B-B-B-Braces.

I would like to introduce you to a new part of my life; freedom of the fangs.

I had braces for 2 and a half years. Some argue that is a reasonable amount of years. But they do not know what I have been through. Pain. Pain I tell you PAAAAIN.

First of all, I don't go to any orthodontics place. A place with some old orthodontist that knows what he's doing, with a gentle, slow paced procedure on the teeth. Oh no. My orthodontics aren't the ones that give you a choice in color for the braces, or a say in how long or short the wire is, ohh no... No, no, no. My orthodontics is at NYU. Which means I am being operated on by STUDENTS!

I remember sitting in the chair and one of the orthodontist students was trying to take off the wire and was having a hard time. She said, oooo oooo oo! *gasp* OOO.....All I could think of was how desperately I wanted to leave, when she apologized for breaking one of my brackets. It was her first day. Now why in all of Mesopotamia would they put someone that is just starting on my beautiful teeth? Oh, wait, yes I know why! Because this is NYU, and they are students, and we are paying slightly less then we would with an old orthodontist in a shiny office so no big deal. You can break my brackets whenever you like. Go ahead.

But that is just one thing... The whole process started out with teeth yanking. They had to remove four of my teeth dew to over crowding. And do you know what was the worst part? Worse than the needles stuck in my gums to control the pain, worse then my mouth becoming numb for hours and being incapable of drinking water (which was actually pretty funny, I would try to drink water and it would fall directly out of my opened mouth onto the sidewalk). The thing that was worse than the actual removal of the teeth was the fact that the drugs in my mouth made me somehow forget to ask to keep my teeth! NOW COME ON... These were awesome teeth! Really long, pulled out from the root. Freaky awesome teeth, and I forgot them in the doctors office!

Then came the spacers. Little blue circular things painfully wedged between what was left of my teeth. The thing with the spacers was the problem I had with eating. I literally could not eat anything. Maybe apple sauce. All I know is I went to my favorite restaurant with my parents and sister and could not eat the chicken fried rice! I MEAN COME ON! I felt like my teeth were inadvertently going to fall out of my mouth. They all felt so loose. I was genuinely scared to wake up and see all my teeth gone.

Another problem was of course... the fact that I always broke the darn brackets on hard foods. I remember being scolded by my orthodontist after breaking a bracket, "YOU WILL NEVER GET THEM OFF IF YOU CONTINUE TO BREAK THEM!" And so of course, the next appointment I had broken another one. When I went back to the orthodontist to get it fixed, again, all went well and I was quite happy! Yay, my bracket was fixed. So I was walking home with my dad when we passed a gum ball machine. And being the idiot I am I got a gum ball... And broke the same bracket I just got fixed.

If you have ever had braces you know how upsetting it is to break a bracket. Or not. I mean maybe it is just me, but whenever I heard a crack, or snap! or, suddenly checked to see if my bracket was still in place and it WASN'T, my heart literally stopped beating. I'd drop whatever I was doing and go to the mirror and see for myself if it was really broken... Again.

Whenever I'd break one I'd go through all this pain because, 1) they'd need to rewire everything and often made the wire too long so it stuck directly into my gum... OW... and 2) well, no that's it. Just emphasizing the pain here.

But guess what.

On May 3rd, 2011 I got my braces OFF.
FREEDOM OF THE FANGS.

I
CAN
EAT
CARROTS...

I
CAN
EAT
GUMBALLS

I
CAN
EAT
pretzels, and candy canes, gummy bears, and taffy...

It's not like I didn't eat these things but NOW...
oh, now I can bite right through the carrot without needing to take little baby bites until its all done.
I still find myself doing that.

I don't have a constant ache in my teeth, or if I sleep directly on my face I won't wake up with holes on the inside of my mouth, I MEAN OH MY GOD YEEEESSSSS

WEEHEE
WEEHEE

What have I learned from the experience?
Simply to warn others NEVER TO GET THEM BRACES.