Reilly, at 8 1/2, has finally lost his front teeth. It has been a long time coming – most of his friends are sporting chompers that are as adult as mine or yours. I attribute some of this delay to Reilly (along with the other two) not getting his teeth until he was about one. (a very nice thing when it came to flying – he was under two until he was three)

His first front tooth, as you saw from a few days ago, was removed with a pair of needle-nose pliers. His second, I found out yesterday, was loosened by his “friend” Darian who thought it would be fun to smack him while he was playing with it. Turns out it began to bleed and Reilly had to ask the bus driver for a paper towel. Shortly after he got to school his tooth came out and the nurse gave him a special tooth box to put it in for safe keeping.

Now that the teeth are out the fun part comes, addressing his underbite. In our first orthodontic appointment, and $2500 estimate, we were told Reilly would need a reverse headgear. I don’t know if you have ever seen one but it reminds me of Hannibal Lecter. Scary Mary. He would wear it immediately after school until he got up the following morning. He would adhere two pads to his face, one on his chin the other on his forehead. He would have a palette expander and a metal pole that was connected on the top pad, the mouth, and the bottom pad spanning the length of his face. It’s so primitive looking it drives me nuts. It would slowly pull on his top teeth/jaw to bring it forward. Ick. If there is a nice side (aside from his jaw being aligned properly) the orthodontist has Reilly excited about the apparatus!

Teeth, no teeth, reverse headgear, overbite, underbite… I still think he’s adorable.