5.26.2011

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.

33 comments:

  1. oooh Lily you scares me :(
    i have bad teeth so i need braces to fix them. and, your post makes me think twice for having braces. but, i have to fix my teeth

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  3. Ririz,
    Haha, don't worry! My dad's a dentist and he does ortho all the time. He's a goofball and he's tons of fun. Just make sure to "shop" around for the right dentist (one that doesn't scare you) before you agree to treatment.

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  4. This was a really funny post. I've never had braces so I don't know what you went through, but it sounded terrible. Congrats on getting them off.

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  5. Great post! Finally, someone who knows what it's like to have braces. I was reading through your post, and I kept saying to myself, 'that is so true!'.

    Congratulations on getting them off though, I still have a year to go. Freedom will come for me eventually, just another painful year without all my favourite foods. Haha!

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  6. Yay!!!
    Your experience sounds similar to my brothers. 3 years of braces, 6 teeth extracted. BLAH!
    I'm lucky my teeth are only marginally crowded.

    But still.. YAY FOR FREEDOM OF THE FANGS!

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  7. I actually kind of missed mine when they came off..is that weird >.<" hehe..

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  8. Memories, like the corners of my mind...it all came back to me reading your post, so glad to have them off!

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  9. When I had braces, the only thing my ortho got onto me for was not wearing the rubberbands to fix my overbite. I still have one. XD And I ate all those kinds of foods that you're not supposed to anyways. Never broke my braces!

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  10. my sister had braces. she had to get 4 teeth out but she kept them. they were so horrifically LONG!!! u wold never have guessed that those titchy little things had so much hidden in the gums!!!

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  11. I know how you feel! I had braces, but my story is a bit different from yours. I had them for less time, and the only teeth I had yanked out were baby teeth so I guess it wasn't too bad, but I made a lot of fuss at the time! but i had them for less time because I had something else, something oh so horrible and much worse- headgear!!! You know in Charlie and the chocolate factory, when Johnny Depp is like 10 and has than horrible thing around his head, well that was basically what I had. I only had to wear it at nights, but it made me look like a horse with a bridle on, or something with a cage around it!!
    I love hearing other peoples brace stories!
    www.styleisalwaysfashionable.blogspot.com

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  12. I pretty much went through the same braces experience you did... I've had them for nearly two years and just have another two months to go. I have spacers that hurt like crazy and I also had four of my teeth pulled out. My orthodontist actually is a little old man, but he is probably the meanest person I've ever met. Once he asked me if I was in pain after he put a new wire in, and when I replied "just a little" he yanked it tighter and grinned. Also, when he's working on your teeth he often puts his hand so its shoving up on your nose or poking you in the eye. I yearn for the day when I get these accursed bits of metal out of my mouth...

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  14. OMG I feel soooooo bad 4 U but the thing with the water is pretty funny...

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  15. i HATEEE my braces. and nyu, wow. i would've been scared to get students doing my braces too. but i love nyu :)

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  16. ..give those carrots hell..

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  17. woooow. ... that sounds scary, all the stuff you mentioned i mean. :P now I know I never want to get braces done :D hahaha :) oh, and by the way, I really enjoyed reading it. :) you're good in expressing yourself :)

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  18. Haha! I just got my braces off too! I was so happy the first thing I did was eat a pastrami sandwich completely covered with lettuce and didn't have to pick the lettuce out from behind the wires! It was the best sandwich I ever had. So yeah, I totally feel your pain. But one thing I simply must add on to is the holes in your mouth that you get... holes the size of golf ball divots. Oh the pain! It makes me cringe just thinking about it!

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  19. Hahahaha, wow that sounds like a similar experience I had a few years ago when I got my braces off!! I went to a university to get mine done as well and it was... well not quite as smooth as I had originally hoped. Anyway I feel your pain but, you're right: it's only going to go up from here!

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  20. Your blog is hilarious! And yes not being able to chew gum would suck. New follower!!!

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  21. OH MY G O D. The day I got off my braces I think will forever be marked on my calendar! Okay, well that's an exaggeration, but it was basically the best day ever. The worst was that they gave me a permanent retainer that will NEVER come out. My orthodontist will always hold part of my soul.

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  22. Wow!! What a relief!! What a sad experience you had. You suffered a lot and now its time to forget it and enjoy!!

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  23. I got my braces off 18 years ago- this brought back all of the horrible memories. I remember my teeth hurting so badly that I could not eat a reese's peanutbutter cup! I had mine on for a little over 3 years and at the end I used to eat all kinds of stuff to break the brackets off. It turned out that the orthodontist wouldn't take off my braces until my parents paid the rest of the bill- so my dad took me to a different place to have them removed.

    Isn't so crazy how smooth and slimy your teeth feel? From being someone who has been in your shoes, trust me the memories of the pain will fade and you will be oh so happy not to have crooked teeth and that you have a nice straight beautiful smile. No pain no gain!

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  24. Hmm... all these exact same things happened to me at my old man regular shiny orthodontist. And happened to all my friends too. Odd!

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  25. I feel exactly the same way, I can't wait to have my braces off... however, I have a lot longer to go...
    oh well, I'll just have to avoid the carrots for a bit longer. Toodle doo.

    www.elizabethrebecca.blogspot.com

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  26. oh believe me i know EXACTLY how you feel! i got mine off in february of this year, and i was CRAZY excited! i had them for the same amount of time as you did, and i had the spacers. luckily i never once broke a bracket. BUT i did have a separater. here were my instructions:
    "take this key, find the whole in the middle, and three times a day CRANK the key around one whole turn. it will make your mouth wider."
    my instructions literally were to CRANK the key! seriously?! it was the worst experience ever.

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  27. THAT IS ABSOLUTELY FRIGHTENING AND I FEEL SO BAD FOR YOU. That is so much worse then anything I went through... I don't think I could have done it! (forcing my mouth to get wider...) OW... ps. thank you all so much for all the comments!!!!

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  28. I had braces before but now I have to get them AGAIN. Unbelievable unfairness! But... Now me is wery SCARED!!!

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  29. HI! I just found your blog and this is the first post I read in the "about me" section. I have had my braces on for 18 months now and hope to get them off this summer. Adult braces are the WORST!!!!! but they brought you a new follower - Me.
    Looking forward to more of your ramblings!

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  30. HAHA. The animal on the picture looks adorable with the braces. :p Is that even for real? Well, it's a good thing you've finally taken off your braces! A lot of my friends have had their braces on for years! :D You're the only one I know who was able to get rid of those that fast. Hehe.

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  31. Is the application of braces really that painful? The pain may have been caused by your overcrowded teeth. Well, I'm sure a better smile would be worth all the pain and discomfort. Care to post some of your pictures with your braces on?

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