her speech is a little off but will get back to normal quickly as she adjusts to the braces. For now I have her eating lots of broth and soups. We also froze tons of gogurts which are the best if her mouth feels sore. We found out that really cold tapioca pudding is another fantastic treat to have handy. And she is never without a lip balm to maintain her lips moisturized.
While we never thought she would need braces, our dentist highly suggested we see the specialist. Once we were told what needed correction we chose to go ahead with the treatment. My oldest son had braces for four whole years. His teeth grew in very crooked and it was an obvious decision. He continues to use his retainers to maintain the alignment and prevent movement. My second son also had braces when he developed large gaps between his teeth. The braces aligned them ever so neatly and only needed them for a year. We estimate Glor will have braces on for about 2.5 years followed by retainers.
Glor has her own TikTok account which she will update regularly with her treatment. Feel free to follow her for the updates and for some really cute content.
*always consult your personal doctor and or dentist/orthodontist for treatment and medications.
A HUGE shout out to Glor for sharing her adventure with us! This was very informative. Think of how many parents and kids have been reassured by the knowledge and pics. I’ll bet the TicTok video is really helpful too. I think when kids can hear from peers that they can get through a process like this in a manageable way it decreases their anxiety. Y’all are doing a public service!!🥰. Glor, you are even more adorable with braces! I hope your adjustment and healing process goes quickly. Rosa, thanks for all the info and allowing Glor to share the process. You ladies stay safe and well!