Kayda is back in "braces"

We went in last summer and were told that we needed to get Kayda into braces again as quickly as possible to take advantage of her growth.  We froze, kind of shocked hearing it, we weren't seeing the same orthodontist so we immediately scheduled a consult with her to try to figure out why the rush.  She apparently was going to take a different approach that wouldn't be as urgent.  We scheduled to meet with her again in six months to figure out when to start again.  We contact Daddy's cousin, who is an orthodontist to see if he thought it was necessary for her to do the braces again.  After seeing the x-rays and such he confirmed that she definitely needed to do them again.  Well, six months came and that orthodontist had to retire due to some medical issues.  So we're back with the one in a hurry to get her started.  

She had to have her last baby tooth taken out first (she doesn't have a permanent tooth to replace it).  We went in, and did that, she was incredibly nervous and in tears about having to get it taken out.  Fortunately, they gave her laughing gas and numbed the lower half of her jaw.  She hated being numb but deeply appreciated the laughing gas! She now has this weird hole in her mouth, she got pieces of food stuck in there a few times that I had to pick out with a tooth pick.  It was really odd.  Now that it's healed it's not as much of a problem.  

Two weeks later it was time to get the braces. The day before we go in, we got an announcement that they had hired a new orthodontist for the office.  The man we had been arranging everything with was temporary.  We go to our scheduled appointment and he put in the appliance.  However, it took him much longer than it would have because apparently it's not an appliance he normally uses.  So we missed getting his preferred stuff by about a month.  After seeing her and reviewing her information, he decided that she didn't (and might not) need braces again.  The focus is jaw growth, not maneuvering teeth and they were lined up beautifully with the first round of braces.  

I didn't get a picture of it once it'd been put in because she can't open her mouth really wide.  It looks like the picture below. 

The idea is that it constantly puts pressure on the jaw, anytime she closes her mouth it forces her jaw forward to make the front teeth meet.  The pressure will force the bone to grow.  She has to wear it for about a year, it could be more, could be less.  We're hoping she doesn't need to do the actual braces again, but won't know for a while. 

As is expected, she absolutely hates it.  It makes it hard to eat because it prevents her molars from meeting and she can't open her jaw all the way without making the "arms" fall apart.  The bar across the roof of her mouth sits pretty low so she has a hard time speaking as smoothly now.  It's all getting better as time goes on. 

We'll keep our fingers crossed each month when we go in that this "Phase" will be over sooner than expected, unlike the last one.