Vivian - Short Story
This was the part she was not looking forward to. The orthodontist called it a correction for her malocclusion and overbite. It was something she needed, she knew. But she dreaded it as well.
Okay, Vivian, take a deep breath.
She parked the car and looked at the building. It was all going to happen over there. Somewhere behind the walls was her appliance.
She closed her eyes for a moment and put down the visors so she could use its little mirror.
Although her teeth were fairly uneven, she did have a beautiful smile. What would smiling be like in half an hour or so? Would she still look like herself? Would she like what she'd see in the mirror or would she be shocked?
She'd researched pictures right when she came home from her first orthodontist appointment. Pictures of the Herbst appliances, she apparently needed. Pictures of bite plates, which seemed to pop up in all sorts of shapes and colors. What type would she get?
She took a deep breath once again.
No purpose in pondering this. She'd find out soon enough.
In one swift motion, she got her bag en stepped out of the car. It didn't take long before she could take a seat in the waiting room. Nobody else was around. It was just her. Hmm.. she didn't know whether she preferred to be alone or not. She'd expected more patients in here. The silence was a welcome touch, but it induced less distraction and more time to think.
"You must be Vivian Petterson"
A warm voice cut Vivian's train of thought. Accompanied by the nerves, she walked along with the nurse. A penetrating odor filled the air in the modern hallway. When they entered the treatment room, doctor Richard greeted her. He was dressed in his orthodontic gown and wore his spectacles, unlike the first time they met. Then, he'd worn a blouse and trousers.
Vivian was a bit intimidated by the sight of him.
"Take a seat, Vivian," he gestured towards the chair.
Vivian looked at the nurse, who smiled friendly. Okay then.
Attached to the chair were all sorts of instruments, including a lamp and all sorts of dental tools. However, there was no time to take it in as the doctor and nurse were waiting for her to take place. She sat down and moved her feet a little. It was always weird to have your feet half up in the air contrary to normal chairs. It made Vivian aware of her being the patient here.
"Okay, Vivian. What we're going to do today is install your Herbst, bite plate, and palatal expander."
The last word Vivian remembered from their earlier appointment. She knew it was something to widen her narrow upper jaw, but she forgot to research the exact type of appliance.
"I'm going to take your spacers out first and then I'll guide you through the process, okay?"
Vivian nodded. A bit overwhelmed still by everything that was going to happen. Was she really ready for it? She felt her heart pounding. She looked around to see what Doctor Richard and the nurse were doing. They snapped on their gloves and face masks.
"It's alright, Vivian," the nurse said.
Suddenly the chair hummed and inclined. Vivian tried to sit comfortably against the back backrest as the chair flowed horizontally. She didn't manage as well as she'd like. The chair was quite wide, which made her feel small. Her head lay in the crook of the bent headrest.
She looked at the ceiling and felt exposed by the bright light in front of it.
In no time doctor Richard showed up in her view. He adjusted the lamp so it probably lit her mouth.
"Open up, please."
Vivian did as told and felt gloved fingers stretching her cheeks. A dental tool then snapped the remaining spacers from between her molars.
"Very well. She's got nice gaps here... and here. You see?"
Vivian looked around. Doctor Richard was talking to the nurse assumingly.
Then a mechanical took hit her molars. Vivian closed her eyes. This was the cleaning she guessed. It took a little while. She wished her teeth could take the aimed shape without a brace. Or that it would only take a week or so. That would be nice. Then, she wouldn't have to wear the thing they were going to attach to her teeth. Why did her parents give her these stupid dental genes?
"Can you pass me the expander?"
Vivian immediately opened her eyes and tried to follow what was happening, but Doctor Richard and the nurse placed something against her cheeks and lips.
"Can you bite down for me Vivian?" the nurse asked.
She did and felt her lips stretching. The nurse then fiddled around with her lips and the thing in her mouth a bit. Vivian searched for Doctor Richard, but he was nowhere to be seen. At least not from her point of view. Which wasn't that surprising, as she was only able to watch the space between her and the ceiling.
"This was your lip spreader, by the way." The nurse said.
Alright. Whatever that thing was, it wasn't the most comfortable, but Vivian couldn't care. Doctor Richard and the nurse could do whatever was necessary, as long as it didn't hurt and didn't take the whole afternoon.
"Open again, please."
Vivian opened her mouth. It was so weird with the thing between her lips. She couldn't move them, nor could she put her lips together.
Doctor Richard had something touching her teeth and then the nurse joined in with another tool. They put some pressure and it felt like the spacers again.
"Try to bite down as hard as you can, Vivian."
She did, but she couldn't touch her teeth. She was having a sort of block between her molars. And alarmed, she stopped biting.
"Bit on the stick with some pressure."
Okay... She was supposed to bite on that weird thing. Vivian tried the best she could and felt some sort of spacer slide between her upper molars. Her eyes widened a bit in shock.
There was some conversation going on between the two professionals. Weren't they satisfied with the result? Was something wrong? Did they discuss whether Vivian still needed the appliances? Maybe they decided she didn't need them anymore? She would jump out of the chair and dance through the practice.
"Open a bit more." The doctor suddenly said.
He took out the spacer thing. Was that her appliance? She wanted to take a look but was unable to.
After a while, she bit down on the stick again. The spacers put pressure on the upper teeth. This was not chill. Not at all.
A beep sounded from her mouth. "I'm gluing the expander in."
Wow. This was the expander indeed. It was already in there! And now it was in there for good. Well, for the time she would need it. Vivian's heart raced and her palms started to go sweaty.
"Well done!" The nurse said. She touched Vivian's shoulder.
A dental tool was still in her mouth, so feeling the expander would be something to do later on.
It didn't take long before the bite plate was installed in a similar manner.
Vivian was longing to get out of the chair, have the lip spreader out, and study her new look. She also longed for swallowing properly and move her lips around. But she wasn't allowed to do so. All sorts of plasticy and metally things filled her mouth. And Doctor was still working. Vivian couldn't keep up with his activities. Was he cleaning her teeth again? Was he fitting another thing? Was he working on her appliances? It was weird to think she was now braced.
She had to hold on for another moment. Let her orthodontist work a little more. She tapped her fingers and then decided to lay both her hand on her stomach. She wasn't going to appear nervous. She could handle this.
Still unable to feel anything that was already attached to her upper jaw she she closed her eyes. She shifted her upper body a bit to get a more comfortable position. She didn't succeed.
Why couldn't she get up and drink something? Take a look in the mirror?
"Okay, can you hand me the-" Vivian didn't understand the last word of the doctor's sentence. It was jargon.
Another tool was dragged into her mouth. It took a lot of biting sticks and fiddling around before another spacer was set between her lower molars. Not the most comfortable spacers as well.
After a while, some bumped against her tongue. Like a metal wire. Was this part of the Herbst? She'd seen it on youtube, but it felt bigger in her own mouth than she'd expected. Maybe this was just a temporary part-?
"-Bite down again Vivian."
Not again. She'd had enough of the whole process.
"You're doing great. One more time."
She did reluctantly.
"Well done sweetheart."
She wanted to ask if this was the Herbst appliance.
"We're almost done."
Right. Almost done.
Vivian felt her spit turn into a pool in the back of her mouth. She did her best to swallow it. But her mouth was wide open and it was harder than she thought. She tapped her belly nervously with her hands.
"We've attached both parts of your Herbst. Now I'm going to connect them. Open as wide as you can."
Her mouth was getting sore from opening. Despite she managed to follow the instruction.
"There you go. Now, bite down again, please."
She did. And... she jumped a little. This wasn't nice... This was scary. She winced. Her lower jaw pushed forward as soon as she'd bitten down. Her molars couldn't touch properly.
"This comes close to the position that we want your jaw to be in. Can you turn your head a little?"
Still wincing somewhat, Vivian turned her cheek touching the side of the headrest.
Doctor Richard's fingers touch some of her teeth. Was he inspecting her weird position? "Very good."
And he approved of it? Was this the situation she was going to be in for the rest couple of days? Or even weeks? That couldn't be right, could it?
Doctor Richard guided her head back and the nurse put a mirror in front of her.
"You see how your lower jaw comes forward as you bite down?"
Wow. The lip spreader was huge! She opened her mouth and jumped a little once again. Her eyes widened and for a moment it was like she was on another planet. Living her best alien life.
Her front teeth were perfectly fine as they'd discussed during the first appointment. At first, in short sight, nobody would probably notice Vivian even had braces. But her upper palate... it was...
She'd never seen anything like this before. Well, she had on Youtube, but even the video's she'd seen weren't...
This was a lot. She had plastic behind her upper front teeth. There was a lot of metal construction work going on at her palate. Did she really need all of this? This looked ridiculous.
"This is exactly the position that we want your jaw to be in when you bite down."
Vivian nodded absentmindedly.
As soon as she would open her mouth, even if just a little, her orthodontic devices would be noticeable. This wasn't something that could be ignored during gatherings with friends, colleagues, family... How was she going to handle this?
The biting down felt weird.
"We'll leave your lip spreader in to show you how to turn your expander."
The instructions were a little hard to follow. Not because Richard didn't explain well. It was because Vivian couldn't grasp what she looked like.
After a foolish try to turn it herself, she was freed from the spreaders. Weirdly, it was also the first time she became aware of her expander and bite plate. Her molars couldn't touch. Her lower teeth clicked against the plate and her tongue had nowhere to stay.
Her cheeks felt like those of a hamster, due to the bumps of the Herbst. She'd seen that on the internet as well. She hoped it wouldn't look as bad as it felt.
"- and the bite plate makes sure your deep bite is corrected. Your speech will be different, but after a week most patients will speak without a huge lisp. Try to practice speaking upcoming days. It will help."
That's when Vivian realized she hadn't said anything yet. Her heart beat faster.
Then the chair came up.
She was good to go.
The whole thing was installed.
The nurse gave her some tools and instructions and then she got up. Standing felt a little strange.
"How are you doing, Vivian?" The nurse asked. Could she read Vivian's thoughts? She did seem warm though.
Now was the moment. Now was the time she should talk. She shrugged and looked away. Searching for words.
She moved her lips and tongue. The expander was covered in saliva, which she tried to swallow away. Would she be able to talk with this all?
Oh no, the nurse was still looking. A reassuring hand touched her shoulder. "You don't look a lot different, Vivian. It actually quite nice on you."
Vivian smiled. Which felt abnormal once again. Okay, just do it. You can do it. "Feels weird."
Geez! No! This, this... she didn't like. Was she going to sound like a baby from now on?
The nurse smiled empathically. "I'm sure it does. You will get over it. Take it easy today."
That was my short story. Written today without even planning to do so. Hope you all enjoyed!
