When I walked into the orthodontists office the next morning I was immediately hit by the smell. I always hated the smell of the orthodontist like rubber and cleanser. I gave the receptionist my name and she directed my to the waiting room. The majority of the people waiting were younger, but I did see a few people who looked like my parents age waiting.
“Gracie! You’re up,” a young woman who I assumed was Dr. White’s assistant called.
I smiled and followed her to a chair. I did not understand this new open floor concept I liked having privacy!
“Hi Gracie, I’m Dr. White,” said a clean cut older man out stretching his hand for me to shake it.
“Nice to meet you.”
“Let me take a look at those teeth of yours. Open, bite down for me. Hmm let me see you swallow,” he said brown furrowing a little. “I’m going to be honest with you, this is not what we like to see.”
“Oh really?” I asked a little nervous now.
“It looks like your jaw changed some since you last had braces and there were some habits that were never corrected. Did you have any appliances?”
“No, just braces and two rubber bands.”
“So, to avoid issues in the future we need to start treatment as soon as possible. If you sign some routine paperwork for me today we could get you started as soon as this week,” he said.
This was all going way faster than I expected.
“I don’t know if braces are in my price range right now,” I said trying to think of an easy way out.
“I think we could get everything done within your parents insurance on the plan that I was thinking.”
“You really think it’s that serious?” I asked.
“Unfortunately yes,” he said. “Let me get you the paperwork and I’ll give you a minute to look over it and think it through before signing.”
He handed me a stack of documents. I briefly scanned them but I had a bad habit of never fully reading before signing. I looked in my phone camera, my teeth really could be better. The first time wasn’t horrible and I might as well get it over with now. I sighed and picked up the pen and signed.
“I’m ready Dr. White, I signed!” I said.
“Let’s get that treatment started,” he smiled.