Sorry for the long wait! I discovered that having family around on vacation doesn't go well with writing about your fetish. Hope everyone here is doing fine. Thanks everyone for the wonderful comments!!
Thanks also for voting on the poll!! I've given Sarah a fixed upper expander and a lower lip bumper. However... I've considered a fixed bottom expander like you voted, but I like the thought of her refusing to wear it and laying it on her nightstand and Thomas helping her out too much... so sorry for not following that suggestion. I hope it doesn't keep you all from reading the story.
Have fun!!
Chapter 7 - "It might feel a bit weird on your palate and the bite blocks keep your molars from touching, but you'll adjust quickly, okay?"Sandra and Davies started hovering around. Sandra busied herself with moving tools, and Davies worked attentively with some clay.
Both medics seemed very focused on their job, squinting their eyes.
Okay, this was it then. The part Sarah had feared the most. Thomas was determined to get her through it all. He took her small, slender fingers between both his firmer hands.
Her palms were sweaty.
Thomas tried to make eye contact, but Sarah preferred the ceiling. She was laying horizontally with her chin up. Her head rested nicely on the top part of the chair that slightly curved upwards on the sides. Her neck, back, and feet perfectly followed the hilly form of the chair.
"All right, Sarah. We're going to put your upper expander in place," Davies said, not looking up from working on the expander.
Thomas watched Davies' hands carefully put a white substance on the device.
The appliance looked massive. It had bulky, plastic pieces of light-blue glitter on the sides, like wings on an airplane. The wings were attached to a central plastic part with four metal rods. Was this thing going into Sarah's mouth permanently? How would this thing ever become a comfortable part of Sarah's body?
"Okay, Sarah. Open really wide." Sandra asked as Davies got the expander.
Thomas remembered he had told Sarah she wouldn't even notice her new appliance after a day. How could he ever be so stupid to have told her that?
The expander looked wider than her actual teeth and the acrylic part in the middle seemed bigger than a lego stone. Thomas tried to imagine what it would be like having a lego stone in his mouth all day. Eating with it, talking with it...
"Can you open your mouth for us, sweetheart?"
Sarah's hand instantly turned into a sweatpool. Thomas run his thumb over her palm. Not that it was ever going to be enough to take her worries away, but he could try. He felt her heart beating through her skin at a fast and steady pace.
He watched Sarah swallow heavily while her eyes darted the ceiling.
"Sarah?"
Only after a third call, Sarah opened her mouth. Slowly. Carefully. Reluctantly. Her lips quivered a bit and her eyes got big and wide. Thomas could see her pupils were elated as her eyes turned into a darker color.
When Davies held the device in front of Sarah's mouth, she tried to spot the device. Like she was looking for the darkest enemy following her. An enemy that was soon going to be a part of her. An enemy she had to learn to live with.
She observed the thing as best as she could, but when Davies moved it inside her mouth, she had to give up. The appliance was out of sight. She had to have faith in the two people sailing above her, watching her and working on her.
"Very good," Sandra petted Sarah's shoulder. "You'll feel some of the glue that might taste sour."
The two medics pushed the expander over her teeth. Thomas could see it was an important job as Sandra and Davies inspected Sarah's mouth from all sides. Probbably to check if the airplane had landed correctly. They pushed one more time to get the thing over her molars.
Sarah squinted a bit. She brought her teeth closer together, but couldn't close her mouth fully because of all the fingers inside. Thomas could see that she tried her best to keep her head still.
Once the expander was in place, Sandra immediately put two fingers at it, holding it securely against Sarah's palate. "That's it. We'll take away the excess glue now."
Sarah didn't react. She closed her eyes and moved her chin down a bit, which seemed hard as Sandra held the expander.
Taking away the excess glue took a while. David swept with one cotton wool after the other, having Sarah's head bend over slightly from time to time.
How would Sarah feel now that the lego block with wings was inside? Both Thomas and her hadn't expected the appliance to look like this in her mouth. They had seen examples on white molds, but in a real mouth, in Sarah's mouth, it appeared different.
Maybe it was because the expander intruded in her life. In his girlfriend's life instead of an unfamiliar object.
Thomas watched as Sarah followed the motions of the two hands working on her. She tilted her head up and to the sides while having her eyes closed. She was doing alright. She was okay. Thomas squeezed her clammy hands and felt Sarah squeeze back. She trembled.
It would soon be over, Thomas thought.
"Try to stay still, Sarah."
After the sweeping Sandra got a big, white stick. "Okay, sweetie. We're ready to glue the expander in, and we will do that with a UV lamp. The light will help the glue settle. It doesn't hurt, you will only hear some beeping, all right?"
In no way could Sarah talk. Thomas had expected her to nod a bit or to say something with her eyes. But she didn't do any of that. She just kept laying still, like she was in her own world somewhere far away.
The roots of her long, dark hair seemed clammy just above her forehead.
"It's okay, Sarah," Thomas said. He wanted to take her on his lap and cuddle her. He wanted to tell her it was going to be all right. It was just an orthodontic treatment. Something she needed to get a wonderful smile. The expander wasn't going to be in her mouth forever.
Sarah however flinched as soon as the lamp started beeping.
Thomas saw blue light coming from Sarah's mouth. He remembered the beeping from getting his braces. Right after this, the braces would be stuck in there.
The beeping went on and Sarah bravely held her mouth open. Her nose was scrunched up like she was hurt.
Davies and Sandra both focused on the mouth of their patient. They had probably done this a million times before. They worked in sync without hitches, like working on the assembly line in a factory. They moved their fingers around in a rhythmic way, finding the right spots to keep the stick and to hold the appliance.
Thomas was a bit afraid they had lost sight of Sarah's feelings now that they were doing hardcore orthodontic stuff.
Sarah didn't look comfortable. The always composed and enthusiastic Sarah even lightly moaned at some point and... she just didn't look okay.
Thomas started to feel alarmed. He hadn't expected to hate the sight in front of him, but he did. He hated how two people worked inside Sarah's mouth, had her open her mouth for so long, and placed a device Sarah felt uncomfortable about.
But it was necessary.
Thomas knew it and Sarah knew it as well.
"One more time," Sandra kindly sing-songed, like getting an airplane in your mouth was no obstacle at all.
Thomas anxiously waited for the beep tone. It was done. Finally, it was done. They could take the lip spreader out now, give them that other stupid appliance and let them go home.
"Well done, Sarah. The upper expander is in! You're doing okay?"
Sarah opened her eyes, looked at Thomas, and barely nodded. Her eyes pleaded with him to have this all stop. So Thomas tried to tell her it was all okay and she tried to relax after seeing Thomas.
"Good. It might feel a bit weird on your palate and the bite blocks keep your molars from touching, but you'll adjust quickly, okay?"
Sarah squeezed Thomas' hand tightly.
Davies took over. "Good. What we want to do now is put two bands on your lower back molars. So the lip spreader will stay in for just a little longer, okay?"
Weren't they done already? Weren't they supposed to get that removable appliance, some instructions, and go home?
While Davies explained something and Sandra prepared instruments, Thomas saw that Sarah had bitten down and started to move her throat weirdly. It was like she swallowed. Or rather... tried to swallow. Her throat kept moving up and down.
Sarah moaned and instantly recoiled like she was startled by her sound. She blinked a few times and repositioned her upper body, trying to compose herself.
Was she troubled by the expander? It must be her first time truly feeling the airplane in her mouth. She didn't seem to like it. The lip spreader started moving a little as well. But obviously, Sarah couldn't take it out.
Thomas looked at Sandra and Davies, to find what? A reaction? An acknowledgment of Sarah's difficulty?
The two were only focusing on the next step of the treatment. A step Thomas couldn't follow.
"Everything okay Sarah?" Thomas asked.
Sarah searched the ceiling and shook her head a little bit.
Thomas looked at Sandra and fortunately she bent over Sarah. "I think you have a bit trouble swallowing, don't you?" She squeezed her shoulder. "Try to bring your teeth together and have your tongue do its work okay? I will get you a suction tube, cause it's not easy with a lip retractor."
Sarah tried to obey, but she seemed panicky and her throat still looked bubbly.
Sandra placed a plastic tube into Sarah's mouth. Immediately, a piercing sound ensued and Thomas saw Sarah's drool (?) being led away through a pipe.
Was she really not able to swallow properly anymore?
Thomas decided to bury his worry as Davies and Sandra seemed unaffected by the situation. They had Sarah bite open again, placed some sort of metal rings inside, and had Sarah bite down on a stick several times.
"You're doing well"
Biting down on the stick seemed hard work, but his girlfriend managed according to Davies.
After the blue light had done its job again, the lip spreader and suction tube were removed accompanied by some lines of drool. Thomas was glad the whole thing came to an end. The process had taken long enough now and much longer than he'd predicted.
Freed from her cage Sarah instantly moved her lips around and tilted her head, like she had forgotten what the room looked like. She moved her jaw around and frowned like Thomas had not seen before.
"There's a cup next to the sink. You can rinse your mouth if you want to," Sandra said and instantly Sarah propped herself up on her elbows and got herself a cup of water at the small plastic sink on the chair.
Thomas could see how some of the water slipped out of her mouth like she was three-year-old drinking independently for the first time. She covered her mouth with her hand straight away and bent her head closer to the sink.
Thomas couldn't figure out if she looked more upset or more embarrassed.
He also wanted to see her mouth properly to confirm she looked still the same, but she turned away and her hair hid the side of her face.
Spitting the water out sounded horrible.
This wasn't the composed, sophisticated Sarah. Even Sarah herself seemed shocked by it. She coughed some, put the cup away, and grabbed the sink tightly with both hands.
"Easy," Sandra told her. "It might feel a bit weird on your palate, but that feeling will go away, okay?"
Sarah barely nodded. She seemed in a total trance, hanging over the sink defeatedly. Her shoulders were slumped, and it looked like she tried to turn away from all the people in the room, hiding her mouth.
Was she embarrassed? Hurt? Overwhelmed?
It wasn't long before she had to lay down again for the last part of the installment. Even then Thomas couldn't see her mouth properly as she was laying with her chin up.
"So, here is your lip bumper," Davies showed them a little metal bow with a small transparent piece that covered the front. "It will help push your lower molars to the back by using the force of your lower lip. It will go into tubes on the rings that we just put over your molars. Let's see how it fits."
Luckily this appliance didn't seem so big, it was just a small bow in an arch shape. Thomas guessed it wouldn't change Sarah. She wouldn't even feel it in there.
Another series of fitting followed in which Sandra's fingers occasionally took over the function of the lip spreader. When the bow suited perfectly. Thomas saw it bumping Sarah's bottom lip forward. What was this kind of weird thing? It looked strange.
He didn't get the time to study this appliance, because Davies got the bumper out and moved on to the last part. The removable expander.
Sarah could take this one out and Thomas was delighted about that. No more construction work glued in place.
Before Davies could continue with the appliance though, Sarah's throat got bobbly again. She seemed to try and hold back, but that only made things worse.
"Easy, close your mouth and bring your lips together, then try to swallow," Davies said. "It's very important to close your mouth first, okay?"
Thomas couldn't follow what was going on. "Can't she swallow anymore?"
"She can, but she needs to adjust a bit," Sandra reassured him. "The expander sits on top of her palate, where your tongue usually goes to swallow, so it feels a bit odd. And because it's new, she produces more saliva than usual." She made eye contact with Sarah. "Feels weird, doesn't it?"
Sarah nodded at coughed at the same time.
"It's okay. It will soon feel much better! Just try to do what Dr. Davies said. Bring your lips together first, then swallow."
All eyes were on Sarah's mouth and throat and she seemed very embarrassed to be examined like this. She turned her head away and closed her eyes, focusing. But all that happened was her getting more panicked. Her shoulders moved along with her breathing as she couldn't get rid of the saliva building up in her mouth. Thomas saw the ends of her mouth getting wet with drool.
She shook her head and coughed.
"Hey, easy, easy," Sandra immediately interfered. "Let me get the suction tube again. We will go through some swallowing and speaking tips soon. Don't worry." Sandra gently placed the tube in Sarah's mouth again.
Thomas got a little nervous.
"That feels better doesn't it?"
Sarah nodded. Her cheeks were red, whether it was because of embarrassment or effort. But she appeared calmer now.
Sandra elaborated a bit on how to swallow and Sarah tried her best to the instructions. She brought Thomas hand to her stomach while doing so and grabbed his hands with her other hand as well.
She was okay, Thomas reminded himself. And she was doing well. He felt a certain fondness going through his body along with a little worry still.
In the middle of braces time! Yeah!! 
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