Let the orthodontia games begin.
You’re proudly wearing your new mouth spacer—and lisping through it like a champ. Honestly, it’s been a little harder for me to understand you, thanks to my hearing loss and that new piece of plastic on the roof of your mouth. But we’re both getting used to it.
Mom and I learned you have a smaller palate, which makes you a heavy mouth breather (and a future snorer!) at night. So we found an orthodontist willing to start there. We’d actually heard about the benefits of spacers from a family we met on vacation—their daughters had big, beautiful, mostly natural smiles with minimal braces after using spacers. Creating room now means your adult teeth will have an easier time finding their place later.
I was a little older than you when I got my first orthodontic appliance—a bite plate to correct my overbite before braces in junior high—so we’re starting in similar places. I even remember being weirdly excited about it, like it was a rite of passage. Of course, that also meant learning dumb tricks to flip my retainer around and impress my friends.
You, on the other hand, are far more mature than I was. You carry your retainer case everywhere, clean everything diligently, and switch to the next set right on schedule. You’re a rule follower, and it’s paying off—we can already see your smile getting bigger!
And you’re not the only one on this journey. While we wait for Matteo to age in, we got Mom started on Invisalign to take care of her teeth straightening and finally fix that “snaggle tooth.” Mom has an amazing smile, but for both health and looks, she’s wanted to straighten her teeth for a while. We even tried a DIY solution during the pandemic through a company called AlignerCo. It worked for me, but didn’t quite get Mom’s teeth where she wanted them. Since we’re going “all in” on family orthodontia insurance costs, now felt like the right time to get her there.
You and Mom have even turned check-ups into “ortho dates,” which I love. You both have the same jobs ahead: don’t lose those valuable retainers when you take them out to eat, and wear them as much as possible. Before long, you’ll be on to “real braces”—though these days, that basically means clear Invisalign retainers. You’ll feel even more grown up than you do already.
Love,
Dad