Braces

You may have noticed from a previous post that the little miss has some new accessories on her teeth.  It's been nearly a month now since she had a set of braces installed on her top teeth.
You're probably thinking what we were at our first orthodontist consult: "Braces?!  But she's only 7."  Well our trusted orthodontist explained to us that she didn't need braces for straightening like many preteens.  Hers was a space issue.  If you click each photo it should enlarge for you and you can see her teeth a little more close up.  The photo below was taken the day we went to the orthodontist for the actual installation.  You can see that her top two front teeth are so far apart she had a large gap between them.  And into the tiny slivers of space on either side is where the front side teeth (called lateral incisors) are supposed to fit.  Not gonna happen, right?  That's what the orthodontist thinks too.  He predicts that the lateral incisors would have come in behind the front teeth, resulting in what's called a cross bite.

You can see it really well in this photo I took in September.

So the braces went on and the original plan is for her to wear them for approximately 6-10 months.  We were really surprised with the quick movement of her front two teeth though.  I noticed an obvious change just 36 hours later.  The photo just above was taken the day of her installation appointment. The photo at the top with her favorite chicken was taken less than a week after getting braces.  And the photo below was tonight right before bed.  Her front two teeth seem to definitely be in position.  Now we're just waiting for the lateral incisors to come down.

We know having braces is a process and requires some extra attention.  Overall she's doing great with them, but we do have one issue.  It's been nearly impossible to get her to remember to brush her teeth after snack and lunch at school.  Her teacher as voluntarily reminded her a few times to brush and a handful of times, the little miss has remembered on her own.  I've tried writing her notes and putting them on the very top of her lunch items.  I've even offered her money if she'll remember to brush after eating.  And each morning when I pack her lunch into her backpack I make sure her little pouch of brushing supplies is on the very top so she has to see it when she unpacks at school.  

I'm out of ideas.  So if you have any ideas for me to try to get her to brush while at school, I'd be happy to hear them.