I don't have a title for this, but this is my first post and story. I hope someone enjoys.
Chapter 1:
I have never liked the way my smile looked. I had braces for a year when I was younger, but I still don’t like the way my teeth look. However, I was not looking to get anything invasive or dramatic. My old orthodontist retired, but my mom found a new one, Dr. Rosenberg, located in the mall. I was hoping to get something like Invisalign, but that was it. I went to the appointment all by myself, and I walked into the office expecting it to be nice and modern, but it was empty and old, besides one other kid, who was crying with his mom. I walked up to the desk and was greeted by a lady with massive braces, ones that look like they came out of a movie.
“What’s your name sweetheart?” she said.
“Jessica Lamb,” I replied.
“Ahh, yes, the new patient. Fill out this paperwork and follow me to the back room.”
I sign a few documents without really looking at them and then follow her back.
I walk into a private room with a massive dentist chair. I sit down, and Dr. Rosenberg walks in.
“You must be Jessica.”
“Yes, it is so nice to meet you. I am here today because my mom found you. I am not happy with the way my smile is, but I don’t want to get braces again. I was hoping you would offer something like Invisalign,” I said.
He examines my teeth, says stuff like “severe overbite with apparent tongue thrusting and open bite” and the assistant jots down a few notes.
“We don’t do Invisalign here. Jessica, I can tell that your old orthodontist either did a terrible job or you did not wear your retainers enough. Don’t worry, if we fix the issue while you’re still in college, you could be done in a few years and we could fix the issue without surgery”
Surgery? How bad were my teeth?
“I mean if my teeth are that bad, let’s fix them while we can. I guess braces for a year won’t be the end of the world.”
“Now Jessica, we are really good with patients who won’t comply, and I know you have a past of non-compliance. We have your old molds from your dentist, so we are prepared to start right now with your extensive treatment plan.”
“Extensive? What do you mean?”
Before I could protest more, Dr. Rosenberg pulled three straps over me, one around my legs, one around my torso, and one around my forehead, making sure I could not move an inch.
“Don’t worry, you are the only patient I have today, so we have plenty of time.”
After a few grueling hours of gluing brackets on my all my teeth, he placed the wire and tightened it super tight. Even after that, he used a secondary wire to further tie down the wire, which left my mouth on fire.
“Alright Jessica, we have your braces finished. We understand that you have limited time on summer break, so your treatment plan is going to be sped up. I will see you back here in 2 weeks.
I walked into the lobby, booked my next appointment, and left with my mouth on fire. Braces suck, but at least I didn’t get any appliances like I had when I was younger.
Chapter 2:
2 weeks go by, and I have my next appointment. I go on a Monday afternoon, and the lobby is packed, and these kids have some crazy appliances. I see two headgears and one facemask, and the other kids look like they are also in pain. I get shown back to my room, and Dr. Rosenberg walks in.
“Jessica! Good to see you! Today’s appointment is going to be a long one, and I am excited to get the treatment plan started.”
Started? What else was I getting?
“Jessica, your palettes are way too narrow. We install upper and lower expanders. The upper expander has a tongue crib fit in.” he installs these appliance, and my mouth immediately gets sore and begins to water.
“Next, we need to address your overbite. I am going to install the Herbst appliance, along with rubberbands from your upper canines to your back molars”
After he installed the Herbst appliance, my mouth felt so full. He went to tighten my wires and my mouth was on fire!
“I am going to turn your expanders now. I want you to do it twice a day. I am going to do two turns right now so you can see how it feels.” After those two turns, I was tearing up. This was way too much. I was in college! How could I live like this?
The assistant walked in and taught me how to place my rubberbands. They were so thick and small I felt like I could barely open my mouth.
“How am I suppothesed to speakch?” OMG! I had the worst lisp ever.
I walked to the front desk to schedule my next appointment.
“What’s your name, sweetheart?”
Jessssicssca Lammmmm.
“Will you repeat the first name again?”
Jesssica.
“Alright Jessica, I have you scheduled for two weeks from today.”
I walked out into the mall and almost burst into tears. I could barely speak!
After two weeks of misery, I walk into the appointment hoping to get the expanders removed. Every time I turned them, it hurt like hell, but I could definitely see the progress.
“What’s the name, sweetheart?”
“Jessssica Lammm”
“Alright Jessica, follow me back.”
I follow her back to the dreaded chair, sit down, and pray that things get better.
Dr. Rosenberg walks in with a tray of stuff, but I didn’t get a good look.
“Jessica, how have these past two weeks been?”
“Harrrd. I can barely speackh”
“Let me take a look at the progress. Hmm, okay, your lower jaw is not progressing enough, I want you to turn it three times a day. As for your overbite, you have barely made any progress, so I have no option but to install more appliances. Also, we need to start closing up your open bite too.”
Dr. Rosenberg puts the lip spreaders in, removes my wires, and installs new ones, this time much stronger.
“Alright Jessica, I know that wearing elastics can be challenging, so I have decided to install coil springs from your canines to molars so you can never forget to change them!”
He put the springs on and I immediately felt the tension. I tried to open my mouth and could barely do it. Even worse, they were permenant.
“Now for the open bite. I am going to use elastics. If you don’t wear these as followed, you might get springs too, but having springs at the front of your mouth would be awful.” He installed two overlapping boxes in the front of my mouth, and then elastics from my very front teeth to my lower canines. These elastics were brutal.
“You can only take them out to brush your teeth. One more thing.” He grabs something from the tray and shoves it into my mouth. A headgear? “We are going to install a highpull headgear today.” He grabs a headcap from the trap, hooks my headgear onto it, and I immediately feel the pressure. “Ahhhh thatsss too muchchh.” “There is supposed to be that much pressure. I need you to wear this for 16 hours a day.”
I walked into the lobby feeling embarrassed, and immediately felt everyone’s eyes on me. I booked my next appointment, then left.
Chapter 3: permamnent metal mouth
The past two weeks have been hard. I tried to wear my headgear as much as possible but I’m not home for 16 hours in the day, and I refuse to wear it out. Also, the coils make it so hard to eat, and my front elastics are a pain. I could definitely wear them more, but I double up at night, hoping to make a difference. I hope that the ortho does not notice.
I walk into the lobby, without my facebow on, and immediately get showed back to the room. Dr. Rosenberg walks, in, and says “Why aren’t you wearing your headgear?” I immediately put it on, hoping that he doesn’t scold me for not wearing it for enough. “Let me take a look,” he says. “Ahhh, alright. Now Jessica, your mouth is just not making enough progress. Enough is enough. If we want to avoid jaw surgery, I am going to have to go extreme today.” “But but but,” I attempt to protest, but his assistant immediately straps me down and I can’t move. He forces the lip spreaders in before I have a chance to say another word, I feel a prick, then I fall fast asleep…
I wake up to the tightening of my wires. Groggy, I open my eyes, and I can feel that my mouth feels so different. It hurts more than it has ever hurt.
“Jessica, glad youre awake. We are just putting the finishing touches on.”
“ahhh wahhh di youuu do too mee?” I felt like my jaw was wired shut.
“We had no other option than to go extreme. I replaced your top tongue crib with one that is much larger, and installed a lower one too. We added another set of herbst arms, and changed out your coil springs from your canines to molars to much tighter ones. We also installed upper and lower lip bumpers to not only show off our work but halt your molars. I decided to use coil springs for the elastics from your front teeth to your bottom canines, and installed a new zig zag elastic across the front of your mouth, which should basically keep your mouth shut, although it would be hard to open with all the coil springs attached. We decided to wire in your facebow and add more force. Lastly, to move your bottom jaw forward, we installed a facemask. Now, of course, with your history, we couldn’t trust you to change elastics, so we have 6 coil springs attached to your lower jaw attached to the facemask. I expect these changes to last at least six months, and then we might consider going back on the extremeness. It is going to be extremely hard to eat, so we recommend have a liquid diet. Any questions?”
“Whyyy aaa yooo doinn this to mee?” My mouth was aching. I could not open it. How was I supposed to eat?
