Unfortunately...It's in the Genes!!!

Nathan has his first, yes I said first, retainer. Apparently, his teeth are cross-threading and one of his front teeth needs to be pushed out. This little retainer has a little metal spring on it that after the retainer is seated in his mouth properly, we push the little wire behind his front tooth. It puts constant pressure on the tooth, pushing it slowly forward so the problem will be solved. Nathan picked the lovely blue color and wanted a jet liner on it as well. Unfortunately, no amount of blue or cute plane pictures painted on the retainer makes it cool for Nathan. He absolutely hates it! It is rather painful, especially on his front tooth. In addition, the retainer makes it very hard for him to talk, which he was already conscious of before because of his slight tongue thrust which causes a speech impediment. In his words, "It sucks!" Poor Nathan. I don't have the heart to tell him that his back teeth are also cross threaded and the way to solve that is not so easy. It requires a spacing retainer in which the apparatus is cemented to the back teeth and it has a spring that they continually tighten, pushing out on his back teeth. Additionally, after that comes round three....full on braces. Sorry Nathan, it is all in the genes and neither Justin or myself have good teeth genes apparently!!