Chapter 67
At the ortho
One of the nice things about where I work is that we do flexible working hours, so if I need a couple of hours off, or just want to leave a bit early, I don't need to use my holiday. At the moment I am about 20 hours in credit, so I'm taking the afternoon off, and am walking down to Amanda's chambers, because she, Abbie and I are going to see her ortho.
Yes, I forgot to tell you all about this, didn't I? Ok, let's rewind a couple of weeks... Abbie had joined Amanda and myself at my place, for dinner, and to relax for the evening. We all enjoyed dinner, and we were sat in the lounge area, with our coffees.
"So, what do I need to do to get some fake braces from your place in Asia?" asked Abbie, "And how much is it going to cost me?"
"Well, first of all, you're going to need to get some models made of your teeth, so we can send them over to Mei. In terms of the cost, well, you've seen all my braces... I guess the total cost of that lot was well under £200. Ok, in your case, same as when Amanda got hers, there's shipping, but braces are pretty light, so that's not a lot." I replied
"Ok, so where do I get models of my teeth made then?"
"I got mine made when I was over in Asia, so that was easy. Amanda got her dentist to do hers"
"Right, but what did you tell him you wanted them for?"
"I just said I wanted to have some cosplay teeth made, but I've got a better idea for you..."
"What's that?" asked Abbie
"I've got my next ortho visit next week, for my regular check-up: you could come along with me, and he could get them done for you"
"You sure that will be ok?"
"I'll give him a call, and make sure there's enough time. But he knows about my fakes, and is very happy with their quality, so I can't see him freaking out if I ask him to make some models of your teeth"
"I'll need to come along too..." I commented. Amanda looked a bit confused
"Why? Ok, I know you would like to come to the ortho's as would anyone with a thing for braces, but why specifically?"
"Well, if I don't come along, how will our readers know what goes on?"
"Readers? What ARE you on about?"
"Ah, yes, I don't think I ever told you about Bruce, did I?"
"Bruce? No..."
"Well, it seems we are not actually real..."
"Don't be silly, Danny, of course we're real! I mean, if I pinch myself, I can feel it..."
"That's dreaming! Bruce explained it to me: we are in a fictional braces story, one of many braces stories. As such, unless there's a story crossover, each story apparently lives in its own 'storyverse', kinda like the multiple-universe-theory, like in The Flash and Supergirl. Bruce created an arm-mouted device that lets him jump between the storyverses"
"And why would he do that then?"
"Well, it's the sort of thing scientists do! But in his case, his world was having big problems, and he decided to escape"
"Yeah, pull the other one, it's got bells on it!"
"I actually used his device! I found it in the park - it seems someone had stolen it from Bruce. Anyway, I charged it up, and pressed the button, and I jumped from my flat to his flat. He'd set up some sort of homing system, in case it got lost"
"But you're still here... not in some other story"
"Yeah, that's because Bruce was in our storyverse at the time"
"And where precisely was he?"
"Well, only in the flat next door, but that's not the point! I would love to actually introduce you to him, but he left a couple of weeks ago, I have no idea where he is now."
"Danny, you do speak to some strange people! Ok, so how can you PROVE to me that we are in a story. I'm a lawyer, I need to see evidence"
"Fair comment, give me a moment......". Yeah, that was a hard one... how could I prove it? Ok, if I were writing a story for BracesForum, how would I do it? Some sort of magic trick? Mind-reading? Predict the future.... hey, that last one might work, let's try it. "Ok, here's an idea, I'm going to try to predict the future.. I need something unlikely, but vaguely possible... Ah, ok, how about this: Abbie, I've seen your teeth, and they look really good, and to my untrained eye, there's no way you need real braces.... Abbie, what do YOU think?"
"I agree 100%, my teeth are fine"
"Amanda, spend a moment, and take a look at Abbie's teeth - which I'm sure you'll enjoy.... Do YOU think she would ever need real braces, real orthodontic treatment?" Amanda spent a few moments looking at Abbie's teeth, both open and closed.
"Yup, I think I'd agree with you..."
"Ok, I'll bet that, when we visit the orthodontist with you, the ortho will chack out Abbie's teeth - I don't think that's any big deal - but he'll find something sufficiently wrong that she will need real braces, and without ANY prompting from any of us"
"Seriously?" asked Amanda
"Seriously! Tell you what, I'll bet you the cost of Abbie's orthodontic treatment" I suggested
"That's a lot of money, you sure you can afford it?"
"Yes, I can, just, but I don't think I'll be paying!" (please Mr / Mrs storywriter, don't let me down on this. It's a lot of money for me, but no real problem for Amanda!)
"Ok, you're on! Abbie, you've witnessed this contract.... A bet for the value of orthodontic treatment, that when we visit my ortho, that he will say that you should have real braces"
So, I'm on my way to meet up with Amanda and Abbie. When I got there, Abbie was in Amanda's office, and they were both drinking coffee and chatting.
"Oh, hiya, you're a bit early" said Amanda. "Want a coffee?"
"Please!". Amanda made me a coffee from the machine in her room (when I say 'made me a coffee', she put a cup under the spout, inserted a coffee pod into the machine, and pressed the 'start' button!).
"So, you ready to get your braces Abbie... one way or the other? I reckon you're getting REAL braces!"
"No way, Danny, her teeth are just too good. You're going down on this one!". We chatted for a bit: this 'competition' was making the visit a lot more interesting. We finished our coffees, and went down to Amanda's car, and drove to her orthodontist's place.
"Good afternoon" Amanda said to the receptionist. "Amanda Spencer, and friends, for Dr Banaie"
"Ah, yes. If you would all like to go to the waiting room, I'll let him know you are here".
Of course, this place was 100% private, so the surroundings were rather pleasant: nicely decorated waiting room and reception, thick carpets, big comfy seats, free coffee machine with a good selection of coffee pods. You get the idea! We had hardly sat down when a lady came into the room.
"Amanda? Hi again, come on through, we're expecting all three of you!". We followed her through to the surgery.
"Hello again, Amanda" said Dr Banaie. Yes, he did have a slighly Swedish accent.
"Hello. This is my boyfriend.... oops, my fiancé, Danny, and this is our friend, Abbie"
"Ah, yes, Abbie, you want some models making of your teeth, don't you! Let's deal with Amanda first, then we'll sort you out. Amanda, if you would like to get into the chair? I'm guessing you guys would like to watch, so stand where you like, as long as you don't get in the way". I was suitably impressed so far: he was in control of things, but friendly at the same time. He sat to Amanda's right, his assistant sat to her left, so we stood next to them, by Amanda's legs, so we both got a reasonable view of what was going on.
"Before I start, have you had any issues at all? And I hope you've been wearing your headgear..."
"No, no problems at all. And yes, I've been very good with my headgear wear, haven't I, Danny? ... sorry, I do have it with me, but I just forgot to put it on"
"That's ok. In that case, let me see how things are progressing, then we'll take your ligatures off, take out the wires, and give you the opportunity to have a good brush of your teeth. While you do that, you can choose what colour ligatures we'll be putting on you today"
"I'll let Danny choose my colours....." said Amanda
Dr Banaie took the lip-spreaders from his assistant, and used it to open Amanda's lips, giving us all a lovely view of Amanda's teeth, with the metal braces, archwire and ligatures. Yes, what colour ligs should she have.... He got Amanda to open and close her teeth a few times, and seemed happy with what he saw. He then quickly removed all the old ligatures from Amanda's braces, then removed the archwires..
"Before you go brush your teeth, let me scan your teeth again, then I can compare it to the original scan". His assistant passed him something the size of an electric toothbrush, but with a wire coming from it: using the end of it, he started scanning inside Amanda's mouth, and we watched the screen as an image of her teeth slowly appeared: quite an impressive bit of equipment, and I could see how useful it could be. Not only could the ortho get a very good view of a patient's teeth (which I soon discovered he could move around in 3D), but by repeating the scan (like he was currently doing) he could see the treatment's progress. Plus it meant that patients no longer needed to have horrible impressions taken with alginate, which many people simply hated.
While Amanda brushed her teeth, he looked at the scans, and seemed to be quite happy with her progress.
"Things are looking very good, and I'm thinking that, if you want to prolong your treatment a bit, maybe you should reduce your headgear weartime...". I smiled: he completely understood that Amanda WANTED to wear the braces, and that speedy treatment - usually what patients wanted - was NOT relevant in her case. "So, Danny, what colour ligatures is Amanda going to have?"
"I think these orange ones will look good, but I think you'd better let Amanda decide if she's ok with it...". Dr Banaie showed Amanda the ligatures, and Amanda, albeit a little surprised, said they were ok.
"Ok, so I've put in a slightly thicker archwire, but I don't think that will give you any pain" he commented as he fitted the orange ligatures to Amanda's brackets. With them all on, the assistant passed her a mirror, so she could take a look.
"They actually look quite nice... good choice there, Danny!" said Amanda.
"Oh, don't forget to check the backs of the archwire, that they aren't too long" I reminded Amanda. She slipped a finger into her mouth, and confirmed everything was good.
"In that case, Amanda, you are done!" he said. "Abbie, would you like to get into the chair now?". Abbie got into the chair, and sat back.
"So, before I just blindly scan your teeth to get you some models made, why don't I check you out properly, you never know....".
Ok, so it's crunch time! Will she need real braces?"
