Lily’s smile lights up the stage, thanks to orthodontic care

Thirteen-year-old Lily is a fan of the theatre — and she’s no stranger to taking the stage, having already performed in two plays just this past school year. “She’s always the most confident when she’s up on stage with her friends,” says her mom, Jade. Lily’s confidence is something that she recently stepped back into, after once feeling self-conscious about her smile.

During a routine dentist visit when Lily was 6, X-ray imaging showed that she had an extra incisor tooth on the upper left side of her mouth. The community dentist that she went to suggested that she be seen by Boston Children’s Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Program to extract the tooth for her. After a successful extraction, and allowing a few years to monitor her dental development, her primary dentist recommended that she be seen by an orthodontist. The reason: Follow-up X-ray imaging showed that the duplicated tooth had shifted and was endangering the roots of nearby healthy teeth.

Jade knew that Boston Children’s Department of Dentistry was where she wanted to bring Lily. “Having been a dentistry patient at Boston Children’s myself, I remembered how awesome the experience was for me as a kid, and I wanted Lily to have that same level of care,” she says.

Braces to set Lily up for a tooth replacement

Dr. Marc Ackerman in the Orthodontics Program evaluated Lily’s case and, in coordination with the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Program, determined that her permanent canine on the left side had developed in the wrong place — causing a shortening of the lateral incisor tooth root. Dr. Ackerman shared his findings with the family and explained that the tooth would need to be extracted to let the canine tooth come into the mouth. Lily would then need braces to arrange a space in preparation for replacing the extracted tooth.

A few months after her second extraction, Lily was fitted for braces. Even though she was still feeling a little self-conscious about her teeth, her braces helped give her a boost of confidence because of the colorful elastic bands that went over the brackets. “She loved picking out the colors at those appointments. It took longer for her to decide on a color pattern than installing them,” laughs Jade.

Lights, camera, Lily!

While Lily was wearing her braces, Dr. Ackerman was working to create a temporary retainer that had a tooth attached to fill the gap in Lily’s mouth. Once Lily’s braces came off, the retainer was waiting for her — and she was more than ready to wear it. “I loved my retainer. I know some kids don’t like having one, but mine had teeth attached that filled the gap, so I was way more comfortable smiling and laughing with my mouth open wider,” she says.

Since the retainer was only temporary, Dr. Ackerman referred Lily to Dr. Aram Kim, the prosthodontist at Boston Children’s. During their consultation, Dr. Kim recommended a resin-bonded bridge (also called a Maryland Bridge) since it doesn’t require wearers to remove it when they eat or play sports.

 “Dr. Kim was amazing getting the bridge just right for Lily,” says Jade. “She took the time to make sure the color and sizing were precise and matched Lily’s other teeth perfectly.”

With the bridge now in place, Lily only needs to wear a retainer at night to keep her teeth aligned while she waits to get the final installment of a dental implant in a few years. She’s been proudly singing on stage in middle school alongside her new friends and loves to smile wide. “She’s an entirely more confident girl — it’s amazing to see her shine on stage now,” says Jade.

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