It was time. Ethan is going to need braces so I decided to shop around and see what our options are, how much we need to start saving and when we should have the braces put on. My neighbor is a hygienist so I asked her about orthodontists in town. She gave me a list of three, ranked in order of best, and I made appointments for initial consultations. Now, there are A LOT of dentists and orthodontists in town. But these are the three that I have heard the most about and so I decided to see what they would say.
The first doctor was great and I liked his office. His staff was nice and they got us right back. He looked at Ethan's teeth and said that he does need braces. He recommended that we do a 2 stage process and put him in braces now with head gear to try and correct his slight over bite. He gave us a couple of "what if" scenarios, a price and then we said we would get back to him with our decision. I liked him, he is established in the community and was nice.
The second doctor was great but I didn't like his office staff much. They weren't friendly and the office was crowded and crazy. I found out, after speaking with the doctor, that he is just renting space from a children's dentist until his part of the building can be completed, so that will take care of the problem of a weird staff and noisy office. He agreed with the first orthodontist but said that if Ethan were his child, he would do things differently. He wouldn't put Ethan in head gear at all and he would wait about a year before putting braces on so it could be done in 1 stage instead of two. Ethan liked this orthodontist a lot. This doctor gives a discount through our insurance, so he is the one we will probably go to. Ethan will go back in 6 months for another evaluation to see how things have progressed and will continue to go back each 6 months until it's time for braces.
I liked this doctor because he complemented me on knowing so much about braces and teeth. Hahaha. Bryan was missing teeth, I was missing teeth, Ethan has 2 peg teeth (tiny teeth) and Courtney is missing teeth. A LOT of money is going to be going into their mouths while they are teenagers and I did a lot of research. Plus, I have a lot of questions as to why I had to have 10 teeth pulled before braces were put on. So I have done A LOT of research because this really is an investment. This doctor noticed and was impressed that I asked a lot of questions. I liked that.
We have an appointment with the third doctor in a few weeks and I'll tell you what he says but I think we will go with the second doctor.
Decisions, decisions, decisions.
1 comment:
I did the whole braces thing twice like the first one recommended. It was a joke. I would not recommend doing it. My parents just had to pay for me to get braces twice. :) Good luck!
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