Wednesday June 13, 2012. Mom and I pull into the parking lot. My nose is buried in the pages of Half Brother, by Kenneth Oppel while my little sister Emmah,sits in the backseat, finding a groove to the music on the radio. Today, things change. I'm getting braces.
I don't really know how I should feel about this, maybe I should be nervous or maybe I should be dreading that I'll be metal mouth and train tracks for the next two years, but the only emotion I can pin down is excitement. "You ready for this?" Mom asks. I shrug.
"As ready as I'll ever be." I pull down the sun visor in the passenger seat, flip open the mirror, and take one final look at my crooked smile. "Alright." I say with a sigh. "Let's do this." We walk into the building and find the right suite. The orthodontic office is small, with a coffee table, some magazines and Emmah's favourite, a nook with video games.
"Hello!" The lady behind the counter sings,
"Hi." I smile at her.
While my little sister gets lost in an intense Super Mario battle, I take a seat beside my mom and crack open my book again. I've just barely finished my page when the lady tells me I can go back into the room. I hand my book to my mom and walk through the door.
"Hey," Another lady says to me. "Just take a seat in the first chair." I walk past a few small rooms, almost all of which I've been in before for consultation, x-rays etc. There's an open space with four or five dental chairs and I sit in the first one, as directed. I look across the room to the last chair. The very one that I sat in just a few weeks ago to get molds made of my teeth. I remember watching another girl that day, probably my age, sitting where I am now and thinking about when it would be my turn. Now it is.
The lady comes around the corner. "So, you nervous for today? Or excited? or just dreading it?" I laugh.
"Actually, surprisingly, I'm excited." She smiles.
"Good. It's no big deal really."
"Yeah," I say. "My cousin and my friend were both telling me the braces didn't hurt that much...going on." She gives a light laugh.
"Oh, no. Going on they don't hurt at all. Afterwards they get a little sore, but not much." I smile at her and as if on cue, the orthodontist comes around the corner and sits in a chair.
"Hello." He says.
"Hi."
"Who came with you today again?" He asks.
"Uh, my mom...I mean, my sister came too, but I don't think that matters." I laugh and the lady gives me a friendly smile. The orthodontist slides his chair up to me and explains what exactly he's going to do.
"It shouldn't take long." He says. "Maybe twenty minutes."
"That's it?" I say sarcastically.
"Yup, it's pretty easy actually." He puts the chair back and asks me to open my mouth. For the next few minutes it's occupied with suction tubes, some large pieces of metal that stretch my mouth all kinds of ways and several other tools that I can only feel. I stare at a sprinkler in the ceiling with great interest until suddenly he stops. I think he might have finally finished polishing my teeth when he sits me up. "Ok," He says. "You're braces are on, I just have to attach the wire and you're good to go." I'm surprised.
"That was fast." I say. He shrugs.
"I told you, it's easy." I probe the metal squares with my tongue.
In seconds, my wire's on and I'm finished. The orthodontist walks me over to where there's a sink with mouthwash, toothbrushes and floss and tells me to rinse up while I wait for my mom. Slowly, I half open my mouth, scared for what the results might be. I'm relieved when I see that I don't look half as bad I as was expecting. I had specifically told them not to put coloured braces on and now I'm glad that this was my decision because I actually like the way I look.
My mom comes into the room and the orthodontist explains certain pressure issues that I'll have and how to treat them and whatnot and after he leaves, the original lady that greeted us shows me how to clean my teeth. There's a wax I can use in case the braces are scraping my cheeks, and a special brush that goes between the wires, and plastic needles that I need to use to thread the floss. It's basically a ritual that I have to perform after every meal. And already, I'm not looking forward to it.
When the lady finishes her speech, she hands me a plastic bag with supplies and mom and I walk back out to the waiting room. I can't stop touching the foreign metal with my tongue. "So," The lady says. "You can call us if you need anything, or if you have any questions." It's then my mom has the idea to ask about food choices...mistake.
"Nothing sticky or crunchy or hard. No meat on the bone, and for the first few days, no toast." She says. The second lady I met is sitting beside the first and continues,
"There's a list in your bag, but to get more specific: No nuts, popped corn, gummy bears, caramel, toffee, potato chips, chicken wings, bread, gum..." the list goes on and the more she talks, the more my heart starts to sink. "So," She smiles afterwards. "You still excited?" I laugh.
"Yup!" I give a sarcastic grin.
Once we're back in the car, Emmah passes me a gift bag from the back seat. No doubt she's made me something to help make the transition into my braces easier. "What's this?" I ask and as I open it, I smile. She's painted me a picture. Of a teddy bear. Holding a bouquet of flowers and smiling. On his teeth sits a silver pipe cleaner that looks like a set of braces. "Thank you!" I giver her a hug.
"It's your braces buddy!" She says. I love my little sister.
As we drive out of the parking lot, I pull down the sun visor again to get a better look at my mouth. Me and my braces buddy, we match. This won't be so bad. I think. But as we head onto the road my stomach growls and I'm filled with a terrible thought. What am I going to eat?
