San Antonio Busy Kids

When I was about six, I had a loose tooth that just refused to come out. Remember what those were like? You pushed and pushed it around with your tongue until it was hanging by a thread.

For some reason, my dad decided he wanted to take a look at it. With a butter knife. Next thing I knew…the tooth was in his hand. And I was scarred for life.

The dreaded butter knife

No one is allowed near me with a butter knife.

Fast forward about ten years and instead of a large metal knife, my mouth is filled with metal braces. Followed by the dreaded retainer. Which I (mostly) wore.  And my teeth are still pretty straight.

Now I have teenagers, and it’s about that time. As we sit in the overly-colorful dentist’s office, the thought floats through my tired brain, I wish my dad was still practicing dentistry and could somehow wrangle some braces for my kids. But he’s retired, and here I am navigating these waters by myself. Thankfully, my children have better teeth than I ever had. Must have gotten those genes from their dad.

Show me the teeth!

“I want those clear ones, Mom,” says my youngest as she’s ushered from the hygienist to the orthodontist. (They share offices – isn’t that convenient?)

I remember wanting the latest, greatest braces when I was her age. At the time, they were clear braces connected by an arch wire. Now, you can get what are essentially clear trays that are virtually invisible.

And they pop out. They POP OUT.

It’s magical pop out braces!

I remember each time my mom took me to get my braces tightened. If you had braces, I’m pretty sure you recall that awesome experience.

There’s this vivid picture in my head of stopping by McDonald’s (a real treat for me in those days) to get a hamburger after one of those visits. Except that I couldn’t eat it because my teeth hurt so badly. I ended up cutting the burger up into tiny, tiny little pieces that I could essentially swallow without chewing. Not exactly the gastronomical delight I had hoped for.

Yep – braces that pop out sound pretty good to me. Because you can pop them out AND EAT. And not even worry about little crumbolas getting stuck in your braces. More importantly, the end results are pretty important. In doing my due diligence, I spent some time on the website for these magicalicious pop out braces – Invisalign. This page on health benefits caught my attention – hazards of being a dentist’s daughter.

And I received a copy of this nifty interactive infographic from them about  why you want straight teeth. I’m particularly interested in the job info – not so ready for the dating stuff yet. Absolutely. Not. Ready.

Do you have a teen ready for braces? Or thinking about straightening your own teeth? Visit Invisalign.com and check out the free self assessment tool. Then, head over to Mom It Forward and enter the New Smile Sweepstakes for a chance to win a gift card for $1,500 to put towards an Invisalign or Invisalign Teen treatment. And, if you live in San Antonio, here’s a gigantic coupon for $500 off Invisalign Teen.

You can also connect with Invisalign on Twitter and Facebook.

Because smiles are important.

Disclaimer: I was compensated to discuss Invisalign this post, and I remain terrified of butter knives.