Chapter 9
The next few weeks passed in a blur and although the braces weren’t pleasant I did get used to them. I learned not to give Jessica the satisfaction of moaning about the unpleasantness and instead began to think about how much better everything would be once it was off. I also figured that the expanders would come out at some point – google told me on average 9 months – and then all I would have left would be metal braces which is totally acceptable. Once I stopped lisping that was the main thing, plus the night time appliance should finish around the same time. 9 months of hell wasn’t great but at least it wasn’t the whole way through!
One Saturday I was having lunch at home with Jessica and I bit into some raw carrot. We both instantly heard a crunch and to begin with I thought I had cracked a tooth. I swallowed nervously then run my tongue around my teeth. I didn’t feel anything and told Jessica it must have been a false alarm, but she insisted on checking. I swirled my mouth with some water then opened wide. Jessica used her phone torch to check my mouth and she didn’t see anything either. Just as I thought we were clear she said “oh, tip your head back more” I did as I was told and heard her sigh. “You’ve knocked the two bite blocks off your front teeth. Probably swallowed them too. I’ll give John a ring to tell him and find out what we need to do, you finish eating but be careful – you need to watch those bottom brackets”. I groaned internally, knowing that because they were such good friends it was likely I would end up sitting in the chair ASAP. I was being so careful of chewing but it felt great to be able to actually close my mouth and I hoped he wouldn’t put the bite blocks back on – he did say it was only temporary so hopefully I wouldn’t need them now.
I turned around as I heard Jessica come back into the kitchen and raised my eyebrows expectantly, she smiled slightly at me “He said he has no plans this afternoon so we are free to go in in about an hour and a half for him to fix it”. This time I couldn’t hold the groan in and Jessica quickly sneered at me “you think I want to be spending my Saturday afternoon ferrying you to appointments? No! As much as this is an inconvenience for you it’s just as bad for me, even worse because it doesn’t benefit me in any way. Stop acting like a brat – it was your own fault! Besides, I don’t think John is going to be happy is he? Giving up his Saturday after you ate something too hard despite him telling you not to?”
I mumbled an apology and bit into my sandwich, sulking slightly as I chewed. Once we had finished I brushed my teeth and we headed into the car. I couldn’t stop running my tongue over the back of my teeth, noticing how smooth it felt after having the two blocks there prodding my tongue for so long.
John showed us straight back into the room and I nervously took up my place in his chair while him and Jessica chatted between themselves as it lowered me down until I was horizontal. He tapped my chin, signalling me to open up. He made a few mumbling noises as he prodded around, “and Jessica said you did this on a carrot?” I gurgled a response of yes and he sighed loudly. “Right, well – we need to get them back on. Your molars still haven’t erupted enough yet for you to be out of the danger zone. You’re lucky you haven’t damaged your teeth or the braces. I will give you another leaflet of what you can and can’t eat.”
He quickly put the lip spreader back in and added the bite turbos to the back of my two front teeth. It didn’t take long and once he cured them with the UV lamp he sat me up and began checking my bite. If anything they felt slightly lower down this time – meaning my mouth was left hanging open even more.
His eyes flicked to Jessica, “Has she been wearing the night time appliance?” Jessica looked at me briefly, pretending to think carefully “Well, I THINK so, but you never know when she’s shut in her bedroom at night…” I quickly began to protest, arguing I had indeed been wearing it every night.
John narrowed his eyes at me as he spoke “Either you haven’t been wearing it properly OR it isn’t doing it’s job properly. There has been no jaw movement at all. I know you have an appointment in a couple of weeks anyway but I want to move that forward to next week. I can check on those turbos, make a few changes that I’ve seen today and we can review the appliance”. My heart sunk but I nodded silently. John continued to look between me and Jessica “I am sure I don’t need to remind you Ellie you did sign the compliance consent forms, If I don’t believe the treatment is working.- either due to you or anything else, I will change it”.
Jessica hummed in agreement and we scheduled out next appointment for Monday morning before school. John showed us out the office as Jessica thanked him again for his time.
My jaw ached as I climbed back into the car, Jessica was smiling with glee “Well, I wonder what changes he has in store for Monday? Let’s hope there isn’t any new additions for you!” My heart began to pound again as I thought of his warning, knowing there wasn’t much room left in my mouth for any changes.
