Goodbye Thumb!

A week ago Sofia had an orthodontist appointment with Dr. Lewis to determine if she will need an expander on her top jaw to make room for all of her adult teeth. We originally went to an orthodontist in Southlake who comes highly recommended and who already sees a few of Sofia's classmates. He was very personable and I liked how close his office is, but decided on a second opinion with Dr. Lewis, who is located at Dr. Simpson's office in Carrollton every Tuesday. Dr. Simpson is a family friend of CK's boss, Tex, and has been seeing the girls for a few years. He is very gentle and great with the girls and is very generous about getting us in to see him. I don't love the 30-40 minute drive, but he's worth it.

So, last week the girls and I headed out to meet Dr. Lewis for the first time and although he is younger than Dr. Simpson, he has a similar friendly and easy way about him. He looked in Sofia's mouth and agreed with our first estimate that she would need an expander. He said that because she has sucked her thumb for so long, it has changed the shape of her top jaw and has caused her teeth to start to push in instead of straight down. He also said that her two front teeth, which have been coming in for well over 6 weeks have not progressed because the pressure of her thumb is causing the teeth not to drop. He said she really needs to stop sucking her thumb or he could put a bar in her mouth which would discourage her from sucking it. We have tried convincing Sofia to stop sucking her thumb and she did for a short time before Kindergarden, but soon started back up. Most recently she sucks it every night to fall asleep and a lot of the time when she's reading, watching a show, bored or tired. So, a lot of the time she has her thumb in her mouth. We've tried the liquid nail polish that tastes terrible (I tried it and it is terrible and stays in your mouth for awhile). That worked but as soon as it wore off, she would be right back to sucking it again.

Dr. Lewis told me about the importance of Sofia not sucking her thumb while the girls were busy looking at toothbrushes and stickers, so I asked him to tell her what he told me. He called her over to him and told her very kindly that she needed to stop sucking her thumb or else her teeth would need a lot of fixing, including an expander and braces. He was really very gentle and kind and Sofia listened intently. She really doesn't want an expander and I think she thinks that she can avoid it if she stops sucking her thumb now.

We left Dr. Lewis' office and without saying anything Sofia just stopped sucking her thumb! I noticed while we drove home that she read with out her thumb. Usually I have to remind her a time or two while she reads. A few days later she announced that she hadn't sucked her thumb since Dr. Lewis' appointment and she was done! She said she's hoping it means that she will not need an expander, which she is getting in a month, but we'll cross that bridge in the coming weeks. We are so proud of her!!

The thumb through the years.....