Isabelle's Braces Fundraiser and Art Sale!

 Good morning to all my lovely readers out there! It's a chilly wet day in the North West, but one that comes with some good news after a string of mostly bad. I have been working on a blog entry for a couple days with pics from my Dad and Stepmom's recent visit that had to get interrupted for this urgent news update. ;) But stay tuned for your regularly scheduled program, to be posted soon.

The reason for the interruption is, we paid a visit to the Orthodontist yesterday, to get a second opinion on Isabelle's teeth and treatment, and got some fairly good news that we have to act on fast! She has a severe crossbite that's been forming for the past few years, as her bottom jaw outgrows her top jaw, as you can see in some detail in the pics below. This has caused her to compensate by shifting her entire bottom jaw to the left, resulting in some of her bottom teeth protruding in front of her upper teeth, and some resting behind. In fact, if you look at her pic below, the right side of her mouth looks completely normal, with the left side adversely having a severe underbite.

 

Now, we had been told 3 years ago when this started, by our dentist at the time, that she should see an Orthodontist, but that she was still losing baby teeth and that she would have to have all her permanent teeth before they would do anything, so we postponed it, as we figured we had LOTS of time before that day finally came. Well 2 and a half years later, and all her baby teeth are gone (which happened without us knowing, BTW), and her dentist recommended we now see an Ortho sooner than later. We went to the one she recommended first, and other than generally not getting a good vibe (as you might say they kind of made fun of the severity of her case, as they said it was something they'd never seen, and that it would be a fun challenge, in rather exaggerated tones. boo!), we also thought they were asking for quite a lot of money, while telling us they were giving us a deal. They did however provide us with a fairly extensive write-up of what was going on in her mouth and why we needed to do what we needed to do, sooner than later, because at this point, it's doing damage to her other teeth, and her jaw is still forming and hasn't fused, and it will be a lot less painful and less damaging to fix it now, than years later, when they will have to go in and crack her jaw open surgically. The print out is below, if you can see it at all. Not sure if you can click on it and make it bigger or not, but you could give it a shot!

 

Part of the treatment requires a year of wearing headgear to try and pull Isabelle's upper jaw forward and stretch it out, to catch it up to the lower jaw. Following would be two years of regular braces, straightening the teeth out and a possible retainer in the roof of her upper jaw to spread it out even more. After hearing all this, Isabelle was mortified! And in fact, said she was going to run away, if I made her do it. ;) But, excitingly enough, after going to see this new Ortho, she is EXCITED to get it done! I'm sure it doesn't hurt that there are video games in the waiting room and cool prizes to win, but I think the real deal sealer was the fact that our new, $400 cheaper quote, came with CLEAR braces (Invisalign), and the doc let her look at and hold the purple, flowery and TINY headgear! Then, as we were almost headed out the door, the office manager gave me a coupon for $500 off, if we sign up in the month of May! Uh, yeah! The only trouble is, we need $500 down, and the monthly payments will then be $200 a month. I'm really hopeful we can pull this off though, and as a matter of fact, we have come up with a brilliant fundraising idea, that might be of some help...

 

As some of you may know, Isabelle is a brilliant artist, and has offered to send a one of a kind, amazing art piece to whoever can donate at least $5!

(The donate button is on the top right of the screen)

Below are a couple of examples of her work.

(The one on top is of her Auntie Jamie as a cat-person ;))

 

 

Also, if you are local, and you would like, I would be happy to shoot your portrait, for whatever amount you think reasonable!

 Or, I can take an old picture of you and fancy it up, for as little as $5 donation!

Or, you could buy a print of any of my pics featured in my blogs, at whatever price you feel is reasonable! You really can't lose! 

We have til Tuesday to come up with the $500 down, and after that, we will continue to accept donations in exchange for art, for the following 36 months of treatment. We will definitely be matching any and all donations with our own funds, and will keep you updated on the progression on this and Isabelle's blog. Thanks again for reading and please consider clicking on the donation bar on the top right portion of your screen! <3<3