And a year later, my slow-moving wisdom teeth finally started poking through. That necessitated some dental surgery, lest the incoming teeth knock the newly straightened ones all out of whack again. I'm sure my son's orthodontic experience will be a lot more pleasant. For one thing, modern techniques have greatly reduced the need to pull teeth before fitting a mouth with braces. For another, braces are no longer the social stigma they once were.
Kids actually look forward to getting braces.
They can get them in colors, like red for Christmas, green for St. Patrick's Day, etc. With any luck, my son will get his braces off before he's 15. That way, he'll be free to focus on the important teen issues, like whether or not his ears are too big. Rodger Mullen is a feature writer for the Observer-Times.