Back In High School

Not that I'm physically there, but I sure feel that way right now. The other day, I was eating a hard roll and I somehow bent the wire that's cemented to the back of my top two front teeth. That tiny piece of metal is the only thing keeping my teeth from having a terrible gap as there's tons of space in my jaw and my teeth are relatively small (and I still even have a baby tooth left... what a weirdo).

Anyway, I had braces in my mouth for four years which happened to spill into my first year of college. I was mortified at having to go off to school with a mouth full of high-school-style wires and brackets, but it's what I had to do to straighten everything out in order to create the wonderful smile I have today. Er... rather, the wonderful smile I had up until three days ago.

So I got the braces taken off, and I wore a retainer for a little while, but I was too vain and insecure to wear it all the time, so I only wore it at night. Consequently, my teeth shifted every day and then went back in place every night, which hurt a lot and I'm sure wasn't good for my jaw... so after a couple of months, I asked my orthodontist about a possible solution.

Fast forward five years and I still had the same metal wires connecting my top two and bottom five front teeth. I know they're there, but unless I take pains to point them out, nobody else does... so it's kind of my own dirty little secret that I've still got High-School-Mouth. My own secret that is until today... because as a result of my hard-roll-slip Friday evening I had to go to the orthodontist again today. He confirmed my fears-- my precious top-tooth wire was bent. So he took it off, permanently releasing my now-gapped front teeth, sanded out the cement from behind them, and instructed me to "suck it up and wear my retainer for three weeks... and don't take it out!" until I can go back for another wire (hopefully) to be cemented in.

Argh. Life just has so many challenges! ;)

(Here I've graced you with a photo of my currently glorious smile. Please ignore my apparently ginormous nostrils! Also, take heart in knowing that my parents are now affectionately referring to me as "The Grille.")