A little bit of back story: My wisdom teeth started coming in when I was about 14. As that’s pretty freaking young for them to start coming in, my dentist didn’t believe me, and they continued to attempt to claw their way through my gums for the next year.
Prior to this, the most frequent compliment I ever received was, “Wow, you have really straight teeth!” I never needed braces and everything was peaches and sherbet.
Once they finally x-rayed my mouth at the more wisdom-tooth appropriate age of 15, they saw that all four teeth were coming in at a rather daring angle, and had almost emerged to the gum line. They recommended that I try to get them out within the next two weeks to prevent any further damage.
I get them out shortly after (even though they had to dislocate my jaw and break the wisdom teeth to manage it), and that was all fine and good. OR WAS IT?
Because, as time passed, when I went to the dentist they were a bit shocked by how very messed up my teeth had become. As I hadn’t gotten my wisdom teeth out before they’d started smashing the rest of my teeth together, I was going to need orthodontic help. At the age of 17.
The person I went to has been awarded the most dental awards of any orthodontist on the east coast. He said that I could do a course of invisalign, and be done with everything before the end of my senior year.
Except that every time I go back, they have to make further “micro-adjustments.” I have completed two full invisalign regimes. I have worn them for a minimum of 22 hours a day, every day, I have brushed my teeth in the school bathroom after lunch, and I did so willingly because, if I did everything right, they said I would be finished before August, at the latest.
August of last year.
Today I had an appointment. This was supposed to be my very last one. This was it. No more taking gross things off my teeth, no more feeling disgusting because after two weeks of constant wear, those things get nasty no matter how often you brush them.
Surprise! I’m not done after all! Apparently there are gaps between my teeth #11-15 about the width of a piece of floss. Which is, presumably, a bad thing. Now, this has never been of great concern to me. I have never been particularly anguished about having teeth that are slightly more widely spaced than one might desire. I didn’t even know it was a thing until today, but I guess it does give me a new thing to dislike about my body, so that’s great. Thanks for that.
With invisalign, they also attach small “buttons” to the teeth to target the ones they want to move. Last time I got them, they put them on my front teeth. So when I’m not wearing the invisalign, it looks like my teeth have weird pointy things coming out of them, and so I just try to keep my mouth closed whenever possible. I’ll be smiling at someone, and then realize, “Oh, shit, no, don’t look at me! I am hideous!”
So, there’s my freaking life story of dental work. I am not amused. They didn’t even tell me how long the next set will take me to get through. And while I wait for them to make the things, I get to go around with my freaky teeth points. At the moment, I’m kind of in a general mood of, “fuck you, dentistry! You’ve given me another thing to feel self-conscious about! I have enough issues of my own to obsess over, you bastards!”
But that’s just my bitterness seeping through, I suppose. Please do pardon my language.
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