I follow Lauren to the back and and she seats me down in a chair I haven’t seen before. It’s your standard dental chair just with some strange additions. There some Velcro loops on the armrests and what looks like a harness on the main part of the chair.
Weird, but whatever. I make to slide myself into the harness, but Lauren stops me.
“We’re gonna let you brush without those wires before we do any other work.”
She opens the doors of the brackets, removes my wires, and sends me to the communal sinks. The braces feel weird without the wires, the brackets their own individual nubs on each tooth.
I finish brushing and head back. Lauren is fussing with the chair, and glances up when I return.
“So we typically like to use this for any adjustments on Dr. Werner’s special patients. Lucky you, you qualify! Is it alright if we get you all settled in this?”
“Thuwe.”
It’s not like I’m going anywhere, straps or no straps.
Lauren helps me slide into the harness feet first, then guides my hands through the loops on the arm rests. She tugs them all down tight, and just like that I’m stuck.
It’s a weird feeling, not being able to fidget or cross my legs. I feel... restrained. (I have a way with words don’t I? I’m so eloquent.)
Lauren comes back with one last thing, a kind of curved hard strap.
She hooks it onto the back of the headrest, brings it down to my forehead, and connects it to the other side. Now I can’t move anything. I’m stuck staring at the wall.
Laurent slides into her chair and reaches out of my field of view. She comes back with a cheek retractor, and slips it into my mouth.
“I’m going to go get Dr. Werner, and we can get started.”
And then I’m alone, strapped in a chair with my mouth
—
I’m not there long before Dr. Werner comes in. He’s the same as he was last time; no pleasantries, no hellos, all business. I’m starting to think his initial demeanor was a sham. This is the real doctor.
He checks the braces and seems pleased that nothing has broken off.
Then he asks me to bite down, like fourteen times.
He shakes his head and rolls his chair away to murmur something to Lauren. She walks away, and he comes back into view.
“So. You have not been wearing your rubber bands.”
Oh crap.
“I was worried this would be the case. I WANTED you in fixed appliances from the moment I heard your story. Someone like you simply cannot be trusted to have compliance as an option.
“I thought about making compliance mandatory, but my mercy got the best of me. I’ll be sure not to make that mistake again.”
Lauren returns and places something on the table next to me. I can hear metal parts rattling on a tray.
I try turning my head to look at the table, but the restraints don’t allow for that. Dr. Werner notices me trying to get a look, and moves the tray in front of me to allow me to get a better look.
All I can see are some tubes and small rings.
“This,” he says with a smirk on his face, “is what we call a telescope appliance.”
“Since you are obviously not interested in compliance, I’m going to make sure it’s not an issue. You won’t have to worry about wearing your elastics again. This will move your jaw into the ideal position, without the need for rubber bands.
“Now, this is obviously a temporary measure. It’s much too flimsy compared to what I typically like to use. But this will last us for the next few days.
“What I’d like to do now is make some impressions, and then we’ll go and fix this in as we get your final appliance ready. You can come in in three days, and everything will be ready for you. Lauren is going to get you ready now, and I will see you in a few minutes.”
I want to protest, but with my mouth held open it’s impossible. Before I can even try, he’s gone.
