Hailee's Shiny New Smile

After only one short year, Hailee finally got her braces off in January. She had been chomping at the bit (pun intended) for months...not a very patient child. For some reason, Hailee did not get all of her permanent teeth...she is missing one of the really noticable teeth in the front. Her baby teeth had no reason to fall out since there was nothing pushing its way in, so they just sat there. The dentist pulled those two baby teeth and then the orthodontist pulled down the one existing permanent tooth that had not emerged yet and pushed it back into place. She now wears a retainer with an extra tooth in it to fill the gap until she is old enough to get an implant...another 3 years. Hailee does agree that suffering through the braces was worth the end result.