My Girl Is A Tough One

Tanner got a pallete expander and two screws put in her mouth this morning. Poor kid. She's a tough girl though and I'm so proud of her. I think I cried more than she did!! She talks with a lisp right now but that will change as her tongue gets used to having something in the top of her mouth all the time. The screw and the expander will be in her mouth for twelve to sixteen weeks then the braces will go on. She's going to be even more beautiful than she already is when this is all said and done.

This is the pallete expander that goes across the roof of her mouth and covers her back teeth. We turn this once a day for two weeks. This is the second one she's had, so she's an old pro at it. The purpose of the expander is the open up her airway just a little bit more. By opening her airway and pulling her jaw up, her tongue will sit lower in her throat and she'll be able to breathe better and easier. It also serves as an achor for the springs that attach to the screws.


This is one of the screws. The screws are above her back teeth and screwed directly into the jaw, between the roots of her teeth. They will, together with the springs that are attached to them and the expander will push her upper jaw up so that her bottom jaw can come up and around naturally, like it's supposed to.


This is the other screw. These are the same types of screws that they use in jaw surgery. Hopefully this proceedure will take the place of her having jaw surgery in a few years. If this works (and it does in 90-95% of patients) then she will NOT have to have surgery.

I'm so proud of my girl. She's not always had it easy in life, healthwise, but I know that she wouldn't be nearly as strong and brave as she is today, had she not gone through everything else. Way to go, Tough girl!