Crossbite

All of my kids have a cross bite.  Anna Elise has other crowding issues as well, so she is actually scheduled to see an orthodontist.  She is excited, me, not so much.  Madeline has one as well, but she is young enough that her mouth is still growing and she still has all her baby teeth.  So she needs to wait.  Calvin is at the perfect age to have his crossbite fixed.  His mouth is still soft and growing but will be set in the next year or so.  Enough of his permanent teeth have come in that it's possible to tell that this problem isn't going away.  So today he got an appliance in his upper teeth to stretch his upper jaw out so that it fits outside of his lower jaw.  We get to turn his appliance every night to stretch it a little bit for 2-3 weeks.  Once it's where it needs to be, he gets to continue to wear it for another 6 months until it 'sets' that way.  This will definitely help with problems in the future, but there is no guarantee that he won't also need braces later. 

He talks funny and has a hard time swallowing so he makes a lot of slurping noises, but he should get used to it soon.