July 19, 2010 Braces: ON

The hygienist called me back.

"Are you excited?" she asked.

"Yea!" I answered

And I was.

About 9 months ago, the hygenist commented on the wearing down of my front teeth. I had noticed it myself, but didn't know what was contributing to it or what to do about it. I learned it was because I was grinding my teeth.

I had two options. A night guard or braces.

I don't like band aids--you know, procedures that don't fix the problem but just cover the symptom. That is how I viewed the night guard.

So I began to explore how feasible it was for us to pay for braces. One relative nine years ago had commented that my high aspirations to pay off our house would surely be side tracked when our first child needed braces. I feared the worst. But after another consultation with my dentist, and with my financial consultant (aka. my husband), I scheduled the procedure.

And here was the day. I was excited. I would have straight teeth. I wouldn't end up with teeth ground down to mere stubs at 60 or 70 years old.

Somehow I forgot about the quoted 18 months of wait time for my teeth to move.

I was excited.

My dentist put a "keep-your-mouth-open-while-I-work-on-it" device into my mouth. I didn't see it until after he put it in my mouth. It opened my mouth up in such a way that my teeth looked like a picture you would find in a 3rd grade health book of the body with no skin on it--just muscle. The contraption looks like a medieval torture device, but was amazingly comfortable.

He cleaned each tooth, then applied super glue and ceramic brackets. He used an ultraviolet light to kill bacteria and cure the glue.

Other patients had backed up in the other rooms at this point, so he left his hygienist to attach the lower wire while he checked on patients.

It was tricky to get that wire in place and after wrestling it into most of the brackets, she finally left the last two for the dentist to do.

I got a long break while my dentist finished his back log of patients. I didn't mind too much. My 5 children were at the babysitters. I had brought my mp3 player with the second book in the 39 Clues series and Anne of the Island. But what I really wanted to do was read the Real Simple magazine I had picked up last week in the dentist office when my daughter was getting a cavity filled. Since it is hard to read a magazine while the dentist is working on you, this was my chance to read more of this issue. (I really should get my own subscription to the magazine.)

45 minutes later, my dentist returned and said,"Now that your lips are rested from the bottom set, let's get the top set on."

"Rested?" I thought. "They have gone on vacation."

I was hurriedly jotting down the last step from the article "Skip Getting Sick in 3 Steps" as he pushed the button to recline my chair. He must have been anxious to get the rest of the braces on because he didn't see I wasn't ready yet. I exercised all my stomach muscles to move forward and replace my purse on the stable chair. Seeing my strained effort (abs of steel are not among my assets) he apologized profusely and reversed the movement of the dental chair.

As he applied the last set of brackets, he commented, "It always amazes me when adults get braces. I'm not sure I would do it as an adult." He explained that he had braces as a youth but since then he has seen he could use some things fixed, but he hasn't had the guts to do it.

Of course, I don't know exactly what he means....yet. Because, well, I've never had braces before. And I'm excited because I'm going to have straight teeth. Who wouldn't want to have braces? Besides I told myself, "I'm not going to look like everyone else who gets braces because...well, I'm different, I'm cooler, I'll do things differently."

He went on to say he has family members who will do them for free. But he doesn't want to go through it again. "Free would be nice," I thought. So I'm still not sure what he was talking about.

Then he finished and he told me that he has just succeeded in making me look younger. As he hands me the mirror to look at myself he said, "Now you look like a teenager!"

Looking back at me in the mirror, I didn't see a woman who has 5 children and has yet to completely get rid of the baby fat. I saw a gawky teenager with braces. And I smiled.