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English => General => Topic started by: Bracedup on 22. October 2020, 04:00:33 AM
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Good Evening,
This is my first attempt at a story but have enjoyed writing this so far. To my understanding there is a story section but am new to the forum so figured I’d start here. Hope you all enjoy and look forward to some feedback to help improve. Thanks!
Chapter 1.
It was moving day for Samantha, or Sam as her friends liked to call her. Born and raised in a small town outside of Boston, she was the girl everybody desired. She was average height with an amazing athletic build, intelligent mind, and most importantly a full smile that would light up the room. Sam was blessed that everything always came so easy to her. She always had amazing looks, tons of friends and was the social butterfly of her high school. For the first time ever, she was gearing up to leave a lot of that behind and start a new journey in Florida working with an executive as his private assistant. Sam always was a hard worker and continued to move up at her current company doing business relations. She had great ideas to help other businesses discuss acquisitions and good ways to execute doing them. This type of job allowed her to travel to different parts of the country and ultimately meet a lot of new and well off people. She had done this for a few years when one of her ideas specifically, really took off. It was a big company merger where the CEO ultimately reached out to Sam and offered her a position directly working with him down in Florida. After a long ultimatum of what to do, she ultimately decided the hefty pay increase, as well as the experience of living somewhere new, was enough to motivate her to take the deal. She reached out to her now boss, Joe, telling her that she agreed and would take deal to which his ecstatic response of, “Great! Cant wait to see and work with that amazing smile of yours!”
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Chapter 2
The move went well and Sam had been settled in her new apartment for the past month. Work was going great and enjoyed meeting and interacting with the rest of company. It was a younger team at the company and definitely made for a relaxed and social atmosphere. Joe was very serious when it was time for business but also had a very relaxing and calming demeanor to him. I ended up spending a lot of time with him since I was now his new assistant and working with someone with that type of calming energy made work that much less stressful. I knew he was a powerful man worth more than I probably would ever be, and as he said multiple times, I was now partly a reflection on him. Anything office and business related basically went through me first. With that being said I was the person who dressed to impress, and give an overly exaggerated smile beaming my shiny white teeth, to everybody looking to meet with Joe. This went on over the weeks and the work was starting to fall into place. So much so that I now got the invite to certain dinner events to go and talk with other business partners in a more relaxed atmosphere.
While exploring a new city was fun, some other less exciting changes were necessary to maintain her picturesque appearance she’s mastered throughout her life. First on the list was finding a new doctor as well as dentist. She knew she would be due for a cleaning so searched for a reputable dentist near her apartment to make an appointment. She called up and got an appointment for Monday. Being a new patient she had to get a full exam as well as some X-Rays and a cleaning. She never was never one to dislike the dentist as she never had any issues. Sam went her whole life without even getting a single cavity and remembers throughout all her middle and high school days being told your teeth look great, keep doing what you’re doing. So that’s what she did, and knew her appointment Monday would be no different, or so she believed.
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Oh this one is interesting! I really don't know where you're gonna take the treatment in this story since you have that combo of needing perfect teeth and keeping appearances cause of the position Sam is in, but I'm interested in where this is going any why you chose to take it that way. This could be an opportunity to talk about a couple treatment plans not usually talked about (lingual, which I would imagine is kind of uncomfortable, or ceramic, which can be more obvious than people think) or something crazy with the justification that the ends justify the means. Thank you for sharing your idea, looking forward to where this one goes!
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Writing a story is a good way to get the necessary number of posts for the story section. Would you give me permission to add your story to my collection in TheArchive?
TheArchive is my personal collection of stories that I have collected over the years and share with anyone that is interested.
Braceface2018
TheArchive2018
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Good start there are endless possibilities of what sams treatment might involve look forward to the next installment
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Totally agreed to jonjon. Looking forward to the next chapter
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Chapter 3.
Monday morning came and she did the normal, brush your teeth extra good just to get them cleaned later that morning. She walked in to what would be her new dentists office, checked in, and was escorted to wait in the lobby. A few minutes went by and Sam was called into the back and escorted down into a chair where her new dentist came out and introduced himself. His name was Dr. Lee and immediately had a very comforting tone to him. He asked a few questions about myself where I said I was new to the area and needed a new dentist. He smiled a set of pearly whites and told me to lean on back and rest my head while he takes a look. He moved my cheeks around humming as he went mentioning that my gums looks really good, teeth look clean and had me bite down a few times over and over. Seemed to be pretty quick and my chair began to sit up as he rolled over beside me. He looked at me and asked if my previous dentist had ever mentioned anything about my bite or molars. I replied saying never, he always said my teeth looked perfect naturally and hadn’t mentioned a thing. I continued to ask why? And if something looked wrong. He proclaimed stating that my arches just seemed narrow for my mouth and that it cause my molars to not line up properly when biting down. He continued stating that something like this will cause your teeth to wear down differently and unevenly and would while may not give you any issues now, they could sure lead to issues down the road. He seemed very calm discussing this and I truly wasn’t exactly sure what any of this meant so I asked if I were him what do you do to fix this? His response was a referral to an orthodontist to further examine your teeth and bite. I knew what that referral could potentially mean and was honestly surprised how I didn’t need one my whole life and now of all times was when it was coming out. While my mind started drifting all over I figured I’d wanna hear what I thought I’d hear out of his mouth to correct this and really send my mind into overdrive. The words ‘You Need Braces’ hit me and left me speechless. I asked what other possible options are possible to which he said I could further discuss with an orthodontist and see what’s available. He gave me a recommendation for one he said was one of the best around and asked if I had any more questions. By this point I still didn’t know what to say and just shrugged. He said it was nice meeting you and hoped to see me soon ensuring me that a healthy mouth is what is most important in anybody’s smile. He departed while I stayed put waiting for the hygienist to begin my cleaning.
I laid there in the chair almost motionless with all these thoughts beginning to run through my head, trying to comprehend what was just said to me. All this and I didn’t even realize the hygienist talking to me trying to introduce herself. She said hi and basically leaned me right back prepping me for a nice thorough cleaning. I was trying to settle down and get my mind on track to something other than the appointment. I try thinking about work and what the week is going to bring and for whatever reason the word braces keeps resonating in my head. The thought for whatever reason makes me think back to college, when my roommate came back from Christmas break sporting a nice mouth full of metal. I remember thinking how brave it was for her to go through with it in college but never really thought much into it. I mean I also never went through the experience myself so never truly knew anything about the process other than how they looked. I could remember though how it almost was always the first thing somebody would say when they first met her. I almost seem to remember them being a hit amongst a bunch of us but never put a lot of thought into it. I could also remember her coming back from the bathroom at night and reaching into her nightstand pulling out a metal bar and having to slide it deep into the back of her mouth only to have it protruding all through the front of her face and strapping it back. She never really wore it other than as soon as she went into bed, and the second she got out. I too had never really questioned what it was and nor did I particularity have such an interest. The image of her and how she looked though kept coming back to me whenever the word braces was mentioned. I couldn’t explain it and was unclear if it was more of curiosity or thankfulness to never have to endure that. It stayed in my head no matter how hard I tried to shake it. Little did I know was that the hygienist was giving me a light shake to wake me up from my day dream. She said everything looked good and look forward to seeing me in 6 months. She smiled and said I was free to go and walked out of the room. I went to the front desk to check and schedule my next appointment. The receptionist scheduled a day and asked if I had the referral. I agreed and she said she called over and gave them a heads up of my arrival. She stated they have plenty of availability this week and said to call if I had any questions. I left the office and tried to figure out if this was going to be one of the best, or potentially worst weeks of my young life.
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Really unique take on the story and how Sam ends up getting treatment. Looking forward to seeing how that'll affect her experience.
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Splendid start! Heheh, looking forward to seeing what this girl gets!
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The current chapters have been added to TheArchive. I am looking forward to more of this story. It will be interesting to see where your mind takes us.
Braceface2015
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Chapter 4.
I walked into the office and situated myself at my desk opening up my laptop and looking at the schedule for the day. I wasn’t there shortly before Joe walked by greeting me Good Morning while walking into his office. I saw on the calendar a meeting scheduled in a half hour. I got up and met with Joe to discuss any last minute things he needed for the meeting to which he declined. He just smiled and said well you look awfully dressed up for a Monday. I didn’t think it was much other than a dress, some short heels and a cute top. I departed his office and sat back down ay my desk trying to get a few emails off. His meeting partners slowly started showing up and greeted them with a big hello and a smile while I escorted them into the meeting room off of his office. I began to find myself staring off in front of me taking in again all the thoughts from this morning. I couldn’t help but always going back to thinking about my roommate and what she went through and the effects. All I remember now is how amazing her smile was. I reached for my phone and tried looking through some old pictures to see if there were any with her sporting her shiny smile. After about 10 minutes I finally found a picture from the two of us out one night. The night vaguely came back to me but I remember us going out for some drinks after the college football game which let to us taking some big smiley late night pictures. I pulled the picture up on my laptop and tried to examine what exactly was going on in her mouth. I didn’t know much about anything orthodontic related but what I could easily see was what seemed to be a big bulky chunk of metal, glued to each one of her teeth. Attaching all those pieces of metal was a think wire tying everything together and two thick rubber bands keeping what seemed to be her mouth closed. I sat there starring at the picture not even realizing that I was running my finger all across my teeth. I could feel my face heating up and starting to blush as a tingle began between my legs. I was flushed and couldn’t believe what was going on. I immediately stopped and tried to compose myself knowing the meeting would be wrapping up soon. I minimized the picture knowing deep down that I wanted to further examine it at a later time. Like clockwork the meeting ended and they all seemed to make an abrupt departure. I checked in with Joe to see how it went and if there was anything he needed to which he further declined. I left his office, grabbed the card the dentist gave me and my phone and headed for the hallway.
I called up and scheduled a consultation for the first available time. They had an opening early Wednesday afternoon. I took it and ran back to check the schedule to see if I could get a longer lunch break due to the timing. The day looked pretty clear so I figured I’d run it by Joe and hopefully be in the clear. The rest of the day I focused on work and trying to do anything possible to keep my mind on work and not let it drift off again. The day came and went and I began packing up my things when Joe emerged from his office and asked if I wanted to grab a drink to discuss some work propositions. I obliged and figured anything to keep my mind straight right now would only be doing me a favor. We stopped at a place down the street from the office which had a nice upbeat vibe and some great music. We sat down at the bar and made some small talk learning a bit more about each other and our past. The evening went well and we were really able to connect and get on the same page with a lot of things. This was the first time we really had a one on one outside of the office which I think helped break the ice a bit since we basically were attached at the hip during work hours. Where he went, I went too bringing all his supplies, notepads, schedules. The job almost required us to be in tune with each others lives and help understand how each of us operated. Things were winding down and we were a few drinks deep where I figured what better time than now to ask for an extended lunch on Wednesday. I asked if I could potentially have an extended lunch due to a dental appointment that I couldn’t squeeze in any other time. He didn’t have a worry with it but made sure I was still onboard to sit down for our meeting later that afternoon due to a big meeting on Thursday. We wrapped it up and I was gonna head for home when I could feel my mind automatically drift back to the idea of braces. I tried to keep it together and was able to say my goodbye ultimately making my way home to where I might be able to just let me mind go and see what goes on. I get home and drop my bags making my way to the bedroom to get out of my work clothes and put on something a little more comfortable. I make my way to the kitchen, heat up some leftovers and pour myself a glass of wine. I plop down on the couch reaching for my laptop by my side. That one image is swirling in my head. I open my computer, bring up the minimized picture and there it is again. My roommate and I after a long night, smiling wide with her teeth just glistening from all the metal. Immediately I could feel myself getting warm and getting some strong mixed emotions. I can’t help but think about what it was like for her. Was it painful? What made her get them? Did she enjoy them? Does she regret them? All these thoughts swirling through my head as I stare at the picture and once again find my finger running back over my teeth. Now I am wondering what it would be like to have all that on my teeth? What would it be like to run my tongue with all the metal she had on my teeth? All these thoughts running through my head yet I knew absolutely nothing about them. I never had to endure having them so honestly had no idea what to expect. The only thing I did know was how they looked and that was the one thing that truly terrified me. The possible look of them on me weighed heavy having just started a new job and what they would all think. I mean I meet with tons of people every day and need to portray myself as a mature smart adult and would this have an effect on all that. Now my focus is on all the negatives and thinking, my teeth to me and everybody else have always been perfect. Do I really wanna change that? My mind swirled all night ultimately drifting myself to sleep. A mentally exhausting day was coming to a close and hopefully getting all the thoughts out of my system and onto a clear mind.
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I'm really enjoying this, nice and well written. Keep it up :)
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Chapter 5.
Tuesday came around and what seemed to already be a long and mentally exhausting week. I was going to try and keep a clear mind all day and stay focused on work and getting through. I left my apartment and headed off stopping next door to grab a cup of coffee and the small family owned shop next door. I reach the counter and order a large coffee with a pastry from the nice girl. She balks my order out loud and turns to me saying, that will be $4.50 while giving me a big smile revealing that she too had a full set of braces that were impossible to miss. I couldn’t help but stare and caught myself quickly. I said I’m sorry and that I liked her smile. She chuckled and said thanks, I don’t get that too often. I smiled and chuckled while saying that might be me soon so I couldn’t help but stare and re-emphasized my apologies. She handed me my coffee and pastry smiling again and saying don’t worry, we can be twins. My own idea of keeping a clear mind had already gone out the window. Who was I kidding, in that moment I couldn’t help but wonder what it was like for my teeth to be on the receiving end. I don’t know what it was but I could not get that thought out of my head. I mean of all things, here’s a girl starting off a brand new job in a brand new place, almost dreaming of the idea of having my mouth fully encased in metal. But why? Why am I thinking about this when I haven’t remotely had any similar ideas in my life. I couldn’t fathom it as i walked into the office and again made my way back down to my desk. I settle in and open my laptop immediately having it open to that very picture. I had to close it down and get my mind off the idea. As the day progressed I was successful at trying to keep a clear mind. The day went on as planned and I was getting ready to wrap up for the day. Joe was leaving and confirmed my longer lunch break was tomorrow. I agreed and smiled a cheesy big smile back to which he chuckled and said have a nice night. I made my way home and did my usual evening routine. Change out of my work clothes, figure out something for dinner, and work my way to the couch. I sat there and almost didn’t have an appetite just thinking about tomorrow. I had no idea what to expect. What were they going to say? How long and how involved would this be? Should I text my roommate and ask her what she thought or is that just weird. I was on an emotional roller coaster over something that many might see as so juvenile but was turning out to have a serious effect on me. I pulled out my laptop and tried doing a little research on the internet. What they look like? What types they have? How long does it take? I stumble across a blogger begging to discuss her journey to fix her smile. I open the link and begin reading, realizing that she too is very optimistic for the process. I get too the bottom and see a small thumbnail picture of her and say to myself wow she looks kinda like me. I click the link to move to her next post in her braces chronicle. On display comes a video with the process of her getting them on. I also then realize I know nothing of how they even get all of those things on each tooth. I open the video and seems to be a fairly straightforward but long process. It skips towards the end where I could see her smile revealing the finish product. immediately I turned beat red and could begin feeling myself almost getting weak and tingly. I knew that was enough for me for the night and made my way to the bedroom. I laid in bed still feeling weak and thinking to myself. Thats going to be me. I want to be that girl with braces.
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Great story. I like the details of Sam's thoughts about braces, the mix of emotions leading up to the orthodontist visit.
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Great next chapter. Really interested in how Sam will look like with a full set of braces and how your emotions will be as a brace face
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chapter 6.
The big day was here. I didn’t know what to expect other than I had a ton of work things to do this morning in prep for our big meeting this afternoon. I got ready and headed out the door taking one big look at myself smiling in the mirror. Not like I knew anything might come about after today but figured it couldn’t hurt but look. I stopped at the coffee shop again to see my new friend behind the counter smiling big again revealing all her teeth, ever so particularly tied in with each other with a series of wires. I smiled and asked do they bother you a lot? She kinda just looked at me as I awkwardly pointed to my mouth. She laughed realizing what I was talking about and said oh no you get used to them. I grabbed my coffee and headed out to the office. I worked my way to my desk and settled in beginning to get everything planned out for the day. I was anxious but knew I had to stay focused. The morning seemed to crawl and I found myself begging to get nervous. I was at the point of sheer excitement to an almost pit in my stomach to the point that I didn’t want to eat. I had an hour till the appointment and it seemed to take forever. I tied a few loose ends together and gathered some of my things stopping in to see Joe before I headed out. I popped up and said I had to run and that id see him this afternoon and flashed him a big smile as he nodded me goodbye. Would this be the last time he saw my teeth like this?
The trip to the orthodontist office seemed like forever. I felt like my heart was pounding out of my chest. Was it the uncertainty of my demise? The thought of what my new look could be like? The thought of him saying everything is fine and send me on my way. I felt it could have gone any which way and it was only a matter of time. I was now standing in front of the office and I walk in glaring right at the receptionist in front of me. I walk up and introduce myself stating that I have an appointment. She hands me a clipboard with some forms and instructs me to have a seat and fill them out. I sit down and glance around at the few people in the waiting room. It seemed to be mostly kids and one other young adult I would say in his early 20’s. He saw me looking and I have kind of a half ass smile. He gave me an awkward smile back revealing that he had braces and didn’t seem quite too confident with them. They called 2 of the people waiting back as I was finishing up my forms. I handed those in and was instructed that they would be with me shortly. My mind is all over the place doing circles in head. My name gets called by a girl from the back room revealing her beaming perfect smile. She escorts me towards a chair similar to the one I sat in 2 days ago for my cleaning saying the doctor will be with me shortly. My legs are shaking when I see a man who seems to be my age roll next to me in his chair introducing himself. He too like my dentist seems to have a very calming and relaxed attitude. He makes a little small talk and asks what brought me in here and what I was look to do. I responded saying I was new to the area and recently had a dentist appointment where he stated my arches were a little narrow therefore my bite not lining up as it should be. He asked if I had any prior orthodontic work done to which I declined. He said my teeth looked in pretty great shape for not having much movement corrected. He then leaned my chair back and asked me to open up while he could take a look. I went through the same procedure as earlier getting his fingers felt all through my mouth and having my bite down multiple times over and over. It didn’t seem to take long before the chair was already working its way back upright. He basically concurred with what my new dentist had said and had the assistant take me over for some X-Rays. He explained they will do some quick scans and then meet in his office to discuss a plan. I followed the assistant to another room where I got more X-Rays taken as well as my mouth stretched to what seemed like places it didn’t wanna go for some pictures. This wrapped up and made my way to his office where he was looking at my X-Rays. He had me take a seat at his desk as I sit right in front of a display of teeth all covered in various types of braces and appliances. He glances up at me and says so would you like the bad news or the bad news??
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Double bad news.... Bad for her, good for us.
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He will tell her that he needs braces and 30 more braces or he will find that she wants the braces just for fun.
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Great job, looking forward to reading the next chapters!
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Chapter 7.
I sat there pretty stone faced when he turns his computer monitor showing my X-Rays. He shows where my teeth are positioned and how they narrow out in the back of my mouth. He explains that this is how my teeth have always been and is usually tried to correct by widening the jaw in younger patients. He stated this obviously didn’t occur with me and my teeth have kinda stayed in position since. He took a model out and showed how my bite is supposed to line up vs how mine actually is. He did agree that looking at my teeth from the front you would never know there were any issues, but where my teeth are right now are causing problems and will continue to unless corrected. He could tell I was trying to take the info in and process it. The biggest question going on in my head over the last few days was now my main focus and I basically blurted it out. How do we fix this and what are my benefits? He chuckled and said well your benefits are a nice healthy smile, while includes a good and healthy bite with no issues down the road. Getting there is where it takes some time. I swallowed trying to gauge how I was feeling. He could tell I wasn’t too familiar with a lot of the terminology he was using. He pulls out another model with perfect teeth and points to all my molars. He starts with the upper and says we need to widen all of your upper molars. In your case we would fit you with an expander which goes across the roof of your mouth and is going to attach to bands that go completely around your first premolars and first molars. He explained that it is used to try and widen the palate and get your upper molars to where they need to be bite down correctly with your lower molars. I was following him and seemed to make sense to me. He goes back to the tooth model and now points at my lower teeth. He exclaims that we need to do the same with my lower molars and expand them out a little further so they will then be in the proper position to line up with my upper teeth. This too seemed to make sense to me yet didn’t know exactly how this would all get done specifically. He puts the tooth model down and then lifts up the one right in front of me that I seemed to glance down to throughout this conversation. He says last but certainly not least, your molars will be shifting around and now we need to align everything together and close some of the gaps the expanders will create. We do this using braces and for your specific case I wouldn’t recommend anything other than these, the metal braces almost identical to the ones my roommate sported throughout a year of college. At this point the words resonated through my head and I began feeling flushed. He began describing many other things that just seemed to go in one ear and put the other. I heard him say I know its a big commitment but will be worth it in the end and turns out your new insurance will cover a good portion of the cost. I ask what now to which he says well we agree on the treatment plan, put a down payment down, and figure out when you want to begin. My juices were flowing back to the thoughts circulating in my head the night before and I blurt out lets do it. I ask what’s next to which he says I would need to come back and get some molds taken for the appliances and spacers put in to make room in my teeth for the bands. The appointment had taken less time than I had imagined and I joked asking if we could start today before I change my mind. He laughed back and said if you wish stating that it shouldn’t take long. He escorted me out to the chair and discussed with the assistant the plan of action. He came back over and explained the process one more time ensuring that I was onboard. He did make it a point to say that while my mouth is quite narrow right now, the appliances are going to feel extremely bulky in the beginning and assured me that I was still on board. I agreed and rested my head back in the chair. The assistant completed the molds taking them away and dropped a handful of what looked like blue cheerios on a little moveable table next to me. The assistant explained that these go on each side of the teeth that are going to be banded and that I will feel a fair amount of pressure. I complied and looked over briefly trying to count how many I was about to get stuck between my teeth. I count 12 and think there’s no way all of those are going on but I do as I’m told and lay my head back. Sure enough I can feel one by one them getting stuck between my teeth. I sit up and she hands me a mirror showing them and giving a quick run down on how they work. I can immediately feel the pressure and can’t say I completely hate it. As Im looking in the mirror I can see them clear as day. 8 on the top, and 4 on the bottom. I can’t say they were as discreet as I would have imagined but what was I going to do. I got up and worked my way to the door to meet with the receptionist one last time. She instructed me that they will call me when my appliances come in and to allow a few hours for my next appointment. I agreed and headed out the door thinking the process has just begun.
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Good story. I like the build up and the mixed (?) emotions. Please continue.
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Interesting story... Looking forward what will happens next in her treatment plan
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Chapter 8.
I was on my way back to work as pressure began amongst my molars, while also feeling an empty stomach feeling wondering what exactly did I just get myself into. Do I tell people what I am doing or do I just go for the surprise approach. Why didn’t I even ask if there were other options or anything a little less noticeable. Im realizing I was so caught up in the idea of having braces and everything surrounding them that it drowned out all of my thoughts. I let my emotions control, not even realizing I have an extremely sociable job with a big high roller who ultimately uses me as a reflection on him. How do I explain to him that he wanted me for a position for me to look the part that I did so well throughout my whole adult life. I knew I had to tell him but how and what would he say. I channeled those thoughts and walked back into the office putting my bag down and begin finalizing a few things before our meeting. The meeting was with a few prospective clients and I sat in to take notes for this one and work out the timing for some of their proposals. I walked in the office saying hi to Joe and giving him a few papers that I had prepared before the meeting. He kinda looked at me funny asking what I had for lunch. I exclaimed that I didn’t end up having anything I Jut had to run out for an appointment during my lunch break. He replied saying, “Oh alright. It looks like you have some blue stuff stuck in a few of your teeth”. I began to blush saying yeahhh I kinda would like to talk to you about something if that’s alright. Right as I said this some clients began walking in and we stood up greeting the new arrivals. The meeting went a bit better than expected and I could specifically notice one of the guys paying a large interest in me. I noticed him always trying to take look at me and kinda shoot me a stare. Was he staring at my mouth? Or was it the fact that I had a top on that might have seemed to fit a lot more conservatively at home then it did at the office. The meeting wrapped up and they all departed looking to review the topics discussed and meet up again to make a business decision that wold hopefully work out for everyone. Joe turned back to me apologizing for our conversation getting cut off and asked what I had to tell him. I basically froze not even knowing how to tell him or even what to tell him for that matter. All I could blurt out was “drinks after work”? He laughed and agreed and said you really have a way with words. It was shortly before the day was over and Joe came out ready to go signaling to me to come on. We’re make this an early day. I wasn’t gonna argue with that and gathered my things and we headed out.
We made out way out of the office headed towards the sports bar a few blocks away. He was making casual small talk with me about how the meeting went and all I could feel was my teeth beginning to throb. Ive never felt my teeth so sore and began pushing my tongue on my teeth as I began to feel more pain. I began to think about all this soreness from 12 mini rubber bands, what’s it gonna be like when these bands getting replaced with something a little stronger. We headed up towards the bar and figured I needed something a little strong to help with the pain and my confidence to tell my boss his assistant is about to look like a 14 year old girl. I ordered a vodka drink and began talking about work and the plans for the rest of the week. He interrupted saying how about we talk about something other than work. He said you have something to tell me and you are scared to say it. He smiled saying I know I haven’t worked with you long but don’t worry I’m trying to figure out. He looked right at me and said so why don’t you talk to me about those little guys that you’ve had stuck in your teeth since lunch time that my little sister had back when she was in high school. I was almost frozen and didn’t really know what to say as he sat there with a smirk on his face like he just figured me out. I really didn’t know how to sugar coat so I took a big sip of my drink and said I have to get braces. I apologized and said apparently you realize things you don’t know when you go to new dentists and I’m not exactly looking forward to it (which was kind of a lie). He just chuckled saying its no big deal and he’s not gonna judge. I continued to apologize and express my concerns about looking the best for the park and how I didn’t have many options and began to kinda ramble on. He put his hand on me and said relax. I want to work with you as a person, not with how you look. That made me feel better and safer that I wouldn’t have to worry about him tossing me to the curb for how I look. He ordered me another drink before we wrapped it up. I apologized again and he ensured me not to worry. We walked out to go our separate ways and him telling me that there’s a dinner on Thursday of next week with the clients from today to finalize a few things so try and keep your calendar open. We both smiled and went our separate ways.
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Chapter 9
The remainder of the week was rather uneventful and the pain in my teeth more or less subsided. Now I just felt like they were annoying as it felt like I was constantly biting on something chewy. I was sitting at my desk when my phone rang, I glanced down seeing it was the ortho office calling me. I picked it up with them saying my appliances will be in on Monday and to schedule an appointment to begin. I figured I could make Tuesday work since the morning would be slow. They jotted me down for 9 am and told me to expect approximately 2 hours. I hung up and thought to myself how in 4 days, I’m going to look like a totally different person. My thought of braces began swirling in my head again and I pull out my phone and decided to google expanders. I didn’t know much about them other than what was explained but figured id do some reading up on them. It for sure looked pretty intense and beginning to read about everyone needing to learn how to speak again because they could cause a lisp began to worry me. I think about this dinner on Thursday and realize that all eyes for the meeting are gonna be directed at my mouth. It was nerve-racking but realized there’s nothing I can do. Whats going to get done is going to get done.
The weekend came and went and here I was back in the office on Monday stressing about tomorrow. Tomorrow was the big day whether I liked it or not. I had Joe about what was going on since I needed to make sure I could take a few hours off in the morning. I tried not to dwell on it and surprisingly found the day to go by rather quickly. I began wrapping up my things and popping in his office to say goodbye. I said goodbye and tried making humor out of the idea saying to make sure you say goodbye to these teeth too. He had a good personality and chuckled. He joked saying not to worry, honestly with technology nowadays I’m sure you’ll barely be able to see them. I didn’t really know what to make of that and left. I headed home thinking of what he said when it dawned on me. I never told him the extent of my treatment by any means. For all he knows I might be getting Invisalign and trying to be as discreet with them as possible. There was nothing I could do now and walked in my front door, dropped my things and settled in for the night. I relaxed knowing tomorrow will be a totally different story. i brushed my teeth and flossed knowing this would be the last time for a while that something like this would become so effortless and easy. I took a long look in depth at my teeth and a deep breath knowing this is it. Tomorrow is the day.
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good story, looking forward to the next part :)
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Really enjoying it. The shock for her boss but also probably for her is a thrill. Nice when somebody doesn’t know too much then suddenly realised they’re in too deep
I can’t wait for more, thanks for sharing with us.
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Chapter 10
The big day was here and got up nice and early. I had to think about what to wear. Part of me was saying something comfortable yet had to look somewhat presentable for work after. Decided on a nice black dress with some comfy flats. I figured I had a good excuse today if I looked kinda crummy. The butterflies were setting in big time as I worked my way to the bathroom again examining my teeth one last time. I ran my finger over my teeth feeling how smooth they were and how smooth they weren’t gonna be in just a few short hours. I gathered my things and knew this was it. I headed out on my way to get braces. The trip to the ortho office seemed like it took forever. I starred at the door thinking what did I do. Before allowing myself to think I walked straight in and said to myself lets get this show on the road. I walked in and headed to the receptionist. She gave me a big smile asking if I was ready for my big day. I replied as ready as I’ll ever be and she escorted me back into one of the chairs. The assistant came over introducing herself again and placing a bib around my neck also asking if I’m ready for a big day. She said the doctor would be right over and to make myself comfortable. The butterflies in my stomach were going crazy and couldn’t believe what I was about to do. Anybody who knew would be shocked to see me about to endure what going to happen. The girl who naturally seemed to have everything so easy was about to look like a middle schooler. I glance over at the table next to the chair and I see what looks like the mold they took of my teeth. Looking at it I could see the bands he was talking about. 4 bands on top with 2 at the bottom. I sat there smiling while putting my finger on the tooth that would be banded and thought to myself, yup that’s gonna be very noticeable when I smile. I could see what looked like a button on the outside of the band that would go around my premolar as well as a button on the outside of my lower band. seconds later here comes the ortho rolling over saying good morning and picking up the molds of my teeth. He pulled them apart and explained to me exactly what they are and what they would be doing. He started with the lower showing me the bands that will go around my rear molars and the bars that come together into a screw mechanism that will sit behind my lower bottom teeth. Next was the upper and showed me the 4 bands with metal all going into another mechanism that he explained would sit along the roof of my mouth. Between the molar bands were also bars connecting that alongside the inside of my teeth. This would be used to push all my molars out evenly. He explained that my mouth is going to feel very full but will get used to it and my speech should return to normal with practice. I had to admit I was feeling a bit nervous, as the appliances looked pretty intense. He said lets get them fitted and will be the worst part of today and then see where were at. The chair began to recline and I knew this was the last time feeling my empty mouth.
The assistant came over as well and removed my spacers. She grabbed a cheek retractor keeping my mouth open and my tongue back. She grabbed the upper expander and placed it in my mouth checking the fit. It felt very tight trying to go in and was extremely tight trying to get the bands to go over all my molars. After a few attempts and adjustments it seemed to fit good for them. They left it in my mouth and grabbed the lower one and began fitting that in. Luckily this one seemed to have a lot less adjustment and seemed to fit quite good for them after only 2 attempts. She removed the cheek retractor and I could feel it for the first time. Holy Shit. I immediately thought to myself, where does my tongue go and what happened to my mouth. I felt around at my new hardware and boy was in intense. He wasn’t kidding about it feeling huge in my mouth. The doc came over and asked how it felt to which my reply was nothing short of gibberish. Holy Crap I couldn’t even make out sentences clearly. This is going to take some getting used too. He had me open up and bite a few times over checking the fit and making sure everything was ok. He seemed content and instructed the assistant to go ahead and cement them in. The cheek retractors went back in and out the expanders came. From here on out they would be permanently in my mouth. I had to think about that and realize there was no ‘I’m sick of this and need a break for a few hours’. There was no going back. I laid back as I repeated the process one last time after a nice thorough cleaning of all my teeth. The expanders were placed and cured in place. With my mouth still wide open I would feel a paintbrush on all my teeth. The assistant said they were cleaning them extra good to help with the glue. I rested back closing my eyes feeling vulnerable as I could feel something getting pushed on each of my bottom teeth one by one. They worked around my bottom teeth and out came a light to harden them all in place. She grabbed the cheek retractor and slowly pulled it out of my mouth. Again I got the feeling like what is going on in my mouth. I could now not only feel the lack of space in my whole lower teeth, I could now feel the brackets glued to each of my bottom teeth. The doctor asked me how I was feeling and if I wanted to stop here and give me some time to adjust or finish off today and place my upper brackets. To be honest I felt like at this point I was so far invested, I didn’t wanna have to go back and redo the process so I mumbled back to just keep going and finish off. The temptation was killing me and I asked to see a mirror. The assistant handed it to me and if I wasn’t shocked enough just feeling everything going on. I was now when I saw it. I couldn’t believe how visible everything was. The molar bands around my premolars with the gigantic buttons sticking out just looked intense. Couple that with the lower expander and that alone was enough going on to be like she has some serious dental issues. I placed the mirror between my legs as the chair began reclining back. They worked on my upper teeth one by one putting the brackets. I could feel them all and decided to take one last look. All I could see was metal with the exception of my front freshly whitened 6 teeth. One by one they slowly disappeared behind a piece of metal getting cemented to my teeth. I couldn’t believe what I saw. You could barely make out that there was any white left in my mouth behind all the metal. They cured all the cement and I was officially a braceface. The lip spreaders came out as the assistant asked what color I wanted. I decided to keep it to silver and they laced the wire in-between all my brackets tying them off with a silver ligature. I could slowly feel the tension and pressure build as each tooth was tied down. Id be lying to say for whatever reason that I didn’t slightly enjoy the pressure slowly being created. They finished tying everything in and sat me down to go over everything. The orthodontist rolled over to my side asking how everything felt and I couldn’t help but mumble out a few words. He assured me that the speech would improve significantly with practice yet could still give you a bit of trouble due to the lower expander. It was a bit late to consider my next question but I asked how long all of this would take. He began to explain that due to me being an adult and my palates being primarily fused together that we would have to do thinks more gingerly and cautiously. He said if all goes well we hope to slowly complete expansion over about 6 months. While this is going on we will slowly be adjusting your bite into a more optimal position. Once expansion is complete we like to keep everything in place for at least another 6 months to ensure no relapse. We’ll begin shifting your teeth around for about the next 2 years and leave you with a perfect smile. There’s always chances we may need to alter the treatment as things progress but will deal with that when the time comes. He pulled at a key and showed me how to begin turning the expander. I was to turn the upper every week while the lower one every other week. He showed me how to insert the key and push back to begin the expansion. Immoderately I could feel even more intense pressure among all of my upper molars. He moved to the lower and could as well feel significant pressure. He handed me the key and said we will see you in about a month to see how you’re making out and if you’ll be ready for a few extras. I stood up trying to lick my cracked dry lips as they could barely even make it over my teeth. I made my way to the receptionist to schedule my next appointment as she did her best to understand the words I attempted to say. I got my appointment card and hung my head walking out the door. I pulled out my phone and looked at the camera to check out my new smile. A sea of metal across my whole mouth. The intense pressure within my mouth and closing my lips only to find that my lips couldn’t go over the giant brackets and premolar bands. There was no hiding them. I snapped a picture to save the moment as a text comes through the top of my phone. It was my boss saying dinner has moved to tonight. Does that work for you? Did I even have a choice as I walk outside with nothing but a mouth full of pain and the distinct taste of metal filling my mouth.
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That was a great chapter. I eagerly awaiting an update and it didn't disappoint 8)
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Can't wait for the next installment!