The next two weeks were torture. As soon as I got home I immediately begged my parents to lend me the money to get out of the contract. It took them an embarrassing amount of time to understand what I was saying through the lisping and spit, but once they understood they told me that I would have to deal with this on my own. My mom seemed to even agree with the orthodontist that this was for the best.
“An orthodontist knows best,” she told me.
So the two weeks leading up to my next appointment were a grueling process of learning how to speak and eat again. Besides causing a horrible lisp, the tongue crib seemed to hang too low and made using utensils almost impossible. The only thing getting me through these weeks was the hope that I could convince Dr. White to switch my plans or at least get rid of one of my appliances.
When my appointment day finally came I had convinced myself that Dr. White would agree to remove the appliances. I felt much more confident walking in to the appointment.
“Hi, ith Grathie here to thee Dr. White,” I listed to the receptionist.
“Alright Gracie, I will let him know you are here!”
I sat down in the waiting room with yet again another person wearing headgear. This time it was a boy my age and his mouth looked uncomfortably full to the point that he could barely close it. I was curious what was in his mouth that caused his jaw to be so rigid and his cheeks so full. They looked worse than mine with my herbst!
My staring was a bit too obvious as he caught my eye.
“I’m Greg,” he mumbled with a half wave. “Ith called an activator.”
He pointed at his mouth as he said this.
“Thorry I didn’t mean to thare. I’m Grathie,” I replied.
“Are you new here?”
“I have only had one appointment tho far.”
“I thought tho,” he replied and I noticed he had a very heavy lisp.
“Whyth that?”
“You’re headgear free.”
“Greg,” called the assistant. “Dr. White is ready for you.”
I watched Greg leave horrified and wondering what his words meant. Surely I would not need headgear? His case had to be much worse than mine.
I was now anxious while waiting for my turn. When the assistant finally called me I realized my hands had been balled and were a little damp. I laid down in the chair and she reclined me back.
“Hi Gracie, how are your appliances treating you?” asked Dr. White leaning over me.
“Well I wath hoping we could make thome adjuthments. The herbst bothers my cheekth and the tongue crib giveth me a bad lithp.”
“Hmm we will definitely make some adjustments and you will be happy to hear the herbst will go!”
I immediately felt much more relaxed hearing that.
“Let me change your arch wires and look at how everything is adjusting.”
Dr. White put the lip spreader in and began to examine my mouth. I felt him slide my wires out and tension as he put new ones in.
“Hmm well I was worried this would happen. Your tongue is still moving around the upper tongue crib so I will have to fix that.”
He reached over to a tray next to him.
“I will remove your herbst then adjust that tongue crib for you.”
I was happy to hear that it sounded like I was getting everything I wanted. He started installing something in my lower jaw that made me a bit nervous. When he took out the lip spreader I felt that my jaw was more free without the herbst, but now I could not close my teeth fully and I had literally nowhere to put my tongue.
“So I took out your herbst as I’m sure you can tell, but I added a lower tongue crib to ensure that your tongue cannot get around at all. I had to add some bite blocks to your back teeth to keep the cribs from getting caught together, so that will take some getting used to at first.”
I could not believe he was doing this to me.
“I caa taaalkk,” i said, my voice completely garbled.
“You will adjust, I promise,” he replied seeming unconcerned with my discomfort. “One more thing to add then we will send you on your way. I’m sure you are sick of this chair.”
What in the world could he possibly add. My eyes widened as I saw him pull out a metal u.
“Open wide.”
I reluctantly opened my mouth.
“This is your face bow it clicks into your molar bands and will be used instead of the herbst. Now lean forward.”
Dr. White pulled a navy blue strap from the drawer and slid it around my neck attaching it to the bow. I could immediately feel pressure in my jaw and like it was sliding back in my mouth. I almost groaned out loud when I saw him pull another more intricate strap out and put it around the back of my head.
“You have a lot of hair,” he said in an annoyed voice as he attached the strap. “I would recommend getting it cut as it will get in the way of the strap and could mess with the pressure.”
Great, so headgear and losing my long hair that took forever to grow.
“So this headgear had a neck and head strap for you to wear. It does not need to be worn full time. Only 18 hours a day!”
I thought I was going to pass out in the chair, this day was not going how I planned.
