Pain...it's such a horrible thing! It's like in those bad old horror movies when suddenly there's the EEK!!! EEK!!! EEK!!! sound and there are these stupid people sitting there doing nothing but half covering their faces with their spread out fingers while the camera zooms in and out on their looks of horror as something big and black swoops down on them. I mean, you'd think that they'd have the sense to at least try to run away or something. The worst though, is when they know something is in that big scary house and they go inside anyway! Don't they have at least half of a functional brain? Ok, so that's off the subject. Anyway, I've realized that sometimes the helpless, spreadfingered little saps often don't have much of a choice even though they know of the pain that's coming towards them at a very rapid pace. When I was placed in that situation, that's pretty much how it was with me....only slightly worse, because I thought that the pain wouldn't be all that bad.
I'm probably not making any sense, so let me clarify....braces. When my dentist said the words "Hmmm...maybe we should consider braces for you...." I actually said (as hard as it is to believe) "Yes!". I know. I'm a typical sap. The truth is, though, it had always been a hope - dare I even say a dream - of mine that one day I'd get braces. You know, to straighten out that incredibly annoying gap between my two top front teeth. I also liked the way people talked with braces and retainers....I was so young...so innocent....so unbelievably stupid. Braces as a whole experience weren't actually all that bad. Granted, getting them tightened was the pits, but really...what can you do? And my teeth are now beautifully, stunningly straight and white. Yay, right? WRONG! Because I knew that the braces were going to hurt, but nobody ever said that getting the stupid retainers were going to kill my mouth as much as they are!
I know what you're thinking. I've only had this rare form of torture for a total of about seven hours...give it time and you'll get used to it, right? I think it's a horrible thing that nobody informed me that after the braces the retainers were going to be the pits. So here I am with one retainer permanently (or at least temporarily permanently) stuck inside my mouth with what feels like rubber cement on my bottom teeth. On my top teeth I have what's supposed to look like a watermelon but, thanks to the shape of certain wires, looks like a ladybug that flew into my mouth and got stuck there. My teeth ache, my gums are sore, and the next six months appear (from this particular point in time) like they aren't ever going to end. And then after that six months of non-stop retainer wearing, I have yet another year of only "nighttime" retainer wearing. Gah! I dunno what I did to Dr. Barry, but I'm warning you right now....don't mess with him! He has forms of torture that you wouldn't believe. I'm telling you - BEWARE OF THE PAIN!
8 comments:
Good luck with braces, thing...I was the first person in my whole Jr. High school to get braces and I got a lot of teasing. It only got worse when one other kid got braces...because he was a boy and then everyone teased us that we were going to get our braces locked together. EWWWWW!
Mine were on for three agonizing years, and I still have a gaping gap in between my two front teeth. Oh well. I will tell you this: It gets better. Either that or you get used to it. But eventually you can't feel the pain 24/7. You just notice it again after you get them tightened.
This, too, shall pass!
Sorry Leah & Dalene--no sympathy pains from me. I've never had braces. Shocking, yes, since two of my brothers had them and other siblings probably should have. I never had to have my wisdom teeth out either--all 4 came in straight with plenty of room. I think God knew how much I would come to hate dentists and tried to spare me as much misery as possible. Seriously--I once went 11 years without visiting the dentist because I hated it so badly. My parents didn't force me to go those 11 years either--probably because they were tired of the temper tantrums. :-)
Holy snaps, Julie! Eleven years? Gah! I'd hate that...I have a thing with clean white teeth and the like. Not that yours aren't, but...ok, nevermind.
And Dalene, I am SO sorry. At least my high school experience was that one out of every three people had braces, so the only thing I had to put up with was the physical pain it caused my teeth. And yeah, the retainers took some getting used to, but after only three days I've almost accepted them! ;)
Yeah, 11 years is a long time. But I was the dentist's poster child for daily flossing & brushing when I finally went back--they were all amazed that I had almost no tartar buildup and no cavities. Have you ever had a dentist tell you that you brush too much? Well, at the age of 19, that's what my dentist told me. I think after all the cavities I had when I was little that I decided to be religious about flossing and brushing. Good thing, too, since that's what saved my teeth from 11 years of not seeing the dentist.
By the way--I see the dentist every 6 months now. You'd be proud of me....even if I do have yellow teeth. (ha ha)
Oh, yeah. My heart just swells with joy and pride for you. Lol. You gotta love sarcasm. :) But seriously, that's awesome. I've never heard of a dentist telling somebody that they brushed too much. Is that really even possible?
tin grin. 4 years. and throw in head gear with a fro/mullet. boy was I a looker from 4th to 8th grade!
Oh, man. I DEFINATELY need to see a picture of that one, Lorien. Did you have that whole head wire thing that one girl has in "The Singles Ward"?
"I think we met in the pre-existence..." Haha!
Hi, I just stumbled by ur blog. I've heard that braces hurt a lot. My friend spent a week telling me about it in every detail(yippy). But anyways, I can understand pain. I'll tell u a true event that happened to me about 6 years ago. I was 11, and I was on vacation in San Diego, California. I was riding a see-saw with a 12 year old. The 12 year old went down too fast. I flew into the air and my upper jaw hit the middle metal part of the see-saw. My two front, grown-up teeth shattered. All that is left are the roots. It was over $500 to get fake caps put over my roots. And I'll say, it hurts like hell when ur bare tooth roots are exposed to hot plastic. Not to mention that one of them has a crack on the back from when I was swimming. But anyways, I wish u luck on ur new braces. May u have a dazzling new smile.
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