thx for the update~

Ellie is waiting for Monday, but which Monday, which year? 

Chapter 10

Monday morning rolled around quickly and I soon found myself sat in John’s waiting room again. It was busier this morning as his assistants gathered people through. We were sat waiting for what felt like forever and I kept running my tongue along my braces, unsure of what he had instore for me today. Finally, his assistant called me through and both me and Jessica stood up. She guided me along the corridor and I took a seat. John poked his head in and signalled for Jessica to step out with him and she quickly followed him to his office. I sat in the chair, nervously crossing then uncrossing my legs waiting for them to return.
After about 5 minutes they came into the room and John snapped on his gloves while his assistant began to lay me flat. Neither him nor Jessica had said a work yet and the nerves grew in the pit of my stomach. The assistant slipped the lip spreader in but this time it had a section to keep my tongue clear. “right then Ellie. I know we said last time that there was a bit of confusion about whether you were wearing your appliance enough because your jaw hadn’t moved. Now my speciality is looking into appliances and adapting them to make sure you have the best outcomes. This is only the start of your journey and we want to make sure we are getting it right from the beginning. So today I am going to apply a special type of bite plate behind your front teeth. Instead of having those blocks you’re going to have a lump of acrylic which will stop you biting down and breaking those brackets. I have modified it slightly though so there is a ledge at the back pointing to the bottom of your mouth. This will mean you have to bring your bottom jaw right forward to get it to sit in front of this ledge. This will put your jaw in the right position and because it’s permanent there is no concerns about compliance. Now we are going to get you started with your extra oral device today too so that we maximise the space in your upper jaw, bringing those wisdom teeth back in your jaw more, opening up more room in your arch and bringing your top jaw back slightly so the two jaws align well. Ok? Well lets get started”
I didn’t really know what he meant but I guessed it had something to do with the expander since he was talking about maximising jaw space so I opened my mouth and let him get to work. He pulled the bite blocks off the back of my teeth and it felt like they might crack with the pressure he was putting on there then he began to drill any excess glue off of them. He added some horrible tasting etch again then passed me some black glasses. “I’m going to be using a lot of UV light today – these will protect your eyes” I slipped them on and tried to relax slightly. His assistant passed him the bite plate but I couldn’t see it at all. I felt a bit of pressure behing my front teeth but nothing major and relaxed as I realised this wouldn’t be as bad as I thought. I felt john remove it and make a few adjustments before slipping it back in. When he was satisfied of it’s fit he put it to one side then changed the archwire to a new thicker one. Then he put the bite plate back in and asked for his wire ligature to secure it. I hadn’t thought about how it was going to be fitted to the existing braces but I guessed he was going to tie it in. I felt John slip some wire between my two front teeth and the pressure between them two hit immediately. I felt him do the same between the canines and the pre-molars on both sides of my mouth and I knew I was going to need painkillers later. He then started fiddling with the expander in the roof of my mouth and the aching began immediately. My top jaw was incredible tender and I tried to probe it with my tongue but was topped by the lip spreader today. John then begun to twist the wire between my two front teeth around the new archwire. I felt the pressure increase and it felt like the bite plate was crushing against my front teeth. John did the same behind the canine teeth on the left side and the pain really amped up. As he pulled on the wire by my right canine teeth I couldn’t help but let out a grunt of pain, he paused for a second “I know it’s sore but this is going to keep the expander in place. We are lucky that your palate expander has created tiny gaps between your teeth already so I didn’t have to add more spacers. We are almost done with this part.” I tried to agree but again it just came out a grunt. He finally finished twisting the wire on that side and took his hands out my mouth a second. I couldn’t quite figure out where the pressure was coming from, all I knew was that my whole top mouth was aching badly. John took his mirror and checked around my mouth “That looks good to me, nice and secure to your new archwire. Palate expander still holding up well. Onto the bottom arch. At least this is just a quick wire change for you”
He made quick work of changing my bottom archwire but again the aching started almost immediately as he had gone for a much thicker one. “Right, lets sit you up before we continue. You can rinse your mouth and we can see if it’s rubbing anywhere or if it’s sitting ok”
The lip spreader was taken out as the chair was raised and I attempted to close my mouth. Immediately my lower jaw hit and I couldn’t get it closed. John must have seen the panic on my face “Don’t worry – it’s not holding it open that much, remember slide your lower jaw forward and it will sit in front of the ledge on the bite plate” I followed his instructions and it worked but it still felt like it was holding my mouth open. He gripped my chin in his hands, using his fingers to pry my lips apart. “That looks fantastic. Now it is coming down lower than you would probably have liked but that is to allow your teeth to erupt more on the bottom and it’s the perfect position for your jaw. Because it holds it open it’s allowed those wires to run through and hold it in place. Now open and close a few times for me” I again followed johns instructions but my saliva was rapidly building up and I had to slurp it back which make my cheeks burn with shame. Now my tongue was free I could explore it more, the bite plate didn’t have a small ledge – the plate and ledge ran all the way back to my expander so I couldn’t get my tongue to the roof of my mouth at all – it was all enclosed. The large ledge meant I had to push my jaw right forward which made me feel like my jaw was square. It also came really low down – the bite plate definitely went below my top teeth. John got me to rinse my mouth and had another look, making noises that implied his approval.
I needed to see what it looked like “aaah eeee feee?” the noises that came out my mouth stunned me and Jessica couldn’t hold her smirk. John smiled sympathetically “sorry I didn’t catch that, try again. It is going to be much harder to talk with this as it takes over the front of your palate and behind your teeth but it will get easier with time, you will be left with only a slight lisp and muffling”. I nodded sadly and tried again “aaan iiiii feee?” John seemed to understand this time “you want to see?” I nodded quickly and he handed me the mirror. I didn’t even need to open my mouth to see – the bite plate came at least a cm below my top teeth, keeping my jaw open even as my bottom teeth hit it. The acrylic was a flurescent blue so really visible. I grimaced slightly as I opened my mouth and attempted to look at it. John pointed out how the wires connected it to my archwire plus my palate expander so it was completely secure. “I have created a small spring in it in the middle so it’ll work with your palate expander as that opens your jaw up more. I know it probably feels a lot right now but I can see you and Jessica have been doing a great job turning that every day so we will keep that progress going until your top jaw is the right size. Your lower jaw is doing well too but we need to keep them both active. Now the disadvantage to this – and why I had to check with Jessica – is that it’s going to be much harder to clean your teeth, you’re going to have to use you waterpik to floss inbetween the teeth and between the teeth and the bite plate but you’re going to have to come into the office weekly to meet with out hygienist too just to make sure it’s not causing any problems and we so can give it and you a deep clean. The good thing is while you’re here each week I can check in and adapt to what you need each time – it should speed up this bit of treatment” I nodded again, slightly stunned by it hoping that each week I wouldn’t have more additions as I literally could not fit anything else in my mouth. Jessica piped up “It’s no problem bringing her in, we just want Ellie to have the best smile she can – no matter what it takes”. John smiled at her gratefully and I moved to swing my legs off the chair, assuming we were done today. John put his hand on my shoulder “We haven’t finished today yet – remember your extraoral device? Pop your legs back up and we will get that sorted for you” My heart started beating rapidly not knowing what that was but knowing there was no way I could have anything else inside my mouth.

This story is fireeee! I love how Emily is such a passenger in her treatment having the sadistic Jessica make every decision on her behalf, then sitting chairside enjoying poor Ellie’s discomfort as the ortho does his work  keep up the great work! More please!!!

Chapter 11

John layed the chair down slowly and his assistant put the lip spreader in again, forcing my tongue back. I became desperate to just out of here today before he added anything else. My mouth felt totally full now and i couldn’t imagine what else he thought he was going to get in. He mumbled something to his assistant who walked off to get it. As John pushed around my mouth I got sharp pains wherever he touched. His assistant passed a packet to John but it was out of my eye line so I couldn’t see it. I began to wring my hands whilst laying down, desperate to know what was happening. John opened the packed and held an item up in front of my face. My heart sunk – absolutely no, no way. “This is a facebow, a type of headgear. You’re going to have this connected to a few straps – this is the extraoral device that will move those molars back, creating more space in your arch while keeping your jaw in a better position”, I shook my head furiously, sick rising in my throat. “noo, iiii caaaffff ooouuu ffaaaaat”
Jessica spoke up quickly “Ellie we can’t understand you but I can guarantee you’re protesting. John thinks this is important. You have to wear it, you don’t have a choice – remember your contract?” I rolled my eyes slightly and turned back to John, hoping to plead my case but he shrugged his shoulders “I am doing Jessica a favour and you only have to wear it 10 hours a day, that’s not a lot, ideally I would have preferred full time. Now let’s see if it fits.” I didn’t have much choice in the matter as my lips were already in the spreader and John quickly got to work. He slotted it in and out, then turned around and began to work on it with some pliers – adjusting it to Ellie’s mouth. Finally he was happy with the fit and removed the lip spreaders and sat me up. His assistant passed him the straps just as I was upright. He attached what felt like a million straps across my head and then began to adjust them.
With my jaw being held open by the bite plate plus the braces my lips didn’t completely close anyway but now the facebow was poking out of them and felt incredibly low, sitting between my lips, pushing them out even more when I tried to close my lips properly.
I attempted to reason with them again “issss aggguuulll”, John shook his head “it’s not awful, like Jessica said – you don’t have a choice. It is just another step in the treatment. It’s the best way to move your molars. Like I said it’s only overnight. Now this is what we call combination headgear as it has straps on your neck as well as your head. You need to keep it on this setting and I will review it when you come in next week and adjust if we need. Now let’s practice putting it in and taking it out”
He handed me a mirror and it was even worse than I thought, my eyes sprung with tears and the assistant rubbed my shoulder sympathetically, she showed me how to get it in and out a few times then let me practice. Once I had got the hang of it John did one final check of it “remember, 10 hours a night, leave it on these settings – just put it in and attach the straps as I have set them. I’ll check it next week.” I nodded them my hands reached to take it out, he quickly stopped me “rules are, any appliance you wear in the office – and at your age you will be a great example to the younger kids”. My cheeks burned but I knew there was no point in arguing it. Instead I just followed Jessica out and waited while she scheduled the next few weeks of appointments for me, keeping my eyes glued to the ground, refusing to look to see who was staring at me.
The pulling of the headgear was making my jaw hurt even more and I had to swallow my tears down. Even Jessica looked sorry for me as she turned around “Right, lets get home, you can take that off when we are home and we will get you some painkillers, you don’t have to go to school today – it’s a lot isn’t it?” I nodded sadly and followed her quickly to the car.

More amazing work! Poor Ellie, she’s got a lot to deal with! Can’t wait to hear how she learns to live with her new hardware 

I love this story, can’t wait for the next chapter!