{"id":861,"date":"2024-08-05T09:07:22","date_gmt":"2024-08-05T13:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catastrophicstardust.com\/?p=861"},"modified":"2024-08-05T09:07:22","modified_gmt":"2024-08-05T13:07:22","slug":"metal-mouth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catastrophicstardust.com\/?p=861","title":{"rendered":"Metal Mouth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As a family with 4 kids, it was inevitable that someone would need braces. Unfortunately for our budget, 4 out of 4 need them. And on top of braces, they all 4 need upper frenum clippings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kid #1 had “junior braces” on the top before a full set, because she lost her canines early and her teeth shifted. Between junior braces and the real set, she was over $7k. She has an invisiline looking retainer and has “permanent” bonded retainers on her top and bottom teeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kid #2 had a full set. She was actually out of braces before kid #1. In that time frame, our orthodontist retired and sold the practice, so her retainer I’d actually a plastic and metal set, not a fitted clear set. She was about $5k-$6k.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kiddo #3 is currently in a full set that will be paid off at the end of the year (another $5k-$6k). She has had the absolute worst time with them. Her teeth are aligned, but she still has a touch of an overbite, but we are all happy with where she is at so she will be getting her braces off this month!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kiddo #4 is to be determined. She still has her full frenum and has the best aligned teeth naturally of the 4, but we need a braces break!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As our 3rd journey ends, the offer of the bonded retainers came up for her, but with as sensitive as her teeth are and the tears we’ve had, we are opting for nightly retainers for now. Hopefully her teeth won’t shift!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Waiting on the doc<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tools<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Band colour options<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Our running joke is that we basically purchased a fancy car for the last orthodontist! \ud83e\udd23\ud83d\ude2d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a family with 4 kids, it was inevitable that someone would need braces. Unfortunately for our budget, 4 out of 4 need them. And on top of braces, they all 4 need upper frenum clippings. Kid #1 had “junior braces” on the top before a full set, because she lost her canines early and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,16],"tags":[225,269,150,271,12,17,272,270],"class_list":["post-861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-budget-talk","category-medical-stuff","tag-225","tag-braces","tag-budget","tag-dentist","tag-medical-debt","tag-medical-stuff","tag-orthodontist","tag-teeth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/catastrophicstardust.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/png_20211229_100926_00008925482664343825079.png?fit=3000%2C1500&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28,"url":"https:\/\/catastrophicstardust.com\/?p=28","url_meta":{"origin":861,"position":0},"title":"Budget Talk – Medical Debt 2022","date":"December 27, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"One thing my family has been actively working on this past year is getting out of debt. I actually started a debt payoff journey on YouTube early last year, but ended up not keeping up with it after a couple of months because life got extremely busy between work, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Budget Talk"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/catastrophicstardust.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/20211227_103602_00003723365761435641241.png?fit=1200%2C300&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":313,"url":"https:\/\/catastrophicstardust.com\/?p=313","url_meta":{"origin":861,"position":1},"title":"Goodbye Car… Payments!","date":"March 10, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"It's the beginning of a new year... Alright, so it's 3 months in to the new year already. But for almost everyone, it's tax time. Having four kids equals deductions for us, so we always get a little bit back. We've been paying extra on our car payment, knowing it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Budget Talk"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/catastrophicstardust.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/20211229_113105_00008678772977503413958.png?fit=940%2C788&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":720,"url":"https:\/\/catastrophicstardust.com\/?p=720","url_meta":{"origin":861,"position":2},"title":"The End of an Era","date":"February 5, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Every year for at least the past 5 years we've been the country folk that head to the big city so kiddo #3 can get an annual x-ray of her legs with the Orthopedic Pediatric Surgeon. 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One test later, I'm\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Day to Day Happenings"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/catastrophicstardust.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/20211229_095421_00008393513576783207482.png?fit=1200%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1070,"url":"https:\/\/catastrophicstardust.com\/?p=1070","url_meta":{"origin":861,"position":4},"title":"2026… Bracing for Impact","date":"January 16, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The world is a mess, and everyone is just trying to survive. That seemed to be 2025's theme, but it didn't start off that way. Logging back into this blog, I see 4 draft posts for 2024 that I never finished. They need photos and refinement. 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