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(After you've read the first four chapters) What will happen at the braces installment?

Upper and bottom fixed expanders
38 (38%)
Upper fixed, bottom removable expanders
11 (11%)
Add an unexpected lip bumper
30 (30%)
Add unexpected bite blocks on molars
17 (17%)
Sarah sets the place on fire, races away in her car and continues her life on a desert island.
4 (4%)

Total Members Voted: 59

Author Topic: Story - Relax a little  (Read 11630 times)

Offline Teddybear

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Story - Relax a little
« 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.”

Offline Teddybear

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Re: Story - Relax a little
« Reply #1 on: 19. July 2022, 20:36:32 PM »
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.”

Offline Teddybear

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Re: Story - Relax a little
« Reply #2 on: 20. July 2022, 00:04:51 AM »
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

Offline Teddybear

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Re: Story - Relax a little
« Reply #3 on: 20. July 2022, 00:48:33 AM »
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...

Offline ellers

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Re: Story - Relax a little
« Reply #4 on: 20. July 2022, 02:03:16 AM »
Really enjoying this story. And the speed at which it's being written

Offline napacaster

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Re: Story - Relax a little
« Reply #5 on: 20. July 2022, 06:30:27 AM »
Great story! Maybe Tom will have to get braces in the future???

Offline Braceface2015

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Re: Story - Relax a little
« Reply #6 on: 20. July 2022, 06:48:36 AM »
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.



Offline bracessd

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Re: Story - Relax a little
« Reply #7 on: 20. July 2022, 17:57:39 PM »
Nice job @teddybear !

Offline Teddybear

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Re: Story - Relax a little
« Reply #8 on: 20. July 2022, 18:26:37 PM »
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...

Offline Sparky

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Re: Story - Relax a little
« Reply #9 on: 20. July 2022, 19:26:32 PM »
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.

Offline Teddybear

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    • Story - Relax a Little
Re: Story - Relax a little
« Reply #10 on: 20. July 2022, 20:33:15 PM »
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

Offline retained

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Re: Story - Relax a little
« Reply #11 on: 21. July 2022, 01:35:54 AM »
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.



Offline TimeandBrace

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Re: Story - Relax a little
« Reply #12 on: 21. July 2022, 06:17:22 AM »
Will headgear come into play, at some point?~

Offline corynnehunzyker

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Re: Story - Relax a little
« Reply #13 on: 21. July 2022, 09:22:05 AM »
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.

Offline Sparky

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Re: Story - Relax a little
« Reply #14 on: 21. July 2022, 14:05:32 PM »
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.....