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Author Topic: Story: Managing a Metal Mouth [Book 1]  (Read 17759 times)

Offline Tin_Grin8444

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Story: Managing a Metal Mouth [Book 1]
« on: 08. May 2020, 08:01:57 AM »
Howdy folks! Figured I'd give one of these a shot, seeings how I've read quite a few and have a good idea of what I'd like to see. Definitely let me know your thoughts and recommendations!

Chapter 1

Starting college was pretty simple. After signing the confirmation letter and getting to post the status of becoming a University student, I felt pretty accomplished. While I'd struggled with the odd subject here and there, I did pretty well towards the end of high school. Things started to get a little less simple after starting the semester though. Overall, my daily experience was pretty much this: Go to class, go to the campus's library to mess around watching videos, onto the next class, and rinse repeat til I was done for the day and would head to the dorms. The University was pretty fancy, by my standards at least. Most of the residential areas were pretty modern looking, and whenever a classroom looked old, it had a kind of character to it. The experience of moving away from home was a shock all it's own, as I'd never stayed away from home for such a long amount of time, not even for road trips, as my family never had that much money. I certainly wasn't used to big trips, and the culture shock of moving to a new city was jarring.

Luckily, I had my girlfriend moving with me. Cynthia handled the move way better than I did, since she had family already living in the city. Since her family was pretty loaded, she managed to get her own place close to the university, and BOY was it nice. I'm talking a whole bathtub with a bubble feature nice. Of course, she was very quick to offer the second bedroom to me, but I declined. I knew my parents, as much as they liked Cynthia, wouldn't approve of that kind of living arrangement, so I'd only really go there to study with her for my harder subjects like Calculus.

How did Cynthia's parents get her this place, you ask? Well from what I can remember, her family's pretty notorious in other states for some kind of family business in dentistry. I couldn't remember exactly, but I knew it had something to do with teeth. Pretty lucrative I guess. Whenever I asked her about it years ago, she acted a little embarrassed, so I decided to not pester her too much. Besides, her parents were really nice, and seemed to like me a lot, so I didn't wanna make her uncomfortable.

Cynthia herself is pretty amazing. She's smart, caring, and has an absolutely killer laugh. The kind that just makes your heart go nuts. Whenever I see her on campus between classes, I'll hit her with cheesy one-liners like "You come here often?" and other stupid stuff just to get her to flash that stunning shiny smile. Oh yea I forgot to mention that she has braces.

In spite of the fact that her teeth have been perfectly straight for a number of years, Cynthia has had herself a set of pink banded tinsel teeth since I first met her in high school. She explained that her parents got her a really good deal on them and that she was in the process of "preventing failed retention" or something like that. I never questioned it too much, seeing how they never really affected anything. At this point I'm pretty used to seeing them as just another part of her that I love. I do remember years ago she had asked if I was going to get some myself. (My teeth were pretty bad. My grandmother had a pretty bad bite, and I got it from her) Since money has always been pretty tight I never really had the option, and Cynthia was fine with that. I told her if I had the option financially, I'd do it. Even though I was actually pretty nervous at the prospect of braces, expanders and stuff like that, I figured I'd never have to worry about that. My teeth were straight enough for me after all. She never looked down on me for not having to money for it, and that made me love her even more.

It was a Monday when I got out of my theatre class early and went to my usual spot. Normally I'd hit a burger place near the campus fountain before heading to the library, but my phone was almost dead so I decided to head straight to the library to get a seat and charge my phone. About 10 minutes later my phone rings and it's Cynthia! I answer and she sounds pouty, but in a cute way. "I thought you were going to Jason's Burgers after theatre! You're usually there..." She said, mildly disappointed.  "I was going to, but I got out early and my phone needed to charge, so I hit the library to beat the lunch rush."
"Oh okay! I'll head there and bring you something!" She hung up and seemed in a hurry. I decided to not worry about it and a few minutes later Cynthia finds my table in the library. She's got her hair up in a high ponytail and practically skips towards me when she spots me, her hair bouncing from side to side. She says "What's up cowboy, you come here often?", with a sly smirk and a look in her eyes like she knows something I don't. "This ain't my first rodeo, darlin. How was world civ?" I ask because she was lucky enough to get one of those oddball professors and always has a weird experience. She's quick to say "That can wait. I've got a surprise for you!"

A surprise? Valentine's day was a month ago, so I had no guesses as for what it was. She scooted in close and said something I definitely wouldn't have guessed. "So you know how my aunt is an orthodontist in town? Well she said her lab is testing a new appliance that can shorten treatment time, and her practice is offering trial treatments for a huge discount!" I was stunned, but I don't think she noticed. She continued, "Normally you'd have to go through a bunch of paperwork and legal stuff, but since my dad put in a good word for you, my family agreed to cover the cost completely! You don't have to worry about the cost and can finally get your teeth straightened!!" She was absolutely beaming. She could barely hide her excitement. I was just so enamoured with her eyes and how wide they'd gotten I guess I started unconsciously smiling just from looking at her.

Then it hit me. BRACES? APPLIANCES? TREATMENT TIME? I was processing this at a snails pace, and started to say "W..When?.. Soon?" She answers faster than I ever could "Today! That's why I tried to meet you at Jason's Burgers, so you could eat before we went there! I got your fitting scheduled on a Monday cause I knew you got out around lunch so I figured it'd be perfect!" I was starting to think this through just a bit. Would braces really be that bad? I mean she looked GREAT in them, of course she looked great no matter what. She'd brighten up the stormiest day with that smile of hers and she was elated with herself for setting this up. How could I say no? I manage an "ok" and she pulls me out of my chair by the hand and out to her car in the parking garage. We head to a really nice part of the city, bustling with people. We pull up to a nice white concrete building with big windows and a really nice sign that says, "FRONTIER ORTHODONTICS" and we head in.

Offline Tin_Grin8444

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Re: Story: New Frontiers
« Reply #1 on: 08. May 2020, 09:47:13 AM »
Lol yes the title sucks I just couldn't come up with anything and put it off til I finished chapter 1. So anyways, here's Wonderwall.

Chapter 2

Holy cow, the inside was really nice. The big windows on the front of the place let in so much light there was hardly a need for the nice lamps at the sign in desk. There were a few people sitting in the chairs lining the walls of what I assumed to be the waiting area. I subtly glanced around to see what people had from this place. I really don't know what I was expecting, but I did see some kind of bar sticking out of this one lady's mouth, but she seemed completely unphased by its presence as she perused through a magazine with some celebrity's face circled in red on it. This nice blonde woman gave a friendly smile upon seeing Cynthia, calling out to us from behind the desk. "Cynthia! Welcome back! I'll tell Dr. Collins that you're here with Gregory." I'm guessing Dr. Collins was Cynthia's aunt, since that was Cynthia's last name. I was expecting a moment to sit and absorb the situation I was in, but the door to what looked like the chair room swung open and a small but fast walking woman strides out into the waiting area and kindly ushered us into the chair room. Instantly I could see the resemblance; the brown hair, same face shape and the same great smile, only Dr. Collins' smile didn't flash any metal, and she had calm dark green eyes, nothing like Cynthia's deep swirling hazel eyes.

Dr. Collins went straight to the point as soon as we were seated in her office, "Gregory! It's wonderful to finally meet you!. Cynthia's told me a great deal about you and I'm very excited to begin working with you. Has Cynthia told you everything about your treatment already?
I'm still kind of in shock from the speed of all of this, so my responses are still a snail's pace. "She said something about a new appliance for shortening treatment?"

"Yes! She is correct, the propose of this appliance is to shorten treatment time, however, because you're going to be one of our test treatments, you may end up wearing this appliance for a little longer than usual, simply for record keeping proposes. So, shall we get started? If you'll follow me over here... Oh! I've almost forgotten, I'll need you to sign this before we can begin. As you know this treatment will be paid for by my practice due to your special circumstances. This document simply guarantees that you complete the treatment for sake of ensuring the treatment results are conclusive."

I read through the contract carefully, and sure enough. I'm signing up for a full on treatment that requires I wear this stuff til it's done. I look over at Cynthia, and she's genuinely happy for me, and all the more proud that she gets to do this for me, her boyfriend. I've made up my mind.
"Let's do it." I sign my name and hand her the contract.

Dr. Collins shoots up "Wonderful! If you'll follow me please...'

I'm led to a beige leather chair with a bunch of trays around it. It looks like there's something on the trays, but whatever they are, they're covered by these blue cloths. I'm seated and the chair retracts. As Dr. Collins gets prepped with gloves and stuff I can't see, Cynthia hold my hand, sitting in a chair opposite to Dr. Collins', glancing between whatever Dr. Collins is fiddling with, and my undoubtedly nervous expression as I lay helpless in the minty smelling room with big machines. Braces at 22. I sure didn't envision this.

Cynthia leans down to my ear and whispers, "I've been planning this for months now. I even got your x rays from your dentist when my aunt told me about the program, and I was so excited when she said you could do the treatment!"

That hadn't even occurred to me. She really planned this out. She was crazy smart after all, and I really did need braces. It felt good to be cared about like this. Her assistant begins cleaning my teeth while some kind of cheek retractor holds back my lips as well as my tongue. My thoughts drift to Cynthia who's memorized. It hits me, she's probably used to being in my position during her appointments. She probably hasn't seen it from her current perspective. My thoughts are once again inturrupted by Dr. Collins, only this time she hovers above me with what has to be a torture device.

"This is your appliance! I won't bother trying to pronounce its actual name. It's something German, haha! We'll just call it the All-in-one."

It looks like two curved plates, connected by two springed piston like arms on each side, and lining both plates are these little metal rings that look like they're supposed to fit over my teeth, with four little metal balls portruding from between them wear the thing opens up. It looks like some kind of Saw trap for heavan's sake.

Dr. Collins quickly begins installing this nightmare. "We're going to calibrate the appliance to the shape of your mouth like this. It'll only take a few moments to allign each of the bands to your teeth, then we can move to step two!" After what feel like 5 minutes of her forcfully pushing each bands up onto my teeth, she reaches in and clicks something in the rooth of the appliance and it make a loud noise. Dr. Collins continues "Now, you're going to slowly close and open your mouth for me, over and over. The appliance is going to start moving into place." I do as she says and sure enough, with each close, I can feel parts of this thing moving around in my mouth. After about the 15th close, it makes a loud click, startling me. After I open again it clicks again, and I can't close my mouth! What is happening with this thing?

I can see Dr. Collins smiling behind her mask in her eyes. "Perfect! Now stay still..." She reaches into my mouth with a key and fiddles with something and I hear another loud click, and I can close my mouth again. "Now, do the same thing again til it clicks just like that." I do as she says and I notice my shoulders are high up by my neck, only because I feel Cynthia's hand gently touch them as she reminds me to relax and that everything's going great. I can really feel this thing moving, and my mouth is getting tighter and tighter, starting to really hurt, and CLICK I'm startled so much my mouth opens through reflex, activating the open lock position again. This one though, feels very different. After shining this blue looking light for a few minutes of sitting there with my mouth stuck open, Dr. Collins reaches in and releases my jaw and excitedly shouts "All done! You were perfect!" after her assistants go over cleaning and maintenance for this thing, Cynthia leads me out to the reception area and schedules my next appointment for me. As she talks with the blonde receptionist, I try to feel around my mouth to figure out what was just put in my mouth, and I feel smooth metal in my top pallet, with some kind of sharp spikes facing inwards, and a mass of metal bars along with them, and my bottom pallet has the same metal plate and bars, along with metal rings covering every one of my teeth. I can also feel thick metal wires lining the outside of each band, welded to some kind of scratchy thing on the front of each tooth. Cynthia finishes up, pulling me excitedly by the hand out to the parking lot. As soon as we enter the car, she asks me how it feels. Still dazed, I manage
"Ithz ollot do ghet yoush do."
Holy cow I'm LISPING. I'm 22 and I'm LISPING because of MY BRACES.
Cynthia catches me off guard. She doesn't act repulsed or laugh. She gently grabs my face and just.. holds me. She smiles, and with her thumbs gently shifts my bottom lip downwards, exposing the drooly mass of metal now on display for the world (the car at least) to see.
"Don't worry okay? You look really cute." she says with a genuine smile. She means it? I can barely form words, and I can feel an ocean of saliva building in my mouth with no way to swallow, and she think this is cute? Now I know I'm really going crazy, because as she holds my face, smiling, I actually believe her. Maybe it's not as bad as I think it is. Maybe this wont be such a bad experience. Talking might take a bit of time, but she had to have known this was a possibility. I'm actually doing this. I have braces now. AND SHE LIKES THEM. She kisses me gently so not to hurt my lips, and starts the car.

I realize I don't even know if I'll be able to eat with all of this! And what will my classmates think? What if I have to give a performance in theatre? There are so many things that I have to get used to, all because of these... my.. braces.





Don't worry folks, I've got plenty of stuff planned for this story. I just wanted to get the expositional jazz out of the way before getting really creative. Lemme know what ya'll think and leave recommendations! Much love <3

Offline alpine44

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Re: Story: Managing a Metal Mouth
« Reply #2 on: 08. May 2020, 10:15:02 AM »
Great idea for a fresh appliance!  Maybe we could get an in depth explanation of what all of the clicking was and what mechanical stuff was happening?

Offline Christian

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Re: Story: Managing a Metal Mouth
« Reply #3 on: 08. May 2020, 11:37:18 AM »
Wow. Very good Story. I am waiting for the next Part. Please explain the Appliance more and how its working.  ( I want this too for me  ;D  )
 Wer Spott und Ironie in meinen Beiträgen findet darf behalten was er findet ;-)

Offline Braceme

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Re: Story: Managing a Metal Mouth
« Reply #4 on: 08. May 2020, 14:43:21 PM »
Great story start! I can’t wait to read more!

Offline libtech

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Re: Story: Managing a Metal Mouth
« Reply #5 on: 08. May 2020, 14:56:37 PM »
Awesome so far ????

Offline GarotaFakeBR

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Re: Story: Managing a Metal Mouth
« Reply #6 on: 08. May 2020, 15:06:56 PM »
Great story so far.
Has he seen this wonderful appliance in his mouth yet?
I'm wondering how surprised he will be when he sees it.

Offline Braceface2015

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Re: Story: Managing a Metal Mouth
« Reply #7 on: 08. May 2020, 15:14:19 PM »
It is a very interesting start to what looks likes a good story. I would like your permission to add your story to TheArchive. I always try to get permission from each author before I add stories, that way everyone is aware of what I am doing.

Braceface2015
TheArchive2018

Offline Tin_Grin8444

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Re: Story: Managing a Metal Mouth
« Reply #8 on: 09. May 2020, 02:54:12 AM »
It is a very interesting start to what looks likes a good story. I would like your permission to add your story to TheArchive. I always try to get permission from each author before I add stories, that way everyone is aware of what I am doing.

Braceface2015
TheArchive2018

Oh for sure! Feel free to add it lol

Offline Tin_Grin8444

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Re: Story: Managing a Metal Mouth
« Reply #9 on: 09. May 2020, 04:14:29 AM »
Yink Yonk guys and gals let's keep this shin dig rolling  ;)


Chapter 3

After getting back to the dorms, Cynthia asked if I wanted her to stay a little while, and I said yes. I didn't wanna be alone after such a big change, and she clearly knew way more about this stuff than I did. Of course, the first thing I did was head straight for the bathroom mirror. I wanted to get a better look at this mechanical nightmare that was just cemented into my mouth. Cynthia tags along to the bathroom to help explain each part of the appliance to me, which was a big help since before, I really knew nothing about this kind of thing.
We get to the bathroom and... it's bad. Like really bad. My mouth is so full I can see the glint of metal staring back at me through my lips, and since it keeps scratching my lips and making them puffy, my lips are almost held back, exposing this monster even when my lips are relaxed. There's no hiding this thing... I'm not sure how Cynthia can look at me, but she's as encouraging as ever.
She starts by telling me the names of each part, like the brackets, bands, tongue spikes,(No doubt causing my lisp), herbst arms, but when I pointed at the mass of springs, coils and metal bars in the roof of my mouth and below my tongue, she initially thought they were expanders of some kind, but after looking at them really close, she said she wasn't sure. Being so close to her as she gently fiddled around with my appliance, it felt, nice? It was kind of scary but, also intimate I guess. Watching her expression as she gently examines this novel mechanism that I'm pretty sure was responsible for the clicking, it was like she was excitedly learning about some new piece of technology she'd only heard about, but never really seen.
Her eyes widen with excitement as she's figured it out "Oh! I've got it! You see these coils? How they connect to both of your arches and the bars along the backs of your teeth?" She points them out to me in the mirror. "Yeshhs" God I sound awful. She continues, reassuringly "They connect to the mechanism in your top pallet. It's like a music box! You crank it enough times, and it applies the built up force to your teeth and jaws to straighten them! So the more you open and close your mouth, like when you're talking or eating, the more pressure gets gradually applied, and the more force gets put on your teeth. It looks like the herbst arms are supposed to apply the same force to fix your overbite, but they seem to only stabilize your bite to prevent improper shifts. That explains the headgear tubes on all four of your molars."
HEADGEAR??! That was the metal bar the lady in the waiting area had. Dr. Collins never said anything about that!
"It looks like it's still applying force, even though you haven't been talking all that much. I guess the more you talk or eat on a daily basis, the more your teeth will hurt throughout the day, but if you don't crank the appliance enough, it won't move as fast, and you'll have it for longer..."
Now it was hitting me. I've really gotten myself into a predicament here. Self-moving braces? I guess if you get this appliance and talk a lot every day, this kind of thing would speed up the process, but your mouth would be in a lot of pain the more you used it. I guess a good thing is you can just not talk at all and it'll still be working, just slower. I figured it was worth a try to see just how much I could wind up the mechanism. I start opening and closing my mouth just like Dr. Collins had me do to calibrate the appliance. Slowly, tension starts building up in my mouth. Cynthia looks a little worried, but she seems to understand what I'm trying to do. After about 50 closes it's really starting to hurt, but I can still chew. I keep going, but around 70 the tension's getting unbearable, and suddenly the appliance makes a loud CLICK. Once again, my mouth is stuck open, my mass of metal painfully obvious. I start to panic but Cynthia's quick to tell me that Dr. Collins gave her a release key to disengage the locking mechanism. She goes to insert it but looks puzzled, and then she tells me
"I think you built up a little too much tension for it to take...I can't disengage the lock until it's spent the built up force. I'm sorry..."
Well great. Now I'm stuck with my mouth open like this for who knows how long. Looking on the bright side, at least it isn't permenant. If anything, this might be a good oppurtunity to learn how long it takes to be able to unlock the appliance if I make the same mistake of opening and closing too much. We decide to wait and watch some youtube together, but the pain is really getting to me. The constant pressure, the inability to close my mouth or move my jaws from side to side, and worst of all, the drool. Cynthia doesn't seem to mind the drool at least, and after she notices my tense expression, she sits on my sofa, grabs my head, and gently pulls me down to her lap and start massaging the outside of my jaw. It feels amazing... It's like she's numbing the pain with just her hands. I start to drift off, feeling so relaxed, and CLICK.
I open my eyes to see Cynthia smiling over me.
"It took 30 minutes, but I can unlock the mechanism now! Hold still..." She releases my mouth from that painfully embarrassing open position, and I try to thank her, but it only comes out as unintelligible garble. She reassures me "Don't worry, we'll work on talking." Her smile is all it takes to convince me. Even after this whole ordeal, I'm not regretting my decision. Cynthia's so great with this kind of thing. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have her here.

My corny thoughts are interrupted by my stomach growling. How do I eat with this thing?

Offline bracesfanza

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Re: Story: Managing a Metal Mouth
« Reply #10 on: 09. May 2020, 08:18:59 AM »
Fantastic story. love the all-in-one appliance!

Offline ortho218

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Re: Story: Managing a Metal Mouth
« Reply #11 on: 09. May 2020, 12:30:18 PM »
that's a really interesting and original concept (the appliance). Not sure I've come across the idea of self-tightening braces before (I guess because it would not be popular with orthodontists as it would mean fewer tightening appointments so less money for them haha)
I like stories like this where they are kind of semi-believable and semi-fantasy (rather than just all-out crazy braces). Will be interesting to see how it pans out.

Offline kelly-Marie

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Re: Story: Managing a Metal Mouth
« Reply #12 on: 09. May 2020, 14:31:21 PM »
Great story I'm really enjoying it  keep it up!!!!

Offline zrs2017

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Re: Story: Managing a Metal Mouth
« Reply #13 on: 10. May 2020, 02:19:09 AM »
really enjoying this so far! it's always nice to read a story that doesn't bring out the inner copy editor in me  :)

Offline pi314phi18

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Re: Story: Managing a Metal Mouth
« Reply #14 on: 10. May 2020, 17:03:10 PM »
Great combo love and braces! Thanks for the effort.