ForumOnline-Shop

Author Topic: Story: Plain Jane  (Read 24496 times)

Offline braces37

  • Bronce Member
  • **
  • Posts: 51
  • Gender: Male
Re: Story: Plain Jane
« Reply #75 on: 30. December 2021, 11:20:20 AM »
It's good to see that her dreams about Peter have shifted in a more positive direction. Having him become a dream advisor is an interesting move. I look forward to her first appointment.

Offline kelly-Marie

  • Platinum Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 693
  • Gender: Male
Re: Story: Plain Jane
« Reply #76 on: 03. January 2022, 20:30:28 PM »
Jane is bound to have doubts right up to the e d I'm so pleased she can get advice from her brother and from Simon too  hakes her life so much easier

Offline Sparky

  • Special Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 2275
  • Gender: Male
Re: Story: Plain Jane
« Reply #77 on: 06. January 2022, 01:12:47 AM »
Chapter 25

Last week Jane had dropped off the signed agreement, so today, Thursday, was the day that Jane would be going to her first orthodontic appointment. As well as getting the tiny rubber separators fitted (which she'd read online were likely to be uncomfortable for a few days), she was having her four front premolars removed - which she guessed would probably hurt far more than those separators.

Her appointment was early afternoon, so she went to work in the morning, but not only took the afternoon off, but also tomorrow, giving her a total of just over 3 days before she would be back at work. By then, she hoped she would be in a more fit state to actually be at work!

She had a light sandwich for lunch: she would have to eat soft foods for a few days after the extractions, so she made sure to enjoy the sandwich! Whilst she knew that she'd need to take painkillers before her actual orthodontic appointments, she also knew that her mouth would be quite numb for an hour or two from the anaesthetic she'd be given for the extractions, so wouldn't need any painkillers till later in the afternoon.

Jane's phone rang: "Hi Jane, I'm in the car park..." said Simon. Jane turned off her laptop, and went out to the car park: as she got in the car, she looked over at Simon, smiled, then leaned across and gave him a very nice kiss on his lips.

"Oh, so what did I do to deserve that then?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing special... just being here for me when I need you!".

"Oh, right... I'm ok with that!". As Simon drove them to the orthodontists, Jane told him about her strange dream. "It's odd how, just when you think you have everything sorted out, your subconscious throws up a dream like that"

"Well, I guess the question is whether you really DO feel ok about getting braces?"

"I'd say I'm 95% ok with it... there's always that tiny worry about 'the unknown', isn't there?"

"I know what you mean. I had a weird dream the other week, all about exams: would I make it in time, and how would I do, because I'd not done any revision. Of course, the exams were several years ago, and I did plenty of revision, so why the dream?"

It didn't take too long for Simon to drive them to the orthodontist, and park outside. Once stopped, he took Jane's hand, and held it between his two hands. "You ready for this?" he asked, looking into her eyes.

"Yes, as ready as I will ever be...". They walked together into the Orthodontist's office, hand in hand. Partly because they were so much in love, but also because Simon wanted Jane to know he was there for her.

"Good afternoon, I'm Jane Smith, I have an appointment"

"Yes, with Mr Sampson. I'll let his assistant know you're here. Please, take a seat in the waiting room, do help yourself to a drink...."

Jane smiled as they both sat on the rather sumptuous settee: this was actually the first time Jane had done anything as 'extravagant' as this: usually, she went to simple shops, such as clothing shops, where the changing rooms would be basic and small. Same sort of things when going out for a meal: nothing too extravagant. But the orthodontist she had chosen it was a bit more expensive than the other option, but she did like the ortho, John Sampson - he seemed to understand that his paitients  (or maybe that should be 'customers') were important. The waiting room was very pleasantly decorated, and had a pleasant 'calming' feel to it.

A lady came into the waiting roon a few minutes later: Jane recognised her as Jan, the ortho's assistant.

"Hello again Jane, would you like to come through with me please...". Jane and Simon followed into the treatment room.

"Good afternoon, Jane, lovely to see you again... and Simon, isn't it? Lets go and sit down a moment, and I'll run through what we'll be doing today." They went and sat down with John Sampson, the ortho.

"Now, before I start talking about what I'll be doing today... you've hopefully had time to read your treatment plan. Did it make sense to you?"

"Yes, Simon and I read it together, and it pretty much matched what you told us when we were here. And no, I can't think of any questions"

"That's good: if you do have any questions, no matter how small or silly they may seem to you, do ask at an appointment, or get in touch... email can be useful for not-so-critical things, but don't hesitate to call us whenever the office is open if you prefer"

"Thanks, I'm sure I'll have a question at some point!"

"So today: the first thing I'll be doing will be to inject you with several lots of local anaesthetic: that will take a while to kick in, so while that's happening, I'll get Jan to take you for your panoramic x-ray - it's maybe a bit strange, but it's nothing to be scared of. Once I've looked at the x-rays, and confirmed that your teeth, and more specifically the roots of your teeth, are all ok, I'll fit your spacers. By the time we've done all that, the anaesthetic should have fully numbed you, and we can extract your four premolars: if you feel any pain then do let me know... and yes, I'll check that you're numb before extracting the teeth!"


"After that, you'll need to sit in here for a little while, with a few wads of gauze in your mouth, while the bleeding stops, which hopefully won't take long.. I'll give you with some clean gauze pads to take with you just in case the tooth sockets start bleeding again! The anaesthetic will take an hour or so to wear off, so take some pain-killers once you get home. Hopefully all that made sense to you - do you have any questions?"

Jane thought for a moment. "I guess you'll tell me some aftercare do's and don'ts before I go?"

"Yes, I'll get Jan to go through that with you.... So, if there's no other questions, would you like to come over to the treatment chair, so i can give you your injections. Simon, you are welcome to watch - it's a bit boring to be honest - or you can wait here." Simon decided to wait where he was. Jane got into the chair, then Jan fitted her with a disposable bib, and gave her some dark glasses. Once she was settled, she opened her mouth, and John started to give her several injections of novocaine.

Jane didn't really feel much instantly, but she soon started to feel the effects.

"Ok, all done there, do have a rinse out of you like.." Jane picked up the small disposable plastic cup, took a mouthful from it, then spat it out.

"Right, would you like to go with Jan, and have your x-ray done? Simon, I'm afraid you'll need to wait here" While Jane went off to have her panoramic x-ray taken, John briefly explained to Simon what would be happening to Jane.

So, Jane followed Jan into a small room. "First, you need to remove anything metallic... so your glasses, and do you have any earrings?"

"No, but I do have some hearing aids"

"Ah, yes, you had better remove them, you can put them all over here for the moment. Now, let me put this onto you..." said Jan, fitting Jane with a lead apron over her shoulders, to protect her from the x-rays. Jan then got her to stand next to the big machine, which she adjusted to be the right height. Jane put her chin and forehead onto some rests, then Jan fitted a bit of plastic that went between her teeth, and that Jane gently bit on.

"Right, I need to just stand over here... so the big bits to the side of your head will rotate around you, just stay nice and still for me - it only takes about 20 seconds." Jane could hear a humming as the big lumpy bits of the machine rotated about her head.

"Ok, all done!" said Jan. She took the lead apron off Jane, then let her put her hearing aids back in, and her glasses back on. A minute or two later, they were back with John and Simon.

"Right, I just took a look at your x-rays" said John several minutes later, and your teeth and roots are in great condition, so there's absolutely no reason to not go ahead with your treatment. Also, the roots of the four teeth I'll be removing are lovely and straight, so they should come out quite easily. So, if you'd like to get into the treatment chair, we can get those spacers in, then see about getting your premolars removed! Simon, you're welcome to watch, but you might find it a little 'gory'".

"Nah, it's ok, I'll watch Jane scream from over here, if Jane doesn't mind" said Simon with a large smile

Jane sat in the chair, and Jan put a disposable bib on her, and passed her the dark glasses, which she put on. Next, John leaned the chair back, and shone the light into her mouth. Jane would only be getting 2 bands (on the appliance on her upper molars), so there were only 4 spacers to fit: of couse, Jane was all numbed up, so didn't feel a thing as John inserted the spacers into place.

Next, John got a 'poking thing' and jabbed around Jane's pre-molars. "Did you feel that at all" he asked.

"No, not a thing"

"In that case, I'm ready to extract your teeth - you shouldn't feel a thing.". Using a special tool, John poked around her teeth, then using what look like a big pair of pliers, deftly removed her lower left premolar - Jane didn't feel a thing. Jan passed John a wad of gauze, which John put into the gap where he'd just removed Janes tooth.

"All ok?" asked John. 

"I gign't feel a fing" said Jane as best she could.

"That's good! Ready for the next one?" he asked. Jane nodded.

Within 15 minutes, all four of her premolars had been removed, and Jane was sat in the chair, with several bits of gauze stuffed into her mouth, where minutes ago she had teeth.

"Just bite gently onto the gauze, it will help the blood to stop flowing..." said John. Jane sat patiently in the chair for another ten minutes, with the gauze pressing into the sockets where minutes ago she had teeth. "Ok, that's all looking good. So what I'll do is give it a couple of minutes, then put some nice fresh gauze in it".

"Ok" said John just before Jane left the surgery, "so go gentle for the rest of today. Eat and drink cold, or at best, lukewarm things for the next 24 hours or so. And eat soft food for the next few days, things like soup and yogurts or even ice cream are good - my young patients LOVE the ice cream!. Use some sort of ice pack if you get swelling, and take painkillers as you feel fit. Otherwise, it's common sense!"


Offline Sparky

  • Special Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 2275
  • Gender: Male
Re: Story: Plain Jane
« Reply #78 on: 06. January 2022, 16:35:44 PM »
Jane has been on quite a journey, hasn't she? At the start of this story, she wasn't in a very good place, but over the last 25 chapters she has blossomed. She's so much more self assured, helped a lot by her parents, her memories of her brother, and of course Simon.

So today is the day she gets her braces....

=======================

Chapter 26


"You sure you're going to be ok going by yourself?" asked Simon

"Definitely. You know, this last couple of weeks, I've been feeling so much more relaxed about getting these braces - and a lot of that is down to you!"

We are 2 weeks on from the last chapter, and today Jane will be getting her braces. The last two weeks have been amazingly good for her, meaning that she's not had a single bad dream, although there have been a couple of very positive dreams which she only remembers a bit of, but they were definitely encouraging ones.


"Well, I guess I'll see you tonight. You're gonna have the full set, aren't you? Glasses, hearing aids, and now braces... I mean, what else is left?"

"Well, I guess there's always leg braces!" joked Jane. This was so typical of the banter that went on between Jane and Simon. "I'll call you later on, and try and talk to you! My god, I wonder if I'll have a lithp?"

"If you do, I'm sure you'll sound nice and sexy with it!".

After her last visit to the ortho, Jane had felt very positive, so had decided that she would get her braces without Simon. As far as she knew, Simon didn't have any particular love of braces (and yes, it WAS one of the many things they had chatted about!), and Simon seemed to be fine with not coming along.

Jane finished eating her sandwiches, and went into the Ladies to brush her teeth, as well as take some pain-killers. She had use the taxi app to order a taxi: this wasn't something she did often, but she decided that it would be a LOT easier today. Her phone pinged, to let her know that her taxi was a few minutes away, so she went down to reception, and waited for it.


"Hello Jane, good to see you again" said John, her orthodontist. "You're alone today.."

"Yes, I'm actually feeling pretty positive about what's happening today, so I thought it was maybe time to do this by myself"

"Oh, that's good, I like patients who feel positive about their treatment! So how's your jaws where you had your teeth extracted?"

"Doing pretty well actually..."

"Excellent. And the spacers?"

"A couple have fallen out"

"Not unexpected, there's plenty of room for the teeth to move a little! Come and sit down, and I'll run through what I'll be doing to you today". Jane sat with John on one of the comfier chairs. "Remember, if you have ANY questions, do ask them at any time. Well, ok, maybe not when I've got your mouth full of dental instruments, but you know what I mean!"

Jane felt quite relaxed by John's manner. "I will. Hey, is that my quad-thingumy I see over there?". She had spotted some teeth models over on the side, with a metal appliance on it.

"Yes, that is indeed your quad-helix: want to have a look at it?". Jane nodded, so John got up and brought it back with him. He gave it to Jane to have a look at: metal bands around her rear second molars (so the teeth in front of her wisdom teeth, and where she'd had the spacers fitted), with thick wires that went along the inside of her other molars, and a sort of 'spring' that went across the top of her mouth (go search "quad helix" and look at a picture, it's not so easy to describe!). Jane had herself had a look at online pictures, and this device was pretty much identical to what she had seen.

"So, after I remove the remaining spacers, I'll clean your teeth, and the first thing I'll be doing is fitting that quad helix. With luck it will fit as-is, but usually there's a little bit of stretching needed to make those bands fit on your teeth. Then I'll be using a UV light activated glue to fit it in place. Next I'll be fitting brackets to your teeth: they are mid-sised brackets, so that they are able to take the pressures the wires will be applying to them. Again, they get glued on with UV cured adhesive. Having the brackets put on is the boring bit for you, so you are very welcome to just listen to music if you like..."

"Won't I have bands on my lower molars, I saw online that many people get those"

"No, there's no need, so I'll just be placing normal brackets on your lower molars. I'll not be putting any brackets on your top two central incisors for the moment, partly due to the lack of space, but I'll be fitting a tiny spring on your top archwire, to help push the lateral incisors apart, and they might get in the way."

"And on my canines?"

"Yes, you'll definitely have brackets on those, although I won't be attaching the archwire to them for a while. Instead, you'll be wearing tiny elastic bands between the upper and lower canines, to help pull them up and down."

"You mentioned about maybe a removable appliance?" asked Jane

"Yes, that's in the future, so once your molars are lined up better, and your lateral incisors have enough space between them for the central incisors to be moved forwards - that's going to be several months away though, so I can go into a lot more detail about that, or whatever option we go for, later on."

Jane sat quietly for a quick moment, and took a couple of gentle breaths.

"You know, I think your teeth are going to look pretty good when they're all in their right places. So, you ready to do this?"

Jane took a very big breath. She actually felt amazingly calm about what was about to happen to her. "Yes... let's do it" she replied, with a big smile - a smile full of crooked teeth!

==================

And that is the end of the story of Jane's journey to getting braces! Thank you all for your encouraging words along the way, it has been an interestingly different story to write.


(Next up I'm going to finish off the "Dave, Andrea and Them" story....)


Offline braces37

  • Bronce Member
  • **
  • Posts: 51
  • Gender: Male
Re: Story: Plain Jane
« Reply #79 on: 06. January 2022, 17:10:07 PM »
It's been a long road, getting from there to here, but Jane has made it. Congratulations on creating the most unique and characterization-heavy story on the site. I look forward to your future works.

Offline franci

  • Newbie
  • Posts: 8
Re: Story: Plain Jane
« Reply #80 on: 07. January 2022, 10:57:13 AM »
Good morning I have now read your last chapter what a beautiful story I am happy for Jane that she is now comfortable with herself and that she has decided to solve her problems.
For us women it is not simple and above all easy to do things for us, so I am happy that Jane has done it.
Thanks on behalf of all women!
'm love braces

Offline bracessd

  • Platinum Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1408
  • Gender: Male
Re: Story: Plain Jane
« Reply #81 on: 07. January 2022, 17:29:22 PM »
Great job!

Offline silver-moon-2000

  • Platinum Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 668
Re: Story: Plain Jane
« Reply #82 on: 07. January 2022, 18:15:02 PM »
Somehow I'm sad that this story came to it's conclusion, but on the other hand it has been a great story. Thanks for writing / sharing

Offline Sparky

  • Special Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 2275
  • Gender: Male
Re: Story: Plain Jane
« Reply #83 on: 07. January 2022, 19:13:58 PM »
Somehow I'm sad that this story came to it's conclusion, but on the other hand it has been a great story. Thanks for writing / sharing

Yes, I know what you mean. As a writer, I have a lot invested in my characters, and it's a bit of a shame to just drop the characters... and I guess that's why it's fun to sometimes have a cross-over into another story.

So, I am NOT a writer, I'm a technical trainer, but about 10 years ago, I had a go at writing (about braces), and found I enjoyed it. It's a way of living out some of my own fantasies, whilst sharing them at the same time.  I'd class myself as  an"ok-ish" writer: most of my stories have been fairly simple, with the occasional bit of humour, but Plain Jane was my first attempt at going a bit deeper into the character. As such, I never intended to really do much with her braces, that was almost incidental to the story. When I started the story, I had decided about her back-story (her brother's death a year before), that she had bad teeth that needed braces, that she had low self-esteem... but also that she should be a capable character, just in a rather bad place. Most of the rest came as I wrote the story.

Another of my "story universes" is the fairies, that's just a lightweight fun thing, allowing me to do things that normal humans wouldn't normally do (well, apart from my WTF story, which was vaguely inspired by the fairies!), and I've wanted to do another fairies story for ages, If you look back to my earliest fairy story, I had the idea of "fairies do USA", but I could never come up with a good storyline for that. However, "Core" came up with an interesting idea for a fairy story, and that has got my creative juices going again (I *was* going to take a break from writing for a bit till that happened!!). Again, the thing I like about the fairies is that not only do they like shiny things, and enjoy having fun, they are actually very positive female roles: Lilly (the bosses daughter / 'work experience' girl) is about to become quite a positive character.

Ok, enough waffling, I'm glad lots of you are enjoying my stories, it makes it worthwhile. If you want to read some of my other stories from the last 10 years, they are over in the "Club Area", also on the "Braces Archive".


And for anyone vaguely THINKING about writing a story.... have a go. Your first story is likely to be simple and short: that is fine, don't worry about it. Just have a go at actually writing! I did, not expecting to particularly enjoy it or be any good at it, and I'm glad I gave it a try!

Offline Braceface2015

  • Platinum Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1483
  • Gender: Male
Re: Story: Plain Jane
« Reply #84 on: 07. January 2022, 20:47:15 PM »
I have to echo Sparky's comments. Writing a story can be enjoyable and the story doesn't have to be long. The stories don't have to be just about braces, stories can include many other things.

Don't worry about 'getting everything perfect'. If you need help with proofreading your story or just need someone to help smooth it out a little, just ask for someone to help you. There are people here who can assist you if you need help.

Sparky has been very generous with contributing stories to TheArchive, as have other people here, for which I am grateful. I have the largest collection of braces-related stories on the internet, and am always looking for more to add. I don't just collect them, I also write them.

Some of the best stories are quite short and deal with a simple situation. It can be as simple as, "A girl walks into a grocery store and sees one of the guys stocking the shelves. When she asks him where the canned fruit is, he turns to her and smiles, revealing his braces." You take it from there and see what you can come up with.

Offline caster72401

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 29
  • Gender: Male
Re: Story: Plain Jane
« Reply #85 on: 09. January 2022, 15:02:40 PM »
Great story, thank you for taking the time to write it.

Offline TonyBracesandSpecs

  • Bronce Member
  • **
  • Posts: 30
  • Gender: Male
Re: Story: Plain Jane
« Reply #86 on: 15. January 2023, 18:08:30 PM »
As a newcomer to the forum, I could read Jane's entire story in one sitting. I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought it was realistic, nicely contrasting with the last story I read (Rachel).

I thought things were turning seriously strange in chapter 15. However, when I read the paragraph that told us that the "metal facebows are fixed in, so they won't come out", I realised that Jane was dreaming!

I liked the author's handling of Jane's grief, her growing confidence, her new relationship, and her coming to terms with the need for orthodontic treatment. Although I'm as much a fan of appliances as many other readers, I think it was very fair in this case that Jane didn't end up with too much metal in her mouth.

Offline Sparky

  • Special Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 2275
  • Gender: Male
Re: Story: Plain Jane
« Reply #87 on: 16. January 2023, 14:16:36 PM »
Thank you for that feedback, it is very much appreciated.

I actually enjoyed writing this story very much: first of all, from the start, I knew is was not going to be "an epic", and I knew where the end was going to be. Second, yes, it was interesting being able to explore Jane's feelings a bit more.

And you'll probably note that, in most of my more recent stories, the braces are typically NOT the central focus of the story, which allows me to be a bit more "realistic"...

So, now you have just a couple of dozen more of my stories to read! Many of them are over in the "Club" section....