Chapter 5: Beam
Some time later, Dr. Tillman finally released his aching lips and tongue from the pieces of plastic. “Okay,” she said, clapping her hands together. “I will get you a cup of water and a break, then we will come back and wrap up the rest of the appliances and explain the next couple of weeks to you.”
Steve nodded. His mouth felt so dry, he tried to move his tongue around to feel his new braces but the dryness made it difficult. He tried to lick his lips, but realized the tongue blocker from earlier was still in his mouth and made it difficult. The blocker was made up of some kind of wire that seemed to come from the front of both jaws just behind his teeth.
He tried to swallow but found it nearly impossible with the tongue blockers. He realized his upper and lower palates both seemed to have some metal taking up space, as well as something between his teeth that was effectively holding them apart. It was uncomfortable to say in the least. He really didn’t have anywhere to put his tongue, so he was definitely ready for her to take the rest of the devices out. His mouth was getting sore from being held open so long. He flexed his jaw, unable to ignore how full his mouth was.
The orthodontist came back and handed him the cup of water. He went to take a sip and again he struggled to swallow, some of the water dripping out of his mouth and down onto his shirt.
“Maybe we ‘oul’ ‘ay ou the p’as’ic?” He suggested, doing his best to enunciate with the appliances left in his mouth and he wiped his mouth. He was hoping to get a brief break from all the tools in his mouth and between his jaws.
Dr. Tillman looked surprised and her eyes narrowed, “No, those stay. All your devices are permanent. Did you read your packet?”
Steven blushed at the almost withering look he was given, “Nah fully,” he admitted, before realizing whay she said, “Thethe thay?? Aw of ih? Buh I cahh thalk,” he struggled to say. His heart pounded in his chest. Permanent as they didn’t even come out? He felt oddly claustrophobic.
Dr. Tillman looked less than impressed. “Well, this likely is going to feel like a lot since you didn’t familiarize yourself with the paperwork,” she said exasperated, handing him a mirror and continued on, “We banded your teeth for maximum control, along with powerchains to ensure we don’t get any unwanted movement.”
He bared his teeth and stared at his reflection, horrified to see there was thick strips of metal wrapped around each tooth. These certainly weren’t clear braces like he anticipated, but they didn’t look like normal braces either. They were large metal squares that seemed to be on the bands of metal that went around each tooth, showing his white teeth only at the top and bottom. There was more metal visible than actual teeth. The black bands were a mistake as they darkened his already grey mouth. He touched his braces to feel the newly placed contraptions and flinched at how sensitive they were. Behind both jaws came down metal loops that extended well past his teeth. They would have been clanging against each other if it wasn’t for the fact that he couldn’t actually close his mouth or meet his jaws together. His jaws were forced apart by dark blue pieces of plastic that began behind his canines and covered the entirety of his back molars on both his upper and lower jaws. The thick plastic on his molars were all that touched. He gingerly open and closed his mouth, hearing the plastic audibly clack together. He swallowed nervously.
“I placed upper and lower tongue cribs to fix your open bite and installed bite blocks along your molars to both get your jaw placement where I want it to be and to keep the cribs from bumping into each other. You will get used to the blocks, you’ll need to relearn and adapt to chewing but most adapt well after a week or so. They are formulated so your mouth doesn’t close properly unless your jaws are in the proper placements with your lower jaw sliding to sit under the top properly. ” A week!? He won’t be able to chew for an entire week!
“Additionally, with the tongue cribs you will need to relearn things like swallowing, tongue placement, and eating. Your speech is likely to be affected but it often gets better over time. You may or may not continue to have speech difficulties, but that really varies patient to patient.” So his speech from earlier was how he was going to sound for the next week as well?!
“We also have upper and lower expanders as both jaws are quite narrow, so we need to have them widened. This may impact speech as well.”
He reluctantly opened his mouth further to peer inside to see the spider like device he saw earlier also on his upper and lower jaw. They had small screws on his palate and extended nearly the entire the entire span of the roof of his mouth.
“You will twist these once a day for the next two weeks, then we will discuss at our next appointment. I’ll twist them for you now, and then I’ll have my assistant show you how to do them yourself once you and I are through.” Steven nodded numbly.
The orthodontist brought a small metal tool to his mouth and began doing something to the device on the roof of his jaw. He heard a small click followed by intense pressure that radiated throughout his skill. Before he had the chance to ask, she had done the same to his bottom jaw, leaving his mouth throbbing.
He cupped his jaw and watched in disbelief as Dr. Tillman pulled out more metal on the side table.
“Okay, next step is installing your lip bumpers, but I first want to make sure nothing feels sharp or wrong. So, how does everything feel?”
“Uh, nothing feelth thawp….or wong,” Steven slurred out. “It feelth like a lot though.” He discarded the mirror to his lap, no longer wanting to see himself.
“You will get used to the appliances. These lip bumpers will also help to keep your lips off the brackets. The pressure from your lips will help to apply some extra force which is needed for the timeline we have,” Dr. Tillman stated as she began placing in ‘u’ shaped pieces of metal with thick, clear plastic parts attached at the front to Steven’s braces. After she was done fiddling with the devices, she pulled her hands away and Steven realized his lips were now forced open by the plastic behind his lips sitting above his brackets. He awkwardly pushed his lips together and found they could indeed touch, but it wasn’t natural or easy. It felt similar to the mouth guard he wore in high school when he wrestled. He couldn’t imagine what he looked like. The mirror sat unused on his lap as he was terrified to pick it up. He didn’t mean to be vain, but… he was a model!! His looks mattered to him, sue him! “Last piece, I won’t wire it yet as I want you to get used to your devices first before we add in the wiring and your elastics to close that bite,” she said. What did wiring mean? What else could she possibly put in his mouth? It was beyond full.
A u-shaped piece of wire that was on the thicker side, with two loops, one inside the other. She told him to smile, which he was sure looked more similar to a grimace, and immediately placed the inner loops of the device between his lips, wiggling the arms of the metal into the braces on his upper molars.
With horror he realized what it was, headgear. Grace’s friend named Sarah who had worn one. She had a wire come out from between her lips that met a blue strap that went behind her neck and disappeared behind her brunette hair. He saw her wearing it once in high school when she was over for a sleepover with his sister when she got up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water at the same time as him. She had look mortified to see him, and upon his asking what it was, she clarified. She had kept her eyes on the floor the whole conversation and hand firmly in front of her mouth as if it would hide the bars wrapping around her face. He had heard of headgear every once in awhile, it didn’t seem the torture device was commonly used, but he never saw Sarah in hers again in the many times she was over at their house.
They had become friends over the years, but Sarah never spoke of the incident.
Dr. Tillman grabbed a black strap and placed it over the top of Steven’s head. He felt his hair flatten down and glanced at himself in the mirror. His hand unconsciously gripped the mirror as he suddenly hated his blonde hair and the way it contrasted so extremely with the black straps flattening his hair. The metal facebow was attached to white pieces of plastic that went across his cheek and in front of his ears to reach the thick, black straps that cupped his head both behind and above. It was more noticeable than the one Grace wore which was hidden at the neck behind her long hair. No part of this appliance could be hid behind hair.
He felt intense pressure, like his jaw was being forced to the back of his skull.
“Okay,” the orthodontist said, “That’s it! I’ll have Melanie here show you how to use your devices. I’ll be wanting the headgear in 24/7, except for showering, and eating if you’d prefer.” And with that she was gone.
That was it?? His mouth was stuffed with metal and plastic and she wanted to say ‘that was it’? He sat there gaping in shock, probably looking like a metallic fish of some sorts.
It was only after she was gone and Melanie was back in the room and talking to him about the devices, that he realized she had said 24/7 hour wear.
All day. Every day. She expected him to go out in public with headgear? Was she insane?? The braces were already more intense than he could have possibly thought, but the headgear was just beyond imaginable.
“Does that all make sense to you Steven?” a kind voice pulled him from his thoughts. He looked at Melanie rather dazed, and remembered she had been talking to him for a good few minutes.
“Could you actually, repeat that?” He asked timidly. His words came out slurred, with certain sounds not quite pronounced.
“Not a problem,” she stated and began showing him how to connect the straps to the facebow and how to take the facebow in and out. She had him do it a couple of times and it was easy enough. He was also given a small key to turn his expanders which seemed doable. He tried not to think too hard about the unrealistic expectation of 24/7 wear.
“Schedule an appointment for two weeks and we will see how everything is moving.”
Steven went to take the appliance off when Melanie stopped him. “Dr. Tillman wants devices with at all times in the office,” she explained apologetically. “Plus, it’ll be good to get used to wearing it as you are going straight to full time. Feel free to take some breaks, I just wouldn’t exceed more than a couple of hours at a time because of the strict timeline.”
Steven nodded dumbly and made his way to the door. He wandered out of the office to the front desk in a haze. He found himself forcing his lips to stretch unnaturally to meet, but were impeded by the face bow. He kept his eyes on the receptionist, determined to not look at anyone in the waiting room. “I woul’ like to may an appoin’men pleathe, for two weeth from now,” he slurred awkwardly. He would need to focus on his pronunciation.
The receptionist looked at him kindly, though he felt it was closer to pity.
She typed some stuff into her computer and handed him a card with his appointment time. He grabbed the card and made his way as quickly to the exit as he could without it being considered running. He could see people in his periphery sitting in the waiting room and did not dare to look in their direction. He found himself walking out of the office in a stunned manner. He had walked in a model, and was now leaving with straps around his head attaching to a thick wire leading into his mouth with a mouth so full of metal he could hardly keep his lips shut.
