It's time for a braces update! As you might remember, my daughter Madison started her braces journey last April with Ball Orthodonics. Since then, Dr Ball has retired and Dr Pawelek has taken over the office (renamed to Pawelek Orthodontics). We truly feel that the transition of the office and care has been seamless and we love Dr Pawelek! He has a great "teeth side manner" and takes his time with each patient to explain care and going forward plans.
 |  |
To start her orthodonic care - Madison had some spacing issues and some crooked teeth. As you can see in the photos - traditional braces have fixed most of that already! We started with a top wire and brackets, then added bottom brackets and wire, and then slowly added thicker wires. So far the process has been pretty easy. The only items of note are that she would experience soreness as she got thicker wires (ibuprofen and smoothies fixed that nicely though) and a few times we had some brackets come off which again is fairly common... Sometimes brackets just get loose and fall off but other times it is a result of eating something like steak or chewy candy ;-). We have found that Pawelek Orthodonics is quite accomodating and it is very easy to book a quick appointment with Dr Pawelek to get those fixed - click HERE for a video to see what getting a bracket replaced looks like.
Care plans allow for a few times to get brackets replaced, but if you are needing it on a very consistent basis there may be extra charges - so it is important that your child follows the guidelines on what they can and can not eat.
Madison also has an overbite - so for the second part of her orthodontic journey she will need to wear rubber bands for 22 hours a day to correct the issue.
Orthodontic rubber bands usually enter the treatment plan after patients have been wearing their braces for 4-6 months (we had to wait a little longer for Madison as she had some stubborn teeth...). They are a necessary part of treatment for some patients because they provide the forces needed to move your jaws and teeth into proper alignment. Rubber bands pull your jaw forward or backward depending on what movement you need to achieve proper alignment. The goal is to make your upper teeth and lower teeth line up and fit together comfortably when you bite down. The key to this step of orthodonic care is to wear them as prescribed (which if I am being honest does take some coaxing for my daughter). If you want to get out of your braces on time (or possibly earlier) wear your rubber bands the prescribed amount of time–not more, not less.
Dr Pawelek's technicians taught Madison how to properly put on her rubber bands and take them off - it's a super simple process with special "hooks" on the brackets that she needs to connect the rubber bands to.
Think your child may need braces? Contact Pawelek Orthodonics for a complimentary consultation and let them know that Macaroni KID sent you!! And stay tune as we navigate this part of orthodonic care with rubber bands!
