Chapter 7: Where is Bill?
Carol wakes up
Carol woke up from a good night's sleep. She yawned once and her mouth felt dry. She almost forgot her braces, but it didn't take long before her tongue hit her expander. She felt the touch through her whole upper row of teeth. She shouldn't have turned her expander as many times as she did. Her stomach began the growl. Did she really forget to eat a good night meal yesterday? Carol walks to the kitchen and opens her fridge.
Usually she eats a big bowl of granola, but she's confident she won't be able to eat that right now. Luckily, she also has some yoghurt in her fridge. She fills a large bowl and empties it completely. Obviously she was very hungry yesterday because she only ate some fruit.
Her thoughts once again went to the card that fell out of her coat. She felt really confused, who could have done this. There was a phone number on it, but if she calls that number, she wants to stay anonymous. She steps into her bathroom again; she really must brush her teeth properly now. Otherwise, she could end up with a lot of cavities. It goes a lot better than yesterday, but it is still a bit painful. While she rinses her mouth, she hears her phone ring again.
Carol says, "Hi, it's Carol."
The orthodontist replies, "Hello, it's your orthodontist, I'm calling to check if everything is going alright?"
Carol responds, "Yes, everything is fine, do you call all of your patients?"
Her orthodontist responds, "Usually not, but a new assistant helped install your braces yesterday, and I like to check if everything went well. If it's not too inconvenient, I'd like to schedule an appointment for today."
Carol hesitated for a moment but decided it won't hurt to let the orthodontist check. He had an open space left in half an hour. Carol stepped into her shower, and every time her tongue hit her expander, she felt her teeth hurting. Ready to go, Carol decided to ask if Bill would come with her. She knocked on his door, but it remained silent on the other side. She had no time left, so she decided to go on her own. When she arrived at the orthodontist, an assistant was already waiting for Carol at the front door. She steps foot into the office and noticed the office shouldn't be open at this time of the day. She did not even have to sit in the waiting area, the assistant directed her directly to the dentist's chair. She sat down and had a good look in the room across the hall. There was Bill, wearing a weird kind of headgear. He was wearing the same clothes as yesterday.
Bill wakes up
Bills felt like he was run over by a truck, his head was hurting. He opened his eyes in confusion, then he looked around and was surprised to see he was in a dentist's room. Did he pass out last night? Why was he not at home anymore? In front of him lay the headgear from last night. Although there was nobody in the room, he began to blush. Obviously, someone had to remove it from his mouth.
The door opened and the girl from last night entered the room. She smiled again while showing all her teeth. Once again, he noticed the Herbst appliance. Bit by bit he remembered what happened last night. How the headgear locked in and how the pistons of his Herbst were locked. He tried to move his jaws, but they simply wouldn't move at all. All this time the girl kept smiling, but she did not say any word. Bill tried to speak, but he couldn't pronounce any word.
The door opened again, and the assistant came in. It was the same assistant that had been working on his teeth yesterday. She looked very different while she wasn't wearing her work clothes. She was wearing a casual blouse, but she also wore latex leggings and black high heels. She smiled with a smile of an angel and Bill began to feel relaxed.
The assistant said, "I guess you were really surprised last night, but you were not the only one. You also surprised me."
Bill could only mumble, "hmhm ,hmhn, hmhn."
The assistant replied, "I would never have guessed you would end up wearing headgear."
Bill tried again. "hmhm ,hmhn, hmhn."
The assistant responded, "How cute, you're still trying to talk to me, luckily we still have to solve your tongue thrusting issue. You will end up just like Angie over there."
For a moment Bill forgot about the other woman in the room. She still stood there with a huge smile; Bill started to find it a little uncomfortable. The assistant grabbed a remote and aimed it at Angie's mouth, and the remote began to speak.
The remote said, "Unlock pistons patient 1."
Angie opened and closed her mouth a few times and still didn't speak a single word. The assistant told Angie to show the inside of her mouth to Bill.
Bill looked into Angie's mouth and saw the same configuration as his. But he also saw an upper expander just like Carol's and on the bottom something that looked just like to upper expander but there was a small ball on top. Her tongue was underneath the appliance.
The assistant said, "I see you found her tongue thrusting appliance, isn't it magnificent? It can also be used to widen the bottom row, but you won't need that."
The word began to pass through, was he really about to get the same applications as Angie? He was sure not. The look in his eyes began the change, but this wasn't unnoticed. The assistant grabbed the remote and aimed it at Bill.
The remote responded, "Securing chair 1." Straps came from the chair and he was held firmly into the chair. He struggled but the straps wouldn't budge. The assistant stroked his hair and the assistant spoke. "We just want to improve your bite."
Angie was walking Bill's way with a tray with all kinds of tools and parts. The assistant once again aimed the remote at Bill.
The remote said, "Unlock pistons, patient 2." He felt the pistons of his Herbst appliance loosened. The assistant asked Bill to open his mouth, but he kept it shut, he didn't even dare to speak.
"We can do it the easy or the hard way," the assistant said.
Still, Bill didn't respond.
The assistant said, "Honestly, this is my favourite way." She once again pointed the remote at Bill.
The remote responded, "Open pistons patient 1."
Bill felt force on the pistons in his mouth, but this time in the opposite direction. His mouth went open inch by inch to the point it began to hurt. Bill began to feel helpless.
The assistant said. "It's is a bit different from regular treatment, but first we have to put a rod in your tongue so we can attach the ball." The assistant grabbed a few tools and asked Bill to stick out his tongue. He saw no reason to deny her requests. Surely, she would have a different method to complete the procedure. He felt a clamp on his tongue and a needle pushed through his tongue. The assistant told him to not move his tongue and he listened.
The assistant said, "We have to remove the bands on your bottom teeth so we can install the appliance, but don't worry, I'll leave the upper rings in." She removes the rings on the bottom and scrapes the excess glue off. She grabbed the tongue thrusting appliance and put it in Bill's mouth. She grabbed a small metal ball from the tray and screwed it into the rod. Bill's tongue crushed into the metal while she kept turning the screw. She ordered Angie to help her shine the blue light into Bill's mouth. While the assistant applied more pressure to the appliance, Angie hardened the glue. Bill felt the crushing of the metal on his tongue and must do his best to hold his gag reflex. He tried to speak but while it was already hard, he now found it impossible. With his mouth still wide open, the assistant held a mirror in front of him. Bill looked shocked, a week ago he never went to the orthodontist and now he looked like an absolute freak.
The assistant says, 'That wasn't so bad was it, Angie will help you with the final adjustments and don't worry, she will put MY headgear back in your mouth. I'm sure we will see each other more often." She gives a kiss on Bill's forehead and walks away.
The surprise is clearly visible in Bill's eyes, how did he not recognise her. The blues eyes and her pretty smile. It was obviously May, his girlfriend from his teenage years, the owner of the odd-looking headgear. He was daydreaming about the good times he had with her when the silence was broken.
The remote says, "Locked pistons patient 2." With that he felt the pistons close again, he was back to reality again. Angie walked to Bill with the headgear and inserted it into his mouth. He heard the familiar beeps and the tension on his jaw increased again. Angie walked out of the room and left the door wide open.