BracesForum.net
English => General => Topic started by: Teddybear on 19. July 2022, 20:28:25 PM
-
So, here's my first braces story! I've spent the hottest day this year (35 celcius/ 95 fahrenheid) in my even hotter room. Some weather records were broken today and I broke my stories record. So to say, I had zero braces stories and now I'v written one. Yeah!!
Hopefully you'll enjoy the result. Let me know if you thought it was all right! Just a short remark would be nice
Chapter 1 - “Can you believe it?”
When Thomas heard the door click into place he immediately knew something was up. He knew it by the way the door sounded and by the way the footsteps sounded. It was all noisy and loud. Sarah wasn’t like that, most times. She was all soft and cute unless something was bothering her.
Thomas heard something hard hitting the hallway floor. Yep, that must be her bag. After some shuffling and rustling the door to the living room opened.
Thomas looked up.
“Can you believe it?”
Thomas studied his girlfriend. She didn’t look pleased. “What’s up?”
Sarah sighed and threw a hand in her wavy, brown hair. “He made me an appointment at the orthodontist.”
Thomas blinked. He couldn’t follow. “Wait, what?”
“The dentist?” Sarah said. “I went to Dr. Jones right after work. Told you about that before.”
Oh, now Thomas remembered! Sarah went to the dentist. He had assumed Sarah went for groceries or was out with friends since she wasn’t home from work yet when Thomas had arrived. “How did it go?”
“Well, everything was fine. No cavities, just some general cleaning-“ Sarah sat down on the couch next to Thomas.
“Good,” Thomas nodded.
“- but then he started about my wisdom teeth coming through and how my teeth have shifted a little. Which is true cause I’ve seen it myself. Plus I also feel pressure sometimes, probably because of my teeth shifting.”
Thomas blinked. He didn’t know that. Sarah had never spoken about that to him or likely to anyone. She tended to keep things to herself first and share them only after figuring things out. She was a smart, sweet introvert while Thomas was more outgoing and chaotic. He liked Sarah for being that way. She had a mysteriousness over her that he could never fully get.
Now, not sharing that your teeth are shifting isn’t that much of a deal. But in Sarah’s life, it was one of the very many things that she didn’t feel like sharing. Enjoying gymnastics, speaking Spanish, being quite a talented writer… Those were all things Thomas had only discovered after being in a relationship for a year or more. It was in their third year of being together that Thomas learned Sarah had lost a good friend of hers in a traffic accident when she was only 10 years old.
It wasn’t like Sarah didn’t feel at ease with Thomas. Not at all. It was just her personality. It’s in her nature to not brag about stuff, to not share her thoughts immediately, or to share what she was excited about. It was annoying, but it was also what attracted Thomas to her.
Luckily over the years, Thomas had gotten her to open up more and more. Thomas liked to think he changed Sarah a bit in the right way. Like Thomas needed her thoughtfulness and she needed his spontaneity.
“I didn’t know your teeth were shifting,” Thomas blinked.
“It’s not a major problem. I’m not even really bothered by it. At least not every day or so.”
Great. So, she was bothered by it.
“And now Dr. Jones made you an appointment at the orthodontist?” summarized Thomas.
“Yes.”
Thomas put a hand on Sarah’s knee. “So…what’s the problem then? Maybe they can help with the shifting?”
Sarah looked Thomas in the eyes. “Maybe? But I wonder how. I mean… orthodontists help by putting braces on people right? I don’t want that.”
Thomas nodded slowly. He understood. He wouldn’t want that either. He had had braces when he was younger and so had Sarah. Now that they were 24 and 25 years old, it wasn’t anything to be excited about.
“Would it help if I go with you?” Thomas suggested.
Sarah bit her lip. Pondering her options.
Thomas pushed his lips together and the corners of his mouth upwards, which his mother called his ‘cute puppy look’.
“I don’t want to go at all.”
Ooh, her long, decisive voice…
“It’s not like they’re gonna put you in braces the very first time you lay in their chair.”
“Geez, don’t even mention chair, I don’t want to think about it.”
Thomas snickered at Sarah’s scrunched-up nose and put his comforting hand on her shoulder. He gave her a soft massage. “Just hear what they have to say, maybe they can help in a way you like. And as soon as they suggest those brackets again we’re off. How about that?”
It seemed like that eased Sarah a little. She started laughing and gave Thomas a short kiss on his cheek. “You’re sweet.”
“Of course I am!”
Sarah laughed. “Yeah, you’re right. Very sweet you remembered my dental appointment.”
-
Chapter 2 - “You’re doing well Sarah,”
“Okay, reminder… We’re just gonna get some information, alright? Nothing serious.”
After some silent seconds, Sarah nodded reluctantly.
Thomas and Sarah were in their car and had just parked in front of the orthodontist’s office. Thomas had driven. During their route he had felt Sarah’s nerves, so he had put some sing-a-long songs on from his Spotify playlist. The singing, despite not being totally in tune, had done Sarah seemingly good.
And Thomas as well.
Now, here they were… about to step into the house of giving away your control. It was the same building Thomas had gone to for his treatment when he was younger. Then it wasn’t a big deal. All kids had braces. An appointment could be even fun. You could choose a new color and the dental workers were nice. Inside it was an open space with about 8 chairs where people chatted and made jokes.
“You can do it, Sarah. Maybe they will have some sing-a-long-songs on the radio too.”
“There’s no radio in there.” Sarah was quicker in answering this time.
“There was back in the time when I had braces.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. If you’re lucky you’ll get a singy assistant and we’re about to record some viral Instagram video.”
“You will come with me, right?”
Okay, she was nervous. Not in for some jokes of lighten-up-the-mood stuff. Thomas sighed. Why was Sarah so panicky? He had already told her twice that he wasn’t going to leave her side. “Yes, yes of course. I will stay with you.”
Another nod.
“Shall we?” Thomas asked.
Once they were inside Sarah acted like she went to the orthodontist daily. She informed the receptionist about their presence and appointment and calmly took a seat in the waiting room, where a few kids were talking just like their parents. It was like no one else was supposed to know about Sarah’s nervousness.
Over the years Thomas had learned that it was best to act along. No overly worried stares, no reassurances other people could hear, and no “you can do it’s”. Maximum one shoulder touch or holding hands.
So that’s what he did. He took her hand.
Clammy.
This wasn’t her thing.
After a minute or so Thomas couldn’t resist the urge to walk to the bookshelf and grab some autosport and a vogue for his girlfriend. “Look, here is one from three years ago. 2019. ‘F1 revealed: will the rules work?’” He pointed at the long-ago title. “Let’s see what the predictions are.”
Sarah laughed a bit.
Magazines. Another thing that got Thomas’ interest only in waiting rooms. During city trips? Never magazines. During soccer matches? Never magazines. But now, it was the only thing that could help Thomas speed up time.
Sarah smiled politely and reached for the Vogue.
“Let me see.”
Hmm, maybe Sarah had calmed down a bit?
“Miss Wilson?”
Sarah froze shortly, nodded, and handed Thomas the Vogue like her brain couldn’t process what to do with the magazine.
Thomas understood his job and placed the books neatly back on the shelf, then joined Sarah in walking to the assistant.
The two followed the worker to the open space a bit further down a hallway.
Woah, the surroundings hadn’t changed that much since Thomas had hit puberty! It was almost the same!
He wanted to tell Sarah, but she seemed too focused on the nurse and the tiled floor of the building. If she would look up and sideways a bit she would notice the colored paintings.
“Here it is,” the assistant said. “Take a seat. Dr. Davies will be with you in a second” She pointed towards the last seat in a row of four. On the other side of the room were three chairs.
Sarah was probably happy to have gotten the last one in the row, as she usually didn’t like to be in the center of attention.
“Thanks,” Sarah said and she sat down in the chair.
Thomas looked around and spotted a plastic chair which he placed closer to Sarah and sat down as well. “It’s just like I remember it. Flat computer screens excluded.”
“Really? It’s so not like my old orthodontic office!” Sarah peeked around as well and took her surroundings in. She seemed mildly surprised. “It’s much more open. And more colorful.”
“You think so? It’s all white! Or a shade of white. The floor, the walls… even the computers and cupboards.”
Sarah nodded. “Well, the chairs aren’t. And the paintings… Where I had my treatment everything was either white or brown. And it was smaller, much smaller. Just two separate, tiny rooms.”
That didn’t sound pleasant at all…
“Ah, here we have miss Wilson, don’t we?” An older man, in his forties or early fifties, sat down on a dental stool next to Sarah. After Sarah’s confirmation and his small introduction, he put his gloves on.
Thomas was relieved this man seemed like a nice guy. He was well informed about why Sarah came by and he didn’t seem in a rush, which was a huge advancement compared with Dr. Jones, their dentist who put instruments in their mouths for a few minutes, rushed to another room, came back announcing x-rays, sprinted away again and so on.
“Okay, I’m going to tilt the chair a bit.”
Sarah nodded and froze again. She tried her best to find a relaxed position, but after some subtle tossing around she laid back like a wooden plank, shoulders up to her neck.
Straight away Thomas found her hand and stroked her thumb a few times. Sarah had never been at ease at the dentist. But this was the first time Thomas had seen her so… panicky? Almost frightened?
So scared, even Dr. Davies mentioned it: “Try to relax a bit, Sarah.”
His patient visibly tried to loosen her shoulders to comply, but it didn’t work well cause after just a few seconds her shoulders were up to her neck all over again. A shame, cause she was quite beautiful laying there. Her brown hair fell over the head support part of the chair.
More thumb stroking was needed, Thomas understood.
“Okay, I’m going to take a look in your mouth to evaluate the shifting. I’ll use these two tools to help me. It’s just a little mirror and a little scraper, nothing to worry about. ”
Dr. Davies genuinely sounded nice, like he picked up on Sarah’s mood and tried to calm her down. Thomas was thankful for that.
Sarah bravely opened her mouth and Dr. Davies carefully went ahead. At some point, the scraper went over Sarah’s teeth which had Sarah startled. Her body shook out of a reflex like she was about to run away in half a second. Then she seemed embarrassed about her sudden movement and lay as still as she could.
This never happened at the dentist. Well, at least not during the appointments Thomas had accompanied Sarah. Was this how she always reacted when he wasn’t there? Was she always this scared? Thomas didn’t understand. Even three years ago, when Sarah had a cavity filled, she acted normal. Thomas had seen that himself. She had calmly laid in that chair, had even joked about her hair falling into the dentist’s lap.
What made her so scared now?
“Can you bite together please?”
Sarah complied as Dr. Davies held her lips apart.
Thomas squeezed Sarah’s clammy hands.
It wasn’t fun to see this. Sarah… in this…this…weird…state. Thomas had been determined to show Sarah this was all a piece of cake. That was how it was supposed to go.
“You’re doing well Sarah,” said Thomas.
“She is,” confirmed Dr. Davies.
No visible reaction followed. Thomas could only hope his compliment helped Sarah. Hopefully, Dr. Davies was almost done with his examination.
Instead of finishing though, Dr. Davies turned his stool in multiple directions, so he could examine Sarah’s bite from different angles.
“Could you put your chin up a bit?”
Sarah bravely did so, while Dr. Davies still held her lips apart with his fingers.
“And open again?”
His tone was soft, but his demands were uncomfortable to Sarah, as far as Thomas could guess.
“Very good. And bite down again.”
Thomas tried another reassuring squeeze in Sarah’s hand. This time Sarah squeezed back like she had gotten somewhat used to Dr. Davies’ requests and was able to move again instead of sitting still like a statue.
It made Thomas feel a little better.
“Well,” said Davies, “you’re wisdom teeth are coming through…” He checked Sarah’s teeth once again.
The statement brought an annoying silence that Thomas needed to fill. “Haven’t noticed that wisdom yet.”
Stupid joke, Thomas instantly thought. Stupid joke. Dentists probably heard it all day.
Hence, Davies laughed a bit. Sadly he was the wrong one out of the patient and orthodontist to find the joke funny.
Then Dr. Davies was done with his inspection, put the mirror and scraper back on a tray, and put off his gloves. “Okay Sarah, well done,” he said as he raised the chair.
Sarah pushed her lips against each other a bit, likely to get rid of the feeling of her mouth being open for a long. She nearly put her feet on the ground and got away, but then sat back in the chair as she seemed to remember the appointment was not over yet.
Thomas smiled to take her doubts away, while Dr. Davies moved his stool to be able to face Sarah.
“So what I see is that your teeth have shifted indeed. Some of your molars are leaning more inwards than a few years ago, from what I saw on the x-rays I got from Dr. Jones. Especially your upper left side.”
Okay, that wasn’t bad, right?
“Those molars push against your front teeth which have shifted as well. Here.., let me show you the x-rays…”
Sarah’s front teeth didn’t seem to be out of line. Her teeth seemed straight, not perfectly straight, but straight enough.
At the same time, Dr. Davies moved a cupboard with a computer on it, Sarah was staring into nothingness in front of her. Like she wasn’t present.
Thomas could imagine this wasn’t a nice conclusion to here, but at the same time, it was what they’d expected. He instantly moved closer to Sarah, almost sitting next to her on the dental chair.
“Here I have an x-ray taken six years ago-”
The computer screen showed a typical black and white picture of teeth. Sarah’s teeth.
“Here you can see your front teeth. They are more outward in this picture than they are now.”
It was really hard to see the difference, so Thomas decided to thrust Davies’ judgment.
“How can you see the difference?” spoke Sarah.
Thomas was taken aback by Sarah’s voice. And how typically of her to ask a question Thomas didn’t even bother to ask.
After some confusing smart-talk that Thomas could hardly follow, Sarah seemed content with Davies's explanation.
“So, is it something that needs to be changed or is it okay the way it is?” asked Thomas.
“I’d say to prevent further problems it requires treatment. Have you already spoken to Dr. Jones about removing your wisdom teeth?”
Geez, that seemed like quite an operation to Thomas. He had seen some ‘after extractions’ videos on TikTok. It often contained people's mouths stuffed with cotton wool and drowsy people crying over their fake children stealing lollies.
“Yes,” Sarah answered. ”He wanted to do that in a couple of weeks.”
“Right then. Very good. It’s not something that needs to be done tomorrow or next week, but I would advise a couple of weeks, no less than two months. Otherwise, there’s a higher risk of infections and more shifting.”
To Thomas, it all came quite of a sudden. Sarah had never really complained about her wisdom teeth coming through and now suddenly she needed them removed.
Thomas had complained more when his lower molars had appeared. It was a nasty feeling, but when they finally arrived, it was okay. They weren’t impacted and didn’t cause any harm.
“Now for the shifting I also recommend treatment.-”
A clammy hand found its way to Thomas’ steady forearm.
“-that’s because we don’t want these teeth and molars to shift anymore. Your bite is already a bit off, which is unfortunate given your previous treatment. When more shifting occurs, it could cause trouble. Trouble eating, start grinding, more cavities as food gets stuck easier. Those sort of things.”
Sarah could only nod.
“When your wisdom teeth get removed, pressure will fade which can cause even more shifting.”
“Won’t they go back to their original position?” Thomas wondered.
“Not the position after Sarah’s braces. Expectedly their old position, before braces.”
That made Sarah swallow.
Thomas wondered how bad that position would be. He had seen childhood photos, which didn’t show signs of any shocking teeth. But Sarah appeared to be upset.
Next Dr. Davies explained about braces. He recommended a type called expanders, which could be placed top and bottom, and showed some examples. It could be fixed or removable. Both came across as being hard to hide from others.
Then Davies recommended brackets as a final step, to align all teeth. Unfortunately, Invisalign wasn’t an option after Thomas asked about it.
Sarah stayed quiet the whole time. Completely zoned out.
Obviously, the whole braces part was a worst-case scenario. It was exactly what Sarah had been afraid of since her dentist had talked about orthodontia. She didn’t want brackets and so
Thomas assumed she also didn’t want expanders. And yet, here they were, listening to a full treatment plan. Trying to understand why it was needed.
“Any questions?”
Thomas couldn’t think of any and waited for Sarah to take her chance. When she didn’t, he spoke up. “We were actually here to just hear the options. Is it possible to make a decision later?”
“Yeah, sure,” Davies said. “No problem.”
After some chit-chatting, the couple was able to leave the office. Once outside Thomas scratched his head. This had been a lot of information coming his way. Not only about the braces, but also about Sarah’s behavior. “You’re all right?”
The girl nodded.
Thomas kissed her forehead, despite not being a romantic. “You did great. Let’s just get in the car and go home. We can get some takeout this evening if you’d like. We’ll take it easy.”
-
Chapter 3 – “You do look like a chipmunk though.”
Weeks went by like normal weeks went by. Thomas’ brother celebrated his birthday, Sarah spent a weekend in London with three friends and the couple's wash machine crashed and was replaced by a new copy.
That was the most mentionable news.
Until today. Cause today was the day. The day. The day of wisdom teeth extractions.
It all happened at Dr. Jones's office. Thomas had offered to come along, which Sarah had refused in the first place. But two days prior she had changed her mind and accepted the offer.
Unlike the orthodontist situation, Sarah acted pretty calmly before and during this dentist consultation.
Sarah was a strange creature.
How could you be like a relaxed Hawaiian surf-dude during teeth extractions and act like an anxious rabbit during an informative orthodontic consultation?
Remarkable.
But in this case, better.
Because Thomas could now sit back as well, let the dentists do their work, and scroll a bit through his phone.
After lots of people-falling-from-slides and panda videos, Sarah’s treatment was finished.
“All extractions went well!” Announced Dr. Jones before giving a list of tips to get through the upcoming days.
“Awesome!” babbled Sarah loudly. Which was not a word she regularly used.
Thomas took his girlfriend home, called Sarah’s parents to bring the news she was okay, and prepared some soup. Tomorrow he’d be at work again, so he better put some effort into taking care of Sarah now.
Sarah enjoyed his extra attention, thanked him for his ‘awesomeness’, and then fell asleep on the couch, laying on her tummy. Her shiny hair was all over the place and her cheek closed her eye a little bit as it was pushed against the couch. Between the cottonwool in her mouth, she drooled somewhat.
When Sarah woke during the evening, Thomas found Sarah had turned into a chipmunk. Her cheeks were already swollen.
“What?” Sarah mumbled, taking her cotton wools out. “Oh, it’s stopped bleeding.”
“Nothing,” Thomas said.
“I told strange things, didn’t I?”
Cute, she was worried. “Unfortunately not,” Thomas answered, “you did say ‘awesome’ a lot.”
“Eek, what a shame.”
“How do you feel?”
“Good,” Sarah smiled. “But swollen. My voice sounds strange, doesn’t it?”
“Just a little, don’t worry. You do look like a chipmunk though.”
That made Sarah smile. “Come on, Thomas. Why does your serious side only last for an hour or so?”
“More than a few hours! I’ve behaved very well at the office, which took way longer than an hour in total. Plus I’ve looked after you ever since!”
“Congratulations.”
This was Thomas’ old Sarah back. Thoughtful, enjoying his stupid comments, and just very sweet. And pretty.
She yawned and immediately cowered in pain.
“You should take your painkillers,” Thomas replied. “I think your anesthetic is wearing off.”
After a few days of chipmunking, Sarah recovered nicely. Eating took the longest to do in her usual way. She ate lots of soup and dairy products and started with soft bread after. All the while Thomas was curious about Sarah’s thoughts about the orthodontic meeting. They hadn’t talked about it and it was like Sarah avoided it.
Thomas didn’t want to pry. How he had gotten to know Sarah, her guide said ‘let her figure thoughts out on her own and wait for her to bring up her final statement’. So with all his power, he resisted the urge to ask.
It was during a Formula 1 race (formula 1, 50th lap. What timing!) that she sat down next to him on the couch.
She swallowed.
“I’ve thought about Dr. Davies's advice…”
Thomas searched for the remote control to bring down the tv volume. It was nowhere within one arm's length to be found. Neither did it chill on the table. He got up and opened some drawers.
“…I…what do you think about his advice?”
“Oh, eh…” Thomas inspected every single drawer. “Well…have you seen the remote?”
“I actually don’t want to do it, but-“
All of a sudden Thomas spotted his remote under the coffee table. “Gotcha.” After the formula 1 cars were driving silently, he laid eyes on Sarah.
“Sorry, what did you say?”
“Well, no…” She stroked her forearm as she always did when she was shy and lost. “Never mind.”
Thomas frowned. “No seriously, I want to hear it.”
Sarah pulled her shoulders up.
“What’s going on?” Thomas gently asked.
“I really, really don’t want to do it. Somewhere I know it’s best, but I don’t think I’ll do it.”
“Do what?”
“Braces?”
Thomas sighed.
“I wanted to know your opinion,” Sarah asked hesitantly. “Your real, honest opinion. Not something to make me feel better.”
“Well, I think you should do something. Expanders and brackets sound like a lot, but I think you’ll get used to them. At least I won’t think any less of you. If that’s what’s bothering you.”
His girlfriend only nodded.
“I wouldn’t like you to have trouble eating or feeling insecure because of your teeth, in a couple of years.”
“You’re right. And I know that, but I don’t think I can go back to that office. And I don’t think I can handle those appliances in my mouth.”
“You can, you will adjust.”
“How am I supposed to do my job? I’m a physiotherapist. I talk to people. I need to make a good impression. Even now I have to fight to be taken seriously. For each patient, I need to prove that I’m not an 18-year-old trainee, but a capable 24-year-old. How am I going to do that with teenage brackets on my teeth?”
Thomas shook his head. “You’re overthinking.”
“Well, you’re not the one needing those stupid things,” Sarah raised her voice.
It wasn’t often that she raised her voice.
“You’ll adjust.”
It was like Sarah got tears in her eyes, but blinked them away quickly. Then she walked to the kitchen and prepared some food.
Next one will be at the orthodontist again ;D
-
Chapter 4 - “We need a bottom mold as well, for your lower expander.”
Same, building, same chair, different worker.
Just like last time Sarah was laying in the dental chair like a wooden plank. It was like this building was cursed and turned Sarah into a frightened kitten. Thomas had had some hopes that it would be better this time since it was their second time. But Sarah acted off all the same.
Now instead of Dr. Davies helping her, an assistant hovered around. As she explained she prepared something to take impressions with. Thomas remembered it vaguely.
“Okay Sarah, I will put this tray in your mouth. The material in it will harden after a minute. Then I will take it out and we have a nice mold of your teeth. Okay?”
Sarah didn’t even blink.
“Can you open for me?”
The assistant brought the mouthpiece close to Sarah’s mouth, but she still wouldn’t open it.
“They need to make impressions,” explained Thomas.
Then Sarah slowly opened as she looked insecure from the ceiling to the assistant and her fingers.
“Yeah, there we go,” the assistant said.
Thomas witnessed an enormous mouthpiece going into Sarah’s mouth. Then it was pushed against her upper jaw with quite some force, as Sarah stretched upwards as far as was possible. But she wasn’t able to escape the material covering all of her upper teeth.
She shut her eyes close and after a while started to cough.
“Easy, easy,” the assistant said. “Just a few more seconds.”
Sarah started shifting in her chair. She wiggled her feet and grabbed her shirt tight between her fingers.
“Times up! Well done, now open a bit wider.” When the assistant tried to take the mouthpiece out, Sarah started to gag heavily. “Take it easy.”
Thomas’ chest tightened. What were they doing to Sarah? He wanted to make her teeth straight right away with a spell, so she wouldn’t have to do all of this.
After the tray was out Sarah started coughing harder and got something to drink.
When the assistant started the same procedure with Sara’s lower jaw, Sarah roughly shook her head.
“We need a bottom mold as well, for your lower expander.”
Sarah looked at Thomas with pleading eyes, but all Thomas could do was squeeze her hand and give small reassurances.
After some more coughing and gagging the bottom mold was taken, as well as a mold of the width of her palates and some x-rays.
When Sarah came back from the x-rays she waited for Thomas to join her to leave the office, but the assistant made her sit in the chair again. Apparently, Sarah needed ‘spacers’.
The chair was tilted for, first time during this appointment. When Sarah opened her mouth the assistant put tiny, blue elastics between Sarah’s molars. Every time one was placed Sarah pressed her eyes shut.
“Long time ago, I guess?” ventured the assistant into small talk. “I read you had braces as a teenager.”
No response came, but the assistant didn’t give up. “I think you’ll do great. At least it’s less intrusive than the activator you had and the headgear later-”
She sat Sarah up and before the chair was even back into sitting position Sarah stood next to Thomas.
“- just let it happen. It’s for goodness sake.”
Thomas watched Sarah. Did she wear headgear as a child? And what even was an activator? It sounded like a new invention of Phineas and Ferb's Dr. Doofenschmirch. Why would someone put all those things into Sarah’s mouth? In old childhood photos, Sarah’s teeth weren’t bad at all. What kind of orthodontist did she go to before?
Once in the car, Thomas cupped Sarah’s cheek. “You did well.”
Sarah didn’t indulge in his touch. “Let’s go home,” she said.
Almost braces time...
-
Really enjoying this story. And the speed at which it's being written
-
Great story! Maybe Tom will have to get braces in the future???
-
Welcome to the forum.
It's so nice to see another writer join our group. The story is put together nicely and has a smooth flow.
-
Nice job @teddybear !
-
Thanks everyone who commented and voted! Nice you seem to enjoy the story
@Ellers Yeah, I didn't think I would write 4 chapters in one day. At some point I stopped, because they say sleep is important as well. T
@napacaster I will think about Tom getting braces! Didn't have it in mind, but who knows... :)
Chapter 5 – “Tomorrow you won’t even notice your braces anymore. I’m sure of it.”
“What’s an activator?” Thomas asked late in the afternoon. He was getting something to drink in the kitchen, while Sarah was wrapping up a birthday gift at the kitchen table.
She stopped pulling tape and gazed at Thomas. “An orthodontic activator?”
“Are there more activator types then?”
Sarah thought for a moment. “Not that I know off.”
She seemed a bit hesitant to continue, but this time Thomas wouldn’t let the topic go. It was a normal question, right?
“Well… it’s this plastic thing that’s meant to move your jaw in the correct position.”
Thomas attempted to imagine a ‘plastic thing moving your jaw’ and looked pensive.
“Yeah, I know,” Sarah nodded, “it was the worst. It was giant and gross.” She swiftly pulled another tape from the adhesive tape device. This time more force was used.
“Did you wear it all day?”
Sarah laughed. “Gosh, luckily not. That would have been awful! I never wore it to school. Only at home and only when my parents mentioned it.”
Thomas visualized a younger Sarah making sure her parents forgot about the activator. She probably developed a lot of strategies to do that. Would that be the reason she was so good at avoiding subjects?
“For how long did you have it?”
Sarah was playing with a piece of tape. “About a year. A little longer I guess.”
It turned out Sarah didn’t give any further information and started talking about some candles and tea mugs she had bought for a friend. Apparently, earthy pink matched her friends’ interior better.
Later the two went out. Sarah had ‘physio presentation night’. A sort of conference where the practice Sarah worked at showed the latest results of a project. Sarah had contributed to the project as well and had to present the outcomes as well.
Not only were physiotherapists invited, but close family members were also welcome to join the crowd. And since Thomas didn’t work in the evenings, he was able to come by as well.
Turned out it was a whole new world for him. Now Sarah wasn’t the only one using words like ‘multifidus’, it appeared that 150 others perceived ‘transversus abdominus’ as common, normal language.
Thomas didn’t mind his ‘lack of knowledge' here. He knew everything about businesses and human resources. Besides, he was quite the social guy, so while Sarah was preparing her presentation with colleagues he chatted with a few older therapists.
When Sarah’s part of the evening started, Thomas was reminded why he fell for his girlfriend. Her soft, compassionate voice sounded even more lovely compared to the harsh voices of her colleagues. Her eyes twinkled with passion while explaining very difficult things about oxygen-filling lungs and her long, dark blue dress made her look professional, put together and a tiny bit sexy. Her cute cheeks made her look uninhibited, fresh.
At times like these Sarah surprised him by being very well-spoken.
“That’s your girlfriend?” Said the man next to Thomas who he spoke with earlier.
Thomas smiled proudly and nodded.
“Her boss should be lucky she’s still working for him. She could easily start her own practice or switch to a bigger, more modern one. They’ve got nothing left to teach her. She teaches them.”
Thomas knew the man was right. Sarah had come to a point that she had more to offer than the simple, ordinary practice of the town had to offer her. “Well,” Thomas said, “she likes it there. That’s important, isn’t it?”
The man agreed.
Research projects and presentation nights like these were where Sarah belonged. She was good at her job, she really was. But her creative, critical mind needed a research challenge. She needed to be triggered with new information.
Thomas felt fond of her.
Her curiosity.
Her smile.
She always wore this cute smile, wherever she went. Whether she was at home laughing about Thomas’ morning hair or at conferences smiling politely at fellow physiologists. Sometimes she complained about her round cheeks making her look younger which made it even cuter to Thomas.
After a lot of chatting around, the evening came to an end and Sarah pulled Thomas out of a conversation.
“Sorry, it took me so long to get to you! There was this colleague asking all sorts of questions and-”
“You did so well!” Thomas interrupted. “Seriously.”
“Thanks,” Sarah blushed. “I was so nervous and I’ve skipped one paragraph about the way we selected our research participants.“
“You were great Sarah. Don’t worry about such a thing.”
As they walked to their car Sarah thanked her boyfriend for coming, as if that was necessary Thomas thought. He’s her boyfriend! He took Sarah’s hand, made them stop walking, and leaned forward closing his eyes. Within a second he felt Sarah’s soft lips touching his. She had this fuller bottom lip and thinner upper lip, which made kissing more fun.
He felt Sarah’s lips press a little and pull away several times, like making impressions on a foam pillow, and Thomas followed her rhythm. Then Thomas took her bottom lip between his lips and carefully sucked a bit. Like taking the first bite of whipped cream or trying to sip chocolate sauce off a dame Blanche. Her lip moved a bit but then relaxed between his.
He felt a gentle hand against his chest, making him breathe a little faster. When a lock of hair got caught between their lips, Thomas stroked it smoothly behind Sarah’s ear without opening his eyes. He didn’t need to find his way to Sarah’s ear, he knew her body by the heart.
“Let’s get into the car and drive home,” he said and let Sarah’s lips go.
Sarah smiled. “Sounds good. Prefer my colleagues out of sight.”
“Yeah?” Thomas laughed.
Sarah gazed him in the eyes for a moment and began giggling and playfully beat Thomas's chest. “Yeah,” she smiled.
Today was a big day for Sarah.
She would get her braces.
She needed them and she knew it.
Initially, she’d wanted to go to work first, come home, and go to the appointment. But changed her mind last week when a co-worker had asked how many patients she could see in that time.
One patient.
Instead of deciding to stay at home, she’d called the office to postpone her appointment to later that day, so she could still do her job.
And now Thomas, who had gotten a day off, was picking her up in his car to drive their twitchy route, as he’d begun to call it.
Hopefully, everything would go nicely and Sarah wouldn’t be too nervous about getting those expanders. Thomas wondered what Sarah would look like with those things. It was an advantage that there wasn’t going to be any wire in front of her teeth, so with a bit of luck people wouldn’t notice it.
It would probably feel it little weird today, as Sarah would have to get used to them. Thomas remembered that from when he got his brackets. It had felt funny and after a few days he didn’t know any better, so hopefully, it would be the same with Sarah’s expanders.
“Hey,” he said as Sarah got in the car and kissed his cheek. “How are you?”
“Good.”
Thomas nodded and after some talk about Sarah’s day, she withdrew more and more. Thomas told about his friends’ new bar in the backyard but didn’t think Sarah really listened.
When the car came to a stop, Sarah swallowed hard.
Thomas looked.
Please, let this go well.
“You’ll be fine,” Thomas encouraged. “We’ll go in and be out in no time. We’ll make the best of it. Tomorrow you won’t even notice your braces anymore. I’m sure of it. It’ll be like they’ve always been in there.”
Sarah nodded and swallowed again.
Thomas got out of the car and saw that Sarah showed no signs of movement, so he opened the passenger door.
“I really, really don’t want to go.”
Her voice was hoarse and trembled a bit, and she actually looked…frightened? Her eyes were big and her fingers nervously traced the seams of the car seat.
“You know you need it. Try to relax and just let it all happen.”
Honestly, Thomas ran out of words of what to say to make her feel better.
“It’ll be fine,” he promised.
He would be with Sarah, support her and be there when she found out her braces weren’t bad. He was sure that next week she would happily announce that she made a fuzz about nothing.
“When I got that activator you mentioned- I-I“ She struggled and cleared her throat. “It was so horrible. He put that thing in my mouth and talked to my parents about cleaning it and wearing it. He totally ignored me and left me in that chair for… well… it felt like an hour. I couldn’t talk, couldn’t properly swallow. That thing was huge you know.”
Thomas raised his eyebrows.
“Every time I went into his stupid, little garage office he had no time for small talk, just went ahead with his job. Later I found out he did a lot of orthodontic treatment just for the money. So I’ve probably been walking with plastic and metal in my mouth much longer than I should have been.”
This was unexpected.
It all made sense now.
“Dr. Davies is different.” Thomas touched her cheek. “He does what’s best for you.”
Sarah nodded.
Almost, almost braces time...
-
Oh, I would so love it for "Sarah sets the place on fire, races away in her car and continues her life on a desert island" to happen.... in fact, if you don't do it, maybe I'll write something with that idea in it!!!!
Are you French by any chance?? You used the word "stagiaire" (french for intern or trainee, accorf=ding to google's translate!) which I didn't recognise.
-
Oh, I would so love it for "Sarah sets the place on fire, races away in her car and continues her life on a desert island" to happen.... in fact, if you don't do it, maybe I'll write something with that idea in it!!!!
Are you French by any chance?? You used the word "stagiaire" (french for intern or trainee, accorf=ding to google's translate!) which I didn't recognise.
Thanks Sparky!! Ooh I'm curious to see what you'll turn this idea into!! Setting the place on fire definitely gives opportunity for some drama
Oh, didn't know that! I'm Dutch and 'stagiair' sounded very English to me haha. I've changed it now, thank you for letting me know! ;D
-
Great and really enjoying reading it so far.
I like your style of writing and the amount of detail.
I dont think I would have noticed at all that English may not be your first language.
(I wish I could write, or even speak Dutch so well ! I did manage to understand a little Dutch in the long-ago days of pirate Radio Caroline and Radio Veronica broadcasting in Dutch from the middle of the North Sea !)
I did notice one very small point if you dont mind me saying.....it should be 'froze' not 'freezed'.
Keep up the good work.
-
Will headgear come into play, at some point?~
-
cool story, I think the fear of Sarah of fixed braces is really big, if they are fixed in, they are inside, you are caught by them. Therefore they decide to switch to removable braces.
While Thomas is googling removable appliances, he gets fascinated by them, he begins to imagine kissing Sarah in her removable braces.
Sarah remembers the retainers she had and thinks, removable braces were not so bad as fixed ones.
During the next visit Dr Davies proposes expanders top and down, and later, if Sarah would be accustomed to the braces expanders during the day, and at home and during the night something like an activator or bass appliance.
-
Thanks Sparky!! Ooh I'm curious to see what you'll turn this idea into!! Setting the place on fire definitely gives opportunity for some drama
Oh, didn't know that! I'm Dutch and 'stagiair' sounded very English to me haha. I've changed it now, thank you for letting me know! ;D
Just written the 4 line synopsis for the story, will maybe write the actual story one day.....
-
Really anticipating the next chapter. Can't remember a story that had me so engaged. I'm sure I'm not alone. No pressure intended ;) I'm sure it will be worth the wait.
-
Thanks again everyone who commented and voted!! Now that I've access to the bracesstories part on the site, I see Sarah in a lot of stories. Whoops... Wasn't aware of that before. We can conclude Sarah's are born with misaligned teeth. Anyways, here we go with the next chapter... ;D
@retained Thanks!! I'll change the 'freezed', thanks for letting me know! Oh and didn't know about pirate Radio Caroline and Radio Veronica. Often they speak very fast on the radio I find, so congrats on learning some Dutch ;D
@TimeandBrace Honestly, I don't think I'll put Sarah into headgear, but I do plan on elaborating on her previous experiences which includes headgear.
@corynnehunzyker Oh, that gives me an idea... :) Nice to see you're so engaged in the story by the way!!
@hercimur Thanks for your compliment! :) Next chapters will take a bit longer I expect, but I know what I want to write down, so that helps!
Chapter 6 – “So, what we’re going to do today is install your braces”
This time Thomas talked to the receptionist and Sarah followed him to the waiting room. There were more people now. Three teenagers in their late teens and a bunch of younger children with one of their parents around. Lastly there was an older woman, probably fifty years old, and when she smiled Thomas saw her brackets.
Thomas got up to get some books again, but Sarah took his hand and pulled his arm. Apparently she didn’t want him to leave now, so he sat down again and sighed.
Waiting was boring.
Thomas observed the kids in front of them. One had brackets as well and a younger child definitely needed brackets. His teeth stuck out of his mouth, even in rest mode.
He looked at Sarah again. She owned beautiful teeth and didn’t mind showing them. Her smiles were often toothy smiles and she happily laughed with her mouth wide open during parties.
These were her last minutes with an empty mouth. After this she would walk around with appliances for approximately more than a year. Appliances she couldn’t all take out.
Thomas felt sorry for her.
Sarah’s knee bounced up and down at a fast pace. She then spoke up: “Let’s just get it over with. It won’t be that bad right?” She nodded firmly. “I’ll just let it wash over me.”
Thomas's eyes got bigger. Did she really say this? Did she really go for it? Maybe his words from before made a change in Sarah or it was the fact that she couldn’t really escape her braces anymore, now that they were already at Davies’ surgery. Maybe she’d realized that she’d better just accept her faith.
Whatever made Sarah’s attitude towards her braces installment shift, Thomas was glad about it. He put his hand on her bouncing knee and smiled. “That’s the spirit. You’ll do great.”
Sarah smiled. A toothy smile, like usual. “Thanks.”
Not shortly after, the couple followed an older assistant, together with a Justin and a Kaylee and their parents. The assistant, named Sandra, directed them all to the right chairs. While the children found their way through the open space, Sarah and Thomas were brought to a private room situated in a hallway at the side of the main treatment area.
“Welcome, Miss Wilson,” the assistant said in a friendly manner.
Sarah smiled. “You can call me Sarah.”
Thomas looked around. The place was fairly small, white and bright with just one window at the ceiling. A blue chair was situated in the middle of the room and attached to it was a shiny white construction of a sink, a table with mechanical dental instruments and a lamp attached to it.
It was quite a unit to be honest.
Before Thomas could take in any more of the environment, they were asked to sit down. Thomas in a normal chair and Sarah in the treatment seat. She bravely shuffled her way into the chair. Her feet were already a bit up.
“How are you doing Sarah?” Sandra asked.
“Good, bit nervous.”
“No need for that, we’ll take care of you and take it step by step.” She briefly put a hand on Sarah’s shoulder. “So any plans for the holidays?” She asked and sat down on a stool pulling a movable table on wheels closer to her.
“We’re going to Italy,” Sarah happily said while looking at Thomas.
Sarah really was going for it! She seemed way calmer now and Thomas gave her a an encouraging wink.
“Italy..,” the assistant nodded cheerfully. She put her gloves on and started preparing some tools on a tray. “So lots of culture and beautiful, old towns to look forward to!”
“And pizza,” Thomas added.
“Oh, love pizza!” agreed the nurse.
Sarah chuckled a bit.
Well, this was a surprisingly relaxed start, Thomas found. He noticed that he had been sitting at the edge of his chair up until now as if he must rescue Sarah any moment. But he decided that he could sit back.
“So, what we’re going to do today is install your braces,” Sandra waited for Sarah’s acknowledgment and continued. “First, I’ll clean your teeth and get everything ready. Then Dr. Davies will come in and we will fit your braces, make sure the're comfortable and possibly make some adjustments. Then he’ll put them in and after that I will give some further instructions on how to wear them... how to take care of them etcetera.”
Both youngsters nodded.
Didn’t sound too difficult. Just like Thomas and probably Sarah as well had expected.
Thomas tapped his armrest with his finger. “Sounds like a plan.”
“Any questions?” Sandra asked.
When no questions came up, the older lady tilted the chair back and only stopped when Sarah was laying fully horizontally. Then Sandra brought the horizontal chair up a bit, so she wouldn’t have to bend over as much. She asked Sarah to crawl upwards a bit so that her head was nicely laying on the headrest. Lastly she pulled the dental instrument tray that was attached to the unit closer, over Sarah’s body, so she could reach the tools she needed for cleaning.
Sarah crossed and uncrossed her feet a few times and did the same with her arms on her tummy.
Thomas took a deep breath in and out. He prayed Sarah could hold on to her calmness.
Though Sarah didn’t freeze, which was a good thing, she did follow all of Sandra’s movements with a watchful eye. She also gazed at the tray several times, that had been put just above her upper body.
You can do it Sarah, Thomas internally cheered.
“Do you like me to tell you what I’m doing whilst working? Or would you rather not?”
“Eh,” Sarah blinked her eyes, “I think so.”
“All right, let’s get started then! We want your teeth nice and clean before the braces go on, so I’m going to do some normal cleaning. Just like at the dentist, okay?”
That was good! Thomas thought. ‘Just like at the dentist,’ well… that was what Sarah could do. Easy peasy…
And…it turned out to be exactly that. The cleaning went pretty well. The sound of the drill was unpleasant and a few times Sarah’s cheek stuck to the suction device that vacuumed all the water from the drill. But Sarah didn’t seem startled by it.
It gave Thomas the opportunity to study the cupboards and the movable table. It contained a metallic tray with lots of tools. Some wires and a little plastic. The plastic form Thomas recognized as an expander. Would that be Sarah’s? It looked quite an appliance.
Suddenly the door opened.
“Well, look who’s in here!” Dr. Davies clapped his hands. “Family Wilson. Good to see you.” The tall man walked around, padded Thomas on his back and took place at a stool next to Sandra.
Somehow the energy in the room changed. Thomas tried to ignore it, but found that all he could think about was that the moment Sarah got her braces was incredibly close now.
“I see you’re almost done cleaning, Sandra. Have you talked through what we're going to do today?”
Sandra explained a little and Dr. Davies said hi to a laying Sarah.
Immediately the girl picked up her habit of crossing and uncrossing her limbs, like she couldn’t find a comfortable position to stay in.
Why did dentists always have to say hi at moments when patients couldn’t respond? Thomas got a bit frustrated, but kept his cool.
After Sandra finished cleaning, she engaged in what looked like preparing tools for the braces installment. Meanwhile Dr. Davies took the lead.
“So Sarah, we’re about to fit your expanders. Have you already spotted them?”
Sarah shook her head and licked her lips, like they were a bit sore from having been open during the cleaning.
“Okay, so here they are,” Davies grabbed two pieces from the movable tray. “This is your upper expander. You see the acrylic on the sides? That’s going to cover your molars.”
Thomas creased his brow. The thing looked massive. Different from the example Dr. Davies had shown during their first appointment which didn’t have any plastic on it. Was this whole thing going into Sarah’s relatively small mouth?
“It’s called a bonded expander which is a bit different from a banded expander. The acrylic makes sure your whole jaw is going to expand, instead of only your molars tipping to the sides. Plus, it will help to close your open bite. Which is what we want to achieve don’t we?”
The next part of the explanation Thomas couldn’t follow, because Sarah started breathing faster. Where her belly had moved a bit earlier, now her chest was rising and falling at a faster pace.
Because of his soccer experience and Sarah’s previous explanations about breathing, Thomas knew that abdominal breathing was way better for relaxation than chest breathing. It allowed deeper and steadier breathing.
Which Sarah obviously was not thinking about.
“- it’s removable. So you can take it out for cleaning and for important meetings at work. That was important to you as I remember. Though try to wear it as much as you can. So the appliance can do its job.”
This was a lot of info.
A lot.
Bonded. Tipping molars. Open bite…
What did all of that mean?
Thomas had already missed a part of Davies’ lecture and the bits that had reached his ears he didn’t think he would be able to recall.
Apparently Sandra noticed the overwhelming amount of information as well. “Let’s just fit it, shall we? We can go through all details after. I’ll give you a step by step explanation of how to use it. Don’t worry.”
Okay.
So this was it then.
Dr. Davies adjusted the lamp above Sarah’s head to make the light shine directly onto Sarah’s lips. He put a mask over his nose and mouth and got his dental mask with a small lamp and magnifying glasses.
With a pedal he adjusted the chair to his own liking.
Thomas watched Sarah go up a bit. She almost touched the tray above her belly.
He wondered what she was thinking. Was she thinking about the expanders that she’d just seen for the first time? Was she focusing on her toes? Was she imagining walking through the Colosseum in Rome? Or was she thinking about the removable appliance she apparently had to wear all the time?
He couldn’t figure it out.
Sarah was gazing at the ceiling. Pokerfaced.
She got a lip spreader which looked funny and Thomas would have commented on it if the situation had been different.
“Okay, can you open for me?”
Thomas watched as Sarah obeyed and Davies, together with Sandra, checked her teeth out.
“Can you move your chin up a bit?”
Again Sarah followed orders.
“Well done. Sandra, could you pass me the upper palatal expander?”
While Sandra tackled the complicated wire-and-plastic apparatus, Sarah began wiggling her feet and toes more and more.
“I’ve asked the lab to let it cover her deciduous canine to the second deciduous molar. Maybe I need to adjust the surface. Can you hand me the- ”
It took a lot of professional jargon to get the device into Sarah’s mouth. Thomas could see it was uncomfortable. Sandra had to ask Sarah to open even wider than she already did and when the expander was in place, Sarah had her eyes shut and her nose scrunched up.
Davies held the device into place and moved Sarah’s head around slightly. “Perfect. Can you bite down? Slowly?”
When Sarah had her teeth together Davies gently took her jaw and brought her head to the left side, inspecting her molars. He did the same on the right side.
Sarah let it all happen, let it all wash over her, like she had told Thomas in the waiting room. However, she looked very tense. Muscles held tight and all.
“Let me scrape away a bit of acrylic on the left side.”
After Dr. Davies had taken the appliance out for adjustments, Sarah opened her eyes. Like she had just been for a swim, taken a deep dive into the ocean and reached the surface again.
“You’re doing well,” Sandra said.
Another dive into the ocean started. This time it took less long and when Davies took the plate out, he seemed satisfied with the result.
The procedure was repeated with the bottom expander. Thomas learned that the bottom expander was less wide, but seemed more plastic than the upper one.
At some point it clicked into Sarah’s mouth.
Sarah immediately recoiled, but couldn’t really step back as she was laying in the chair and Davies hand was still holding the device in her mouth.
“Easy, sweetheart. It’s okay. It’s just clicked into place,” Sandra told her. “That’s a good sign!”
Within a second Davies took it out. “It all fits properly. I see no issues.” He places the expander back on the metallic tray. “Ready to start, Sarah?”
As if they hadn’t started yet, Thomas thought. This was quite the adventure already.
Thomas put his chair a little closer to Sarah, so her hand was within reach in case he was needed.
Sort of braces time? But almost, almost, almost real bracestime…
-
congratulation, very interesting proceeding!
-
I make this suggestion to all the writers. Use a good spellchecker while you are writing your stories. It makes it easier to catch the mistakes as you write.
I recommend the free version of Grammarly. Sparky. m1090y and I write our stories using a variety of programs such as Word, OpenOffice, Google Docs, and Grammarly. It is easier to do it that way and then copy and paste it to the Forum. I also offer to proofread each chapter before it gets posted to catch any spelling mistakes that may slip through. Even the best writers miss things when they proofread their stories. Feel free to ask for help if you feel you would like it. There are a few of us that are willing to help, just ask.
I'm really enjoying your story. Keep going.
-
congratulation, very interesting proceeding!
Thanks! :D
-
I make this suggestion to all the writers. Use a good spellchecker while you are writing your stories. It makes it easier to catch the mistakes as you write.
I recommend the free version of Grammarly. Sparky. m1090y and I write our stories using a variety of programs such as Word, OpenOffice, Google Docs, and Grammarly. It is easier to do it that way and then copy and paste it to the Forum. I also offer to proofread each chapter before it gets posted to catch any spelling mistakes that may slip through. Even the best writers miss things when they proofread their stories. Feel free to ask for help if you feel you would like it. There are a few of us that are willing to help, just ask.
I'm really enjoying your story. Keep going.
Thank you for the suggestion and offer to help! I write in Word and I've now put this chapter in Grammarly and corrected some mistakes. I'll try to do the same with upcoming chapters. Hopefully, the mistakes don't bother readers too much. I'm not a native speaker, so writing English is quite challenging already.
-
You are doing just fine. Even the writers like Sparky, m1090y and I can use a little help from time to time. If we all help each other, we all get better at writing.
You write very well and have an interesting idea for a story. Being able to write in more than one language is impressive, and to write as well as you do is amazing.
The more that you write, the better that you will get.
-
I am really enjoying this story. Very well though out and written, excellent work.
-
Good job!
-
Great story????????????????????????
-
Sorry for the long wait! I discovered that having family around on vacation doesn't go well with writing about your fetish. Hope everyone here is doing fine. Thanks everyone for the wonderful comments!!
Thanks also for voting on the poll!! I've given Sarah a fixed upper expander and a lower lip bumper. However... I've considered a fixed bottom expander like you voted, but I like the thought of her refusing to wear it and laying it on her nightstand and Thomas helping her out too much... so sorry for not following that suggestion. I hope it doesn't keep you all from reading the story.
Have fun!!
Chapter 7 - "It might feel a bit weird on your palate and the bite blocks keep your molars from touching, but you'll adjust quickly, okay?"
Sandra and Davies started hovering around. Sandra busied herself with moving tools, and Davies worked attentively with some clay.
Both medics seemed very focused on their job, squinting their eyes.
Okay, this was it then. The part Sarah had feared the most. Thomas was determined to get her through it all. He took her small, slender fingers between both his firmer hands.
Her palms were sweaty.
Thomas tried to make eye contact, but Sarah preferred the ceiling. She was laying horizontally with her chin up. Her head rested nicely on the top part of the chair that slightly curved upwards on the sides. Her neck, back, and feet perfectly followed the hilly form of the chair.
"All right, Sarah. We're going to put your upper expander in place," Davies said, not looking up from working on the expander.
Thomas watched Davies' hands carefully put a white substance on the device.
The appliance looked massive. It had bulky, plastic pieces of light-blue glitter on the sides, like wings on an airplane. The wings were attached to a central plastic part with four metal rods. Was this thing going into Sarah's mouth permanently? How would this thing ever become a comfortable part of Sarah's body?
"Okay, Sarah. Open really wide." Sandra asked as Davies got the expander.
Thomas remembered he had told Sarah she wouldn't even notice her new appliance after a day. How could he ever be so stupid to have told her that?
The expander looked wider than her actual teeth and the acrylic part in the middle seemed bigger than a lego stone. Thomas tried to imagine what it would be like having a lego stone in his mouth all day. Eating with it, talking with it...
"Can you open your mouth for us, sweetheart?"
Sarah's hand instantly turned into a sweatpool. Thomas run his thumb over her palm. Not that it was ever going to be enough to take her worries away, but he could try. He felt her heart beating through her skin at a fast and steady pace.
He watched Sarah swallow heavily while her eyes darted the ceiling.
"Sarah?"
Only after a third call, Sarah opened her mouth. Slowly. Carefully. Reluctantly. Her lips quivered a bit and her eyes got big and wide. Thomas could see her pupils were elated as her eyes turned into a darker color.
When Davies held the device in front of Sarah's mouth, she tried to spot the device. Like she was looking for the darkest enemy following her. An enemy that was soon going to be a part of her. An enemy she had to learn to live with.
She observed the thing as best as she could, but when Davies moved it inside her mouth, she had to give up. The appliance was out of sight. She had to have faith in the two people sailing above her, watching her and working on her.
"Very good," Sandra petted Sarah's shoulder. "You'll feel some of the glue that might taste sour."
The two medics pushed the expander over her teeth. Thomas could see it was an important job as Sandra and Davies inspected Sarah's mouth from all sides. Probbably to check if the airplane had landed correctly. They pushed one more time to get the thing over her molars.
Sarah squinted a bit. She brought her teeth closer together, but couldn't close her mouth fully because of all the fingers inside. Thomas could see that she tried her best to keep her head still.
Once the expander was in place, Sandra immediately put two fingers at it, holding it securely against Sarah's palate. "That's it. We'll take away the excess glue now."
Sarah didn't react. She closed her eyes and moved her chin down a bit, which seemed hard as Sandra held the expander.
Taking away the excess glue took a while. David swept with one cotton wool after the other, having Sarah's head bend over slightly from time to time.
How would Sarah feel now that the lego block with wings was inside? Both Thomas and her hadn't expected the appliance to look like this in her mouth. They had seen examples on white molds, but in a real mouth, in Sarah's mouth, it appeared different.
Maybe it was because the expander intruded in her life. In his girlfriend's life instead of an unfamiliar object.
Thomas watched as Sarah followed the motions of the two hands working on her. She tilted her head up and to the sides while having her eyes closed. She was doing alright. She was okay. Thomas squeezed her clammy hands and felt Sarah squeeze back. She trembled.
It would soon be over, Thomas thought.
"Try to stay still, Sarah."
After the sweeping Sandra got a big, white stick. "Okay, sweetie. We're ready to glue the expander in, and we will do that with a UV lamp. The light will help the glue settle. It doesn't hurt, you will only hear some beeping, all right?"
In no way could Sarah talk. Thomas had expected her to nod a bit or to say something with her eyes. But she didn't do any of that. She just kept laying still, like she was in her own world somewhere far away.
The roots of her long, dark hair seemed clammy just above her forehead.
"It's okay, Sarah," Thomas said. He wanted to take her on his lap and cuddle her. He wanted to tell her it was going to be all right. It was just an orthodontic treatment. Something she needed to get a wonderful smile. The expander wasn't going to be in her mouth forever.
Sarah however flinched as soon as the lamp started beeping.
Thomas saw blue light coming from Sarah's mouth. He remembered the beeping from getting his braces. Right after this, the braces would be stuck in there.
The beeping went on and Sarah bravely held her mouth open. Her nose was scrunched up like she was hurt.
Davies and Sandra both focused on the mouth of their patient. They had probably done this a million times before. They worked in sync without hitches, like working on the assembly line in a factory. They moved their fingers around in a rhythmic way, finding the right spots to keep the stick and to hold the appliance.
Thomas was a bit afraid they had lost sight of Sarah's feelings now that they were doing hardcore orthodontic stuff.
Sarah didn't look comfortable. The always composed and enthusiastic Sarah even lightly moaned at some point and... she just didn't look okay.
Thomas started to feel alarmed. He hadn't expected to hate the sight in front of him, but he did. He hated how two people worked inside Sarah's mouth, had her open her mouth for so long, and placed a device Sarah felt uncomfortable about.
But it was necessary.
Thomas knew it and Sarah knew it as well.
"One more time," Sandra kindly sing-songed, like getting an airplane in your mouth was no obstacle at all.
Thomas anxiously waited for the beep tone. It was done. Finally, it was done. They could take the lip spreader out now, give them that other stupid appliance and let them go home.
"Well done, Sarah. The upper expander is in! You're doing okay?"
Sarah opened her eyes, looked at Thomas, and barely nodded. Her eyes pleaded with him to have this all stop. So Thomas tried to tell her it was all okay and she tried to relax after seeing Thomas.
"Good. It might feel a bit weird on your palate and the bite blocks keep your molars from touching, but you'll adjust quickly, okay?"
Sarah squeezed Thomas' hand tightly.
Davies took over. "Good. What we want to do now is put two bands on your lower back molars. So the lip spreader will stay in for just a little longer, okay?"
Weren't they done already? Weren't they supposed to get that removable appliance, some instructions, and go home?
While Davies explained something and Sandra prepared instruments, Thomas saw that Sarah had bitten down and started to move her throat weirdly. It was like she swallowed. Or rather... tried to swallow. Her throat kept moving up and down.
Sarah moaned and instantly recoiled like she was startled by her sound. She blinked a few times and repositioned her upper body, trying to compose herself.
Was she troubled by the expander? It must be her first time truly feeling the airplane in her mouth. She didn't seem to like it. The lip spreader started moving a little as well. But obviously, Sarah couldn't take it out.
Thomas looked at Sandra and Davies, to find what? A reaction? An acknowledgment of Sarah's difficulty?
The two were only focusing on the next step of the treatment. A step Thomas couldn't follow.
"Everything okay Sarah?" Thomas asked.
Sarah searched the ceiling and shook her head a little bit.
Thomas looked at Sandra and fortunately she bent over Sarah. "I think you have a bit trouble swallowing, don't you?" She squeezed her shoulder. "Try to bring your teeth together and have your tongue do its work okay? I will get you a suction tube, cause it's not easy with a lip retractor."
Sarah tried to obey, but she seemed panicky and her throat still looked bubbly.
Sandra placed a plastic tube into Sarah's mouth. Immediately, a piercing sound ensued and Thomas saw Sarah's drool (?) being led away through a pipe.
Was she really not able to swallow properly anymore?
Thomas decided to bury his worry as Davies and Sandra seemed unaffected by the situation. They had Sarah bite open again, placed some sort of metal rings inside, and had Sarah bite down on a stick several times.
"You're doing well"
Biting down on the stick seemed hard work, but his girlfriend managed according to Davies.
After the blue light had done its job again, the lip spreader and suction tube were removed accompanied by some lines of drool. Thomas was glad the whole thing came to an end. The process had taken long enough now and much longer than he'd predicted.
Freed from her cage Sarah instantly moved her lips around and tilted her head, like she had forgotten what the room looked like. She moved her jaw around and frowned like Thomas had not seen before.
"There's a cup next to the sink. You can rinse your mouth if you want to," Sandra said and instantly Sarah propped herself up on her elbows and got herself a cup of water at the small plastic sink on the chair.
Thomas could see how some of the water slipped out of her mouth like she was three-year-old drinking independently for the first time. She covered her mouth with her hand straight away and bent her head closer to the sink.
Thomas couldn't figure out if she looked more upset or more embarrassed.
He also wanted to see her mouth properly to confirm she looked still the same, but she turned away and her hair hid the side of her face.
Spitting the water out sounded horrible.
This wasn't the composed, sophisticated Sarah. Even Sarah herself seemed shocked by it. She coughed some, put the cup away, and grabbed the sink tightly with both hands.
"Easy," Sandra told her. "It might feel a bit weird on your palate, but that feeling will go away, okay?"
Sarah barely nodded. She seemed in a total trance, hanging over the sink defeatedly. Her shoulders were slumped, and it looked like she tried to turn away from all the people in the room, hiding her mouth.
Was she embarrassed? Hurt? Overwhelmed?
It wasn't long before she had to lay down again for the last part of the installment. Even then Thomas couldn't see her mouth properly as she was laying with her chin up.
"So, here is your lip bumper," Davies showed them a little metal bow with a small transparent piece that covered the front. "It will help push your lower molars to the back by using the force of your lower lip. It will go into tubes on the rings that we just put over your molars. Let's see how it fits."
Luckily this appliance didn't seem so big, it was just a small bow in an arch shape. Thomas guessed it wouldn't change Sarah. She wouldn't even feel it in there.
Another series of fitting followed in which Sandra's fingers occasionally took over the function of the lip spreader. When the bow suited perfectly. Thomas saw it bumping Sarah's bottom lip forward. What was this kind of weird thing? It looked strange.
He didn't get the time to study this appliance, because Davies got the bumper out and moved on to the last part. The removable expander.
Sarah could take this one out and Thomas was delighted about that. No more construction work glued in place.
Before Davies could continue with the appliance though, Sarah's throat got bobbly again. She seemed to try and hold back, but that only made things worse.
"Easy, close your mouth and bring your lips together, then try to swallow," Davies said. "It's very important to close your mouth first, okay?"
Thomas couldn't follow what was going on. "Can't she swallow anymore?"
"She can, but she needs to adjust a bit," Sandra reassured him. "The expander sits on top of her palate, where your tongue usually goes to swallow, so it feels a bit odd. And because it's new, she produces more saliva than usual." She made eye contact with Sarah. "Feels weird, doesn't it?"
Sarah nodded at coughed at the same time.
"It's okay. It will soon feel much better! Just try to do what Dr. Davies said. Bring your lips together first, then swallow."
All eyes were on Sarah's mouth and throat and she seemed very embarrassed to be examined like this. She turned her head away and closed her eyes, focusing. But all that happened was her getting more panicked. Her shoulders moved along with her breathing as she couldn't get rid of the saliva building up in her mouth. Thomas saw the ends of her mouth getting wet with drool.
She shook her head and coughed.
"Hey, easy, easy," Sandra immediately interfered. "Let me get the suction tube again. We will go through some swallowing and speaking tips soon. Don't worry." Sandra gently placed the tube in Sarah's mouth again.
Thomas got a little nervous.
"That feels better doesn't it?"
Sarah nodded. Her cheeks were red, whether it was because of embarrassment or effort. But she appeared calmer now.
Sandra elaborated a bit on how to swallow and Sarah tried her best to the instructions. She brought Thomas hand to her stomach while doing so and grabbed his hands with her other hand as well.
She was okay, Thomas reminded himself. And she was doing well. He felt a certain fondness going through his body along with a little worry still.
In the middle of braces time! Yeah!! ;D
-
Great story!
-
Great story!
Thank you acornjohn2001!! :D
-
Great~~~
-
Really good detail and character development. Thanks.
-
This is my favorite story on here. Please write more!
-
This is really well written!
-
Thank you @bsma189, @cbraces522, @tdella and @castleg! Great to hear you like the story, keeps me motivated to actually finish the story :D
-
Chapter 8 - "The acrylic follows her teeth perfectly, see that Sandra?"
"Alright. Time for you lower expander," Davies announced. "You'll wear it day and night except for brushing. Because you'll talk a little funny, you may also make an exception for important meetings like we've discussed before. But I don't prefer that as we don't want it to lose its function. We want it to move your teeth."
Thomas breathed in.
Sarah looked small in the modern, sturdy chair. Smaller than Thomas had ever seen her before. She watched the room like it was a prison she couldn't escape and lay down obediently. The only thing that she had control of was the way she touched Thomas' hands on her belly.
"I want to check if it fits just as nicely with the bonded expander fixed in place." Davies got the bulky plate from the tray and cupped Sarah's chin and cheek with his other hand. He then lay his thumb just below her bottom lip in a request to open her mouth.
Sarah didn't stare-battle her new device this time. She studied the ceiling like a lost puppy, desperately trying to get herself into a different world, into sedation, into whatever could help her to get rid of the appliance in front of her.
Which Thomas thought was even worse than following the expander around. Getting into her own headspace meant that she had lost it, that it was too much.
She wasn't communicating. She wasn't expressing herself. She was trying to make herself disappear.
Not good.
What caused it though? Was it her previous experience with braces? Was it embarrassment? Or was it the fear of being out of control? The thought that she needed these tools and this treatment?
"I will put the bottom expander in and you'll hear a click sound."
When Sarah opened her mouth, Davies put the plastic piece in there. After it clicked, he began pushing the plate with his thumbs, placing his index fingers under Sarah's chin for support. He pressed on her molars and behind her front teeth multiple times.
Thomas noticed how the gloves of Davies' index fingers were still a bit wet from Sarah's saliva and how it made moist spots under her chin.
"Hmm, perfect," Davies mumbled. "The acrylic follows her teeth perfectly, see that Sandra?"
Sandra moved her stool closer and bent over to study what Davies pointed at.
"Here, the Adam clasps fall nicely over her molars. And the screw aligns the middle of her front teeth. I only worry about the acrylic here and....here...touching with the bonded parts of the upper expander."
Suddenly the older man turned very pensive and Thomas bit his lip.
What were they all talking about? Thomas couldn't even explain it other than incomprehensible jargon.
Sarah shut her eyes and creased her brows tightly.
It didn't take long before they started discussing Sarah's bite again, her molars, and the way they were tipped inwards.
Thomas couldn't imagine what it was like for Sarah, being examined like she was. She had bright light directed at her mouth, at an appliance, or rather appliances, she probably felt embarrassed about. Appliances that she hadn't even seen what it looked like on her. Moreover, she had two people bent over closely analyzing aids they had produced for Sarah. Aids that were necessary and the dentists were presumably proud of.
He could feel Sarah shudder.
Her feet twitched and her arms were jittery.
She must feel exposed.
It couldn't be any other way.
Thomas bit the other side of his lip. He felt sorry for her. Sorry for her exposition. Sorry for the discomfort. Sorry for genetics, the reason her teeth needed movement. Sorry for the appliances needed to do that.
Then, the two medics finally got the appliance out, scraped something away, and placed it again.
The sound it made when it clicked in was weird.
"Bite down for me Sarah," Davies asked as he raised the chair upwards. Davies got his hands out of the way and Sarah opened her eyes.
Sarah's hair fell over her shoulders when she was upright and she looked a little confused, mouth slightly open.
All Thomas could make out of her expression then was that she was scared to bite down. Maybe she was scared of the feeling that would follow. Or she was scared of how far she would be able to close her mouth.
Thomas could only guess.
He did see though, how Sarah watched Dr. Davies one more time en then closed her mouth.
It was the first time without any fingers or instruments around.
When she bit down a light thump was heard. Although Sarah's lips didn't meet, Sarah stopped closing her mouth. It was like her mouth was forced into the position it was now in. Were those the 'bite blocks' Sandra and Davies had been talking about?
Sarah flinched and instantly brought her lips together over her teeth, which was a weird sight. It made the skin around her cheeks stretch. Her chin was wrinkled and her mouth trembled some.
She opened her lips again with a small popping sound. She frowned hard.
Thomas felt Sarah's hands move like she wanted to feel or take out her expanders, but she resisted. Probably because she knew she couldn't nor shouldn't take them out.
"Very good. You're done." Davies announced.
Thomas smiled and gently shook Sarah's hands to congratulate her on her courage.
Sarah however, remained occupied with her new body parts. She quietly moved her lips around. Her jaw muscles quivered.
"Hey," Thomas tried, "good job!"
It was then that Thomas got the weirdest smile he'd ever gotten. It was almost scary. Sarah tried to laugh with her lips closed, which she never did. Her nose was stretched out from the effort.
Did she not dare to smile anymore?
In a matter of seconds, Sarah composed herself as she did during important work meetings or conversations with strangers. She shook her shoulders and took a deep breath.
"It all fits nicely," said Davies as he undid his gloves and mask. "No worries about swallowing or speaking. Most patients report no serious troubles. It takes a few days to get used to the appliances, which is normal. Singing and reading aloud will help. Sandra will give you further instructions-" He got up and threw some materials in the bin. "Any questions?"
No questions came up, so Davies smiled friendly. "I will see you next time then."
It didn't take long before Davies had left the room, instructions had started and instructions ended. Thomas and Sarah were ready to go home.
Sandra's help had been very welcome. She was understanding and sweet and got them through the many tips and tricks they needed. Swallowing had still been unpleasant, but not as much of an issue as when Sarah had been under Davies' watch. She hadn't talked though, only a few whispered words, which concerned Thomas.
Once outside the room, Thomas put his arm around Sarah. "You were so brave. I'm proud of you." He wanted to kiss her but decided against it as they were in the middle of a professional clinic. Not that Thomas minded that, but he knew it would bother Sarah.
Outside, before entering the car, he kissed the top of Sarah's head enthusiastically and felt her beautiful locks of hair. She'd just showered this morning, so it felt soft around his fingers. Sarah didn't look happy though.
Even when they were in the car, their mini-home, their safe place, Sarah looked down on her lap. She didn't make any eye contact. She remained perfectly still. Apart from her lips that moved uncomfortably after a few seconds.
Was she in pain? Did the appliances feel weird? She wasn't even wearing her lip bumper and removable appliance now.
"How are you doing?" Thomas asked.
Sarah shrugged.
Thomas put an encouraging hand on her leg.
Again a shrug
"They feel weird, don't they?" Thomas tried.
Sometimes it helped to give Sarah a start. To fill in what she was feeling, so she knew that Thomas didn't think she was weak or something. So, she knew it was okay to talk about her feelings.
"It was quite the adventure, right? Didn't think it would be like this. But you managed. The hardest part is over now and you know what... you did great. I'm going to call the newspapers. You're front page tomorrow."
Sarah smiled shyly and shook her head in protest.
Good. This was more like old Sarah.
Thomas was a bit surprised when he saw Sarah searching her pockets. "What are you looking for?"
After a second Sarah showed him pocket tissues and threw one at her boyfriend.
"Hey!" Thomas laughed, but his laugh quickly faded. The act appeared to be a diversion.
Sarah had gotten a tissue for herself and pressed it to the corners of her mouth, dabbing a few spots of saliva away.
Thomas wanted to tell her that it was nothing to be ashamed of, but he knew that Sarah didn't want him to see it. Which hurt him, because he was her boyfriend. No guilt needed.
Besides, it was a cute sight and she looked even a bit sexy.
But he respected her boundaries for now. The afternoon had been intense already and he didn't want to put her through more feelings.
"Beyonce playlist?"
He hated it, but he knew she liked it.
And to no one's shock, Sarah nodded.
Thomas started the engine, hit the gas, and enjoyed the music and nature with his new-faced girlfriend at his side who kept fumbling with her tissue, struggling with swallowing and swaying on powerful songs.
Another chapter quickly this time, thanks to all comments and the heatwave which gave me a sleepless night and time to write. To everyone battling the current heatwave, good luck! To everyone not battling the current heatwave, well...also good luck I guess? Don't want you to feel excluded. You are also my dear readers. ;)
And thanks again all people commenting!!
Even if this particular braces installment has come to an end. There are still plenty of wonderful situations left that involve braces * mysterious sound* 8)
Well, I'm going to sit under the parasol in my backyard today. Hope to see you all around next time!! ;D
-
Keep up the good work, really enjoying this story!
-
I love all the little details of the installation process!
-
Really amazing story!
-
This is an amazing story. The characterization in particular is excellent. I'm really looking forward to reading more.
-
probably this is my favorite story
-
Great story! Could you please give a more detailed description of the lower expander? eg colour of acrylic, type of clasps? Thanks
-
It was a long wait. For me as well. I haven't disappeared. I've just started working again. Holidays are over, which means time to write is over. I had a completely different chapter 9 ready, but when I came back to it today I didn't like it and decided to try again. So here is a new chapter that I wrote in one hour and a half. I hope you all still like the story! :)
Chapter 9 - "You'll adjust, Sarah."
When Thomas and Sarah arrived home, the first thing Sarah did was sprint up the stairs. Thomas hadn't seen her moving this fast in a long time. He watched her go and pondered following her but decided against it. Maybe she needed some time alone?
It didn't sit right with him, but since Sarah hadn't spoken on their way home and didn't make any contact with him, he should probably let her be for a bit.
He put his coat on the rack, walked into the living room, and made himself comfortable on the couch.
This had been quite an experience.
Sarah now had appliances in her mouth. Appliances she needed according to Davies.
Thomas had been surprised by the procedure. It had taken long and the appliances had looked more intruding than he had expected. Sandra had given them a list of how to take care of Sarah's braces. She needed to brush her teeth in a certain way to clean the upper bonded expander. Then she needed to take out her lower appliance and lip bumper to clean those as well.
Sandra helped Sarah practice putting the lower expander in and taking it out. It had clasps on the sides which had to cover her molars and there was a little wire on the front.
It was weird seeing Sarah with a wire over her lower front teeth. He noticed how she tried to hide it, pulling her lower lip upwards, but since she couldn't fully close her mouth because of the upper bonded expander, she regularly failed in hiding the wire.
He could see what Sarah had been so worried about before the appointment.
Davies had made her look a little different.
He had changed the way she held her lips together, the way she closed her mouth, and the most worrying: the way she swallowed.
Thomas had heard her struggle in the car. With a handkerchief held close to her mouth, she made small, watery noises of discomfort.
Maybe he should join check in on her upstairs?
Even if she didn't want to see Thomas right now, or if she wanted a moment for herself, he should know if she was doing okay.
"You're here?" Thomas asked once upstairs. Instead of a proper answer, he heard shuffling coming from the bathroom.
There she was.
He walked towards the bathroom and much to his surprise the door wasn't closed.
"Hey," he said when he saw his girlfriend standing in front of the mirror.
In the second before Sarah turned away, he saw a look of fear in her eyes. Her shoulders were slumped and her face was red-colored. His heart dropped.
Sarah was probably defeated by everything done in her mouth. She had feared the worst, had gotten so many reassurances, but still got those intruding appliances she now had to learn how to deal with.
He rushed to her, put his arms around her, and pulled her into his chest. He was glad to wear a thick and soft sweater.
After some light turns Sarah gave in and fell into his embrace. He felt her head fall against his chest and immediately ran his hand threw her soft hair. He kissed the top of her head and rocked back and forth.
"What's up?" He whispered after a while. He took her shoulders to see her face, but Sarah held her head planted in the fibers of Thomas' shirt.
"Talk to me," he encouraged.
Sarah shook her head.
Thomas sighed. "Sweety, there's no shame in this all. You did well and Davies said you will quickly adjust." He didn't know what to say anymore.
It was then that Sarah pulled away and for the first time since the installment properly looked him in the eyes.
Her eyes were red and puffy, supported by blue circles underneath her eyes. She honestly looked exhausted.
Then, her jaw stood out more than usual and her mouth was opened.
Thomas stroked her puffed and sweaty cheek with the side of his index finger like he would do with a newborn baby and smiled.
Sarah looked down to inspect the bathroom floor tiles. Was she insecure? Embarrassed?
"Let me see them," Thomas asked. "You're appliances."
Sarah looked up, in visible doubt. Whether she wanted it or not there would be a moment that Thomas would spot her appliances. She couldn't hide them forever. She had to talk sometime, had to eat, had to smile, and had to sleep.
She turned to the mirror and inspected herself. She moved her lower jaw around, aware of her restricted movement.
Thomas came closer and cupped her jaw. He held his thumb close to her lips and searched her eyes for approval. She stopped moving her jaw around and immediately stilled. She watched him and he knew it was okay. He then knew she wanted to be in his hands. He knew that she wanted to be his. Still, he waited for her little nod.
Her little nod followed and his thumb pulled her lower lip carefully downwards. Her lips were soft like always, but they still felt different. He felt many small fractures in her skin, probably because of the treatment and dryness that came along with it. At the same time, her lip was watery with saliva as well. Like she wasn't able yet to keep her mouth adequately moisturized.
When her lip was pulled downwards, the moisture spread towards her chin a little. It was then that Thomas saw the wire covering her beautiful lower teeth. They sat nicely behind the metal bar.
He didn't see the lip bumper, and she also had to wear that one. He wanted to ask about it but knew it wouldn't be a good move. Not when Sarah had been brave enough to show him her new mouth.
"Looks pretty," Thomas said.
He ran his thumb across the wire and felt the loops at the sides. He touched her upper teeth in the process as well. Then, Sarah automatically opened her mouth a little wider. That's when he saw the lower expander in full sight. Behind the lower front teeth, acrylic took up some space where her tongue would usually go. He could see some metal inside the plastic, that's where she had to put a screw in. He remembered that from Sandra's instructions. The screw had to widen her bite. The Adams clasps surrounded her back molars. The metal was a little shiny, so Thomas guessed that it would be seen when Sarah would speak.
What would Sarah think about that?
She wouldn't talk with her mouth closed, right? That wasn't an option?
Please, let her be the same Sarah as always.
Then, Thomas softly tilted her head. Now he could see the bonded expander covering all of her upper molars. It was like she had this extra set of molars on top of hers. The lego stone in the middle with its metal arms took up some space as well.
He wanted to feel them, but apparently, Sarah had enough of opening her mouth. She moved her head, which made Thomas' hand retract, and closed her mouth.
"You look good Sarah. It's not that bad."
Sarah smiled slightly with her eyes. "I don't like it," she said.
Instantly, a drip of water ran down from the corner of her mouth. She had to slurp in a reflex and grabbed a towel to dry her face.
Wow, this was how Sarah talked?
This was how Sarah sounded now?
It was the first time Sarah had said more than one word and Thomas felt a heaviness set in. Her words sounded slurred and she had a lisp. A big lisp, which would fade he had learned. Luckily it would fade. But he hadn't thought it was this bad and he couldn't see how it would fade quickly. He couldn't see how this would get normal soon.
Sarah seemed aware of her problem as well and buried her mouth in her towel. She shook her head in disbelief and closed her eyes.
Once more, Thomas took her in his arms. Towel now between her face and his shirt and he stroked her back. "You'll adjust, Sarah," he whispered softly.
-
Just another nicely written story, it is interesting where it may leed.
-
Good job @teddybear