We were at the dentist a couple months ago for Bryce’s first teeth cleaning. He was a champ and it was the start of many visits to the dentist to come.
Today he had 4 ‘pit and fissure sealants’ on 4 teeth in the very back of his mouth, top and bottom to help prevent cavities.
Again, he surprised me with how patient he was even though there were strange tools in his mouth. I kept asking him for thumbs up to see if he was ok and even played assistant to help keep his tongue down. None of this seemed to bother him. All he wanted to do was operate the adjustable chair when his appointment was done. It made his day!
The easy part is over now.
He has two cavities and scheduled for fillings next month. That will be a brand new challenge to say the least. I’m honestly worried with the numbing and the drilling sounds, but he has been amazing so far, so we’ll see how it goes.
Bryce has a “11mm Overjet - 40% overbite - Treatment is recommended for function of bite, not cosmetic reasons” says our dentist. This requires an appliance to be placed in Bryce’s mouth to correct his bite so his bottom teeth aren’t biting into the roof of his mouth as that’s what will happen if left untreated. This appliance is called a Mandibular Anterior Repositioning Appliance or better known as a MARA.
I don’t even want to post a picture of this torturous looking device, but if you are curious (or brave), please feel free to Google it. Basically the purpose of the MARA is to reposition your jaw and In order to close your mouth all the way, the MARA forces you to bring your lower jaw forward.
If you Googled ‘MARA’ and that didn’t scare you, maybe the cost of this treatment will.
Despite it not being cosmetic and purely for function (so he can chew), it’s not covered under our dental insurance and the estimation, based on a visual exam, which may change after orthodontic records are taken, is $5,850.00 paid out over the 2 years he will be wearing the appliance. This includes all the dentist visits from start to finish, with the exception of another procedure to begin the treatment, also not covered by dental insurance, the orthodontics records, which is another $350.00.
That’s roughly $250.00 a month plus $350.00 upfront just to start everything!
Now I realize to many that is not a lot of money. But for this single mom it is.
I plan to start a fundraiser once I know the exact cost, once I can figure out the $350.00 for the orthodontics records.
I really can’t do this alone and I just want my son to keep smiling.
Thanks for reading,
Tanaya