Brace Yourself: It's an Orthodontics Post

My braces and me, age 11*

When I was Archer's age, I had my first consultation with the orthodontist. He was a kind man, quiet with (obvs) perfect teeth and a smile that filled the room. I had to have one of those palette widener things because my mouth was too small for my teeth and everything was a mess. I had a key I had to turn every few weeks and from 5th-6th grade, I made this awful sucking sound when I talked because the palette widener thingy made me salivate to such an extent I was literally choking on my spit at all times. It was AWESOME, let me tell you.

And yet, I have fond memories of the orthodontist. The doctor was nice and the technicians were chill and eventually, the expander was removed from my mouth, only to be replaced by braces. Which I REALLY REALLY WANTED until I got them and hated them--except during the holidays when I could color coordinate my rubber bands. (Black and Orange for Halloween was a solid look.)

I had braces for three years after two years with an expander and after that, wore a retainer (mostly just at night) until I was 18. Eight years I spent with shit on my teeth. (I actually STILL have a retainer cemented to my bottom teeth because I was too lazy to have it taken out and now I've had it most of my life and am attached. Literally attached. But also emotionally attached.)

All of this to say that my formative years were spent in an orthodontist's chair. So when we started looking into selecting an orthodontist for Archer this summer, I felt naturally nostalgic/apologetic/hopeful that we would find a cozy place to commit the next decade-plus of our lives (assuming the whole crew will need braces and/or something similar) AKA I assumed a very similar orthodontic experience to the one I grew up with. Which was lovely.

AND I WAS WRONG.

So wrong. WRONG WRONG WRONG INFINITY WRONG.

You can read my entire post, here. Big love and warm emBRACES to all...

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*this is the only photo I could find of my braces *actually showing* during the almost three years I wore braces. Apparently, I was not fond of smiling much in those days which I very much regret now that I am adult in need of photographic evidence to include in this post. 

GGC