It’s a right of passage to have braces throughout your teenage years. Waking up with your jaw locked and your wire hooked to your tongue builds character. Not being able to eat anything without it lodging in your teeth may dampen your mood, but at least if you’re hungry a few hours after eating, a piece of food from your last meal is released. The sun reflecting off your bracket and lowkey blinding someone with the shine humbles you, but it is all part of the experience. Thankfully, this experience is coming to an end. After eight LONG years, I am finally getting this torture device removed.
It all started in 2018 when I first got these things on. In elementary school, you were cool if you had braces. Luckily for me, my teeth were pretty jacked up. So much so that the orthodontist created a multi-phase plan for me (hence the eight years). I’ve had every piece of equipment in my mouth that you can think of. Spaces, springs, the whole 9-yards. In ninth grade I had forsus springs, which is basically a thick, slinky looking thing attached to your wires. It made noise when you opened your mouth, and you couldn’t eat anything without half of it migrating INSIDE the spring. Since I have had multiple “phases”, I have had the pleasure of getting the braces on, off, and getting fitted for a retainer more than once. People assume I got these train tracks reattached to my teeth because I didn’t wear my retainer enough. Which is not true. I mean, yes, I probably could have worn it more, butttt this was the plan from the beginning. My braces have seen multiple orthodontists through the years, with their OG creator retiring. No way my metal mouth has outlasted the employees who put them on. My little cousins who call me “Sarah with the sparkly teeth” are even getting tired of my having them. They asked me, “aren’t you a little old to have braces?” Yes. Yes I am getting a little old.
As much as I am hating on these metal straight jackets, I am a little bittersweet about them coming off. It feels like the end of a major era. I am used to getting out the waterpick after every meal. I have never eaten a nut without braces. Will the chomping experience be the same?
