Every kid who starts treatment at Wafelbakker Anderson Orthodontics gets a photo on the first day. Sign in hand, brand-new brackets, a grin that is half excited and half unsure what just happened. A year or two later comes the matching photo, the last-day sign and a very different smile.
Those two pictures get the likes. But the months in between are where the real work happens, and most of it goes by without anyone stopping to notice. November, the month for counting what we are thankful for, is a good time to change that.
Here is what the journey actually looks like from a kid’s side of the chair, and the moments worth celebrating along the way.
Day One: Braces On
Getting braces put on does not hurt. The surprise comes a few hours later, when the teeth start to feel tender as they register the first gentle pressure. That soreness usually fades within a few days.
The first week is an adjustment. Lips and cheeks get used to the brackets, and orthodontic wax helps with any spot that rubs. Soft foods are a kid’s best friend: pasta, yogurt, scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes. By the end of the week, most kids have stopped thinking about their braces at all.
Worth celebrating: making it through week one. It is the hardest part, and it is over fast.
The Adjustment Visits
Every few weeks, a visit to the office keeps things moving. The wire gets checked or changed, and kids pick new colors for their bands, which for a lot of them is the highlight of the month. WAO uses self-ligating brackets that hold the wire without elastic ties, which keeps brushing easier and treatment precise.
The wires themselves are clever. WAO uses heat-activated wires that respond to the body’s own warmth, applying steady, gentle pressure between visits.
Worth celebrating: a new color, and a full month of good brushing.
The Gap Closes
Somewhere in the middle of treatment, there is a day when a kid looks in the mirror and notices something is different. A gap is gone. A crooked front tooth has turned. Teeth that crowded each other now have room.
This is the moment that makes treatment feel real, and it often comes when a kid has started to feel like it will never end.
Worth celebrating: the first change you can see. Take a picture.
The Bite Phase
Later in treatment, the work shifts from straightening teeth to getting the top and bottom to meet correctly. Some kids wear small elastics during this stage. It is less dramatic than the early changes, and it is what makes a smile work as well as it looks, for chewing, speaking and comfort for years to come.
This is also where the Wafelbakker smile takes shape: a full display of the upper teeth, and a smile arc that follows the curve of the lower lip, built without pulling permanent teeth.
Worth celebrating: sticking with the elastics. This is where patience pays off.
The Last Day
Then it happens. The brackets come off, the teeth are polished, and a kid runs their tongue over smooth enamel for the first time in a long time. Out comes the last-day sign. Then the retainer, which holds everything in place while the bone around the teeth settles in.
Worth celebrating: everything. They earned it.
A Thank-You From the Other Side of the Chair
Dr. Bas Wafelbakker has been treating kids since 1985, and he now sees the children and grandchildren of former patients. Dr. Chris Anderson just marked 20 years with the practice. After all that time, the milestones in the middle still matter to them as much as the first and last day.
This November, take a minute to tell the kid in your house how far they have come. If you have a younger child who has not had a first orthodontic visit yet, a complimentary initial exam at any of our offices in Gilroy, Morgan Hill, Hollister and Walnut Creek is a good place to start their own story.
#WAOSmile