Im brand new to the forum but decided I'd go ahead and post this story I wrote a while back. Im planning on adding more at some point.
Sarah finished her othrodontic treatment the beginning of her senior year of high school and her orthodontist insisted on her wearing cemented hawley retainers for at least 2 years to ovoid a relapse. Although Sarah protested her parents insisted and that was the end of the conversation for several months. One day, the week before Sarah left for college she had a long discussion with her mother about college and all of the potential opportunities it could have in store. For years sarah had wanted to join a sorority but with her unsightly retainers and slight lisp she feared that it wouldn't happen. She convinced her mother to tell the ortho to remove the retainers on the condition that she wear them full time except for important functions. The next week sarah left for college with her retainers packed in her suitcase and she never thought of them again. Fast forward several months and sarah was out drinking with several of her friends when she tripped on a curb and chipped a tooth. It wasn't until the next day when she examined her mouth she realized that all of her teeth had shifted badly since she had her braces removed. She frantically rummaged through her draw and found her retainer case where she had left in months before. She nervously opened it and tried to fit them on her now crooked teeth. She knew that she was going to be in trouble but she had no idea what was to come.
The next week was spring break but instead of going on a trip like most of her friends she went home to get her chipped tooth repaired. When she arrived at the dentist she was quickly taken back and put in an exam chair where they began to repair the tooth. A little while later it was fixed. When the dentist told her it was done she quickly got up to leave but the dentist told her to wait there until she returned. Moments later the dentist returned with her mother and they were ushered into a private room. The dentist began to explain that she could clearly see that sarah had not worn her retainer and informed her that she needed to visit the orthodontist to evaluate the situation. Once in the car Sarah’s mom erupted like a volcano, she was furious at sarah and told her just how disappointed she was. When they arrived home sarah’s mom immediately called the orthodontist office. It was then she found out that the old orthodontist had retired and sold his practice to a new doctor. luckily he had an opening the next morning and would be happy to see her.
The next morning sarah and her mom arrived at the ortho 15 minutes early. As soon as sarah sat down she had an uneasy feeling about what was about to happen. As she looked around the room she saw only two other patients a boy and a girl. The girl smiled at her reviling mass of metal and other appliances. Just then another girl walked out from the back with tears in her eyes wearing a high pull headgear (something that she had never seen her old ortho use). just then her name was called and she hesitantly walked in the back. In her mind she envisioned that she might get a new set of retainers to correct the “slight” problem she had with her teeth. Shortly after being seated in the chair the orthodontist walked over briefly said hello and started reading her chart. Next he called a nurse over and he started his examination. As he poked and prodded around he dictated to the nurse what to write down for the notes. He said “slight cross bite along with deep overbite and crowding on both upper and lower teeth also open bite-apparent tongue thrusting”. Sarah had no idea what any of this meant but she knew it couldn't be good. Next impressions were made and sarah was allowed to get up and rinse her mouth out. When she returned from the bathroom the ortho was already talking to her mother. Sarah quickly sat down and started explain that she didn't care about having a perfect smile and liked it the way it was but neither the orthodontist nor her mother paid her any mind. When sarah and her mother left the office sarah asked her mother what they had discussed but her mom was in no mood to talk and simply told her that she had another appointment tomorrow. Sarah started crying and yelling at her mother that she refused to have anything permanent put in her mouth. Sarah’s mom snapped back at her that unless she was going to pay her own way through college she would do as she was told. The next day when sarah arrived at the office her mom pulled up to curb and told her she would pick her up afterwards. Sarah nervously made her way inside and was escorted straight back. Instead of seating her in the row of dental chairs in the main work area the nurse took her to a side room with only one chair. Next to that chair sat a cart with a sheet over it so that she couldn't see what was under it. Several mints later the orthodontist walked in and proclaimed that they had a lot of work to do. The nurse walked over and pulled a strap around her arms and other around her legs sarah frantically asked what that was for but the nurse ignored her. Once Sarah was secured the ortho started explaining what was on the agenda for the day.
“sarah you have a minor cross bite that must be corrected and to do this we will fit you with an upper and lower expander. Unfortunately you have developed of fairly sever open bite due to your tongue thrusting so the upper expander was fitted with a tongue crib. These appliances are going to affect your speech but with practice it will be manageable” he said. Sarah sat in shock as the ortho started to work. She could feel the space in her mouth shrink as the appliances were fitted. “Next we will begin with your braces. You've had braces before so this shouldn't be anything new”. After about 45 minutes all of her teeth were fitted with metal braces to add insult to injury he used wire ligatures witch only added more metal to her already full mouth. The orthodontist continued “normally i don't like to start patience out with too many appliances but because of the special circumstances i am making and acceptation.” The next device to be pulled off the tray was a forsus appliance he quickly affixed it to her braces and began to explain how this device works great in conjunction with headgear. Sarah couldn't contain herself anymore she began sobbing uncontrollably and attempting to beg the orthodontist to free her from orthodontic hell but because of her appliances all that came out was incoherent lisping. The orthodontist made her open again, He then pulled out a shiny face bow and inserted it into her buckle tubes. He shook the bow in her mouth Moving her whole head around. He Began to explain to her that unfortunately he was going to have to wire the bow into place so that it couldn't be removed. He said that she simply couldn't be trusted to comply with treatment and this was why he had to affix such harsh appliances instead of more comfortable removable ones. With those words he grabbed some wire and clippers and with few twists and tuns made sure it could not be removed. He stood up and admired his work and left sarah witha few final words “ you can expect 9-12 months in fulltimes headgear and about 18 months with rest of the appliances. After we remove the bulk of your appliances you will remain in braces and elastics for another 24 moths totaling around 3.5 years in braces”. Sarah sat and sobbed thinking that her life as she knew it was over. Not a second later the nurse pulled out several headgear straps and asked if she had a color preference. Sarah let out something sounding like “blakth” and with that the nurse lifted up her chair and unstrapped her. The nurse walked sarah to the mirror and for the first time she saw her new appearance. She could hardly open her mouth due to the forsus but what she could see looked like a mangled mass of metal. The nurse handed sarah a hair tie and asked her to put her hair in a pony tail. The nurse placed the hight pull strap of the crown of her head and pulled the tabs onto the hooks of the facebow. Then she grabbed another strap put int around her neck and hooked it on. She brought sarah to a desk and started explain how to care for her newly aqqquired hardware but sarah blankly starred into the distance. Eventually her mother arrived and sarah climbed into the car with her and asked her “ay aruugh youth doing ithh thew mee” sarah was hardly understandable due to the expander and the tongue cribs spikes poking her tongue with every word. Sarahs mom said that it would all be worth it end the end and on day she would have a great smile but sarah only cried.
later that day when sarah got home she made her way to a mirror and winced at the sight of her own mouth. Her mouth throbbed as the appliances went to work alining her misshaped teeth. She then began the pain staking process of learning how to speak again but no matter how hard she tried it was unintelligible. The following days were terrible for sarah as thought about what she would do next week back at school.
(fast forward two months)
sarah was back home for the summer and it was time for her first checkup at the ortho. Sarah quickly drove to the office from her house as she anticipated good news and the possible release of some of the metal from her mouth. Once she arrived she made her way to the front desk and said “hi I'm tharah I'm here for my oppothmennt” 5 minutes later she was taken back to the private chair. When the oath arrived he was brief but said “since your only home for a couple months out of the year we have a lot to accomplish this summer”. With those words he leaned sarahs chair back and began to remove the headgear and forsus springs. next came the ligatures and both arch wires. Sarah was then allowed to go brush. when she returned there was a tray with molds and several shiny metal objects on it.
The doctor then replaced her arch wires and started putting on bright pink power chains on sarahs upper and lower teeth. next he pulled out a what looked like a smaller version of the tongue crib sarah was already wearing. Sarah thought that maybe he was going to replace the one she was wearing now but instead he fitted it to her lower jaw and glued it into place. next were the bite blocks glued onto her molers to prevent her from banging the two cribs together. This effectively held her mouth half open. He then grabbed a set of twin forces instead of the forsus springs she had before.
“almost done” he exclaimed as he picked up a face bow from the tray. But to sarahs surprise he began wiring this one to the lower jaw. “No.. this cant be happening” sarah thought to herself. right then he reached for a second face bow and carefully wired it into her upper jaw.
The doctor left and 10 minutes later a nurse appeared from around the corner.
Right as sarah looked up she realized that the nurse was wearing double headgear as well. Sarah burst out in tears at the sight of the nurse knowing that she looked the same. Sarah lisped something but the nurse couldn't even understand her. The nurse began to explain that she got double headgear the week before and though it was difficult to get used to she was able to adapt. The Nurse politely asked Sarah if she was okay but all Sarah could do was cry. While the nurse began to explain the instruction to Sarah all she could do was stare at the nurses mouth as the two facebows moved up and down in unison in the nurses mouth. The nurse then reached into a cabinet and grabbed two black straps and attached the high pull head strap to sarahs upper face bow and a neck strap to her lower face bow. Sarah left the office crying not only from the pain of the appliances but knowing that she would be trapped in her orthodontic hell for years to come.
