Chapter 5

Hollie settled into the reclining chair as Sara put a plastic bib on her and positioned the light so it was focused on Hollies mouth.

Next, Sara said, "Are you ready Hollie?"

Hollie said, "Yes, I'm definitely ready."

"Good girl," Sara said.

Over the next few minutes, Sara cleaned and polished Hollies teeth. She also used a rather nasty-tasting chemical to etch Hollie's teeth. Hollie grimaced when she tasted the chemical. Sara said, "I'm sorry Hollie. I'll be another minute or so, then you can rinse, okay?"

Of course, Hollie couldn't reply because she had in the lip spreader, a suction hose and Sara was using various tools to prepare Hollie's teeth, so she just gave a thumbs up.

After what seemed like ages, Sara let Hollie sit up and rinse her mouth out.

Sara said, "Okay, Hollie, the ortho will be in to start your braces in just a moment. It will take a while, so do you need to take a toilet break first?"

"No, I'm okay," said Hollie. With that, Sara left the room.

A few minutes later, a woman came in and introduced herself to Hollie as the ortho. She said, "Jane and her mum know me already."  She smiled at Jane. "You doing okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine thank you," said Jane.

"Okay, let's begin." Over the next hour, she banded every one of Hollie's teeth. She let Hollie see what she had done. Hollie was a little shocked to see that every one of her teeth was wrapped in a little metal jacket that, as Hollie studied them, seemed to have some little hooks on them.

Soon she found out these were for her face-bow and archwire. The ortho continued to work, adding a bite plate. As she fitted it, she said to Hollie, "This will give you a lisp like Jane has." Hollie gave a thumbs-up sign.

Jane came over and squeezed her hand and whispered in Hollie's ear, "You'll look so beautiful when it's finished, Hollie." Hollie had a tear in her eye. Jane and her were getting closer than ever. They were more than friends now.

After an hour, the ortho said, "That's your braces complete. Now I'll show you your headgear. It's a modified facemask." She took a facemask from under a cloth on a trolley. Hollie could see, as well as the forehead bar and chin cup, it had what looked like three further straps which the ortho explained. She said two of them went around Hollie's head, the third one across the crown of her head. In its middle was a  rubber cap this was necessary to balance the force of the braces. Hollie felt both excited and a little scared as the ortho fitted it.

Finally, Hollie's braces and headgear were finished. Her and Jane headed to the toilets to check everything out. Jane and Hollie were both more than pleased with the results.

Finally, Hollie, Jane and their mothers went back to Jane's house.

What a day it had been. Hollie and Jane slept well that night.