So you have been blessed with accolades. Ugh, the joy of frequent canker sores, the restrictions of eating delicious foods, and the eternal brushing routine. Are braces really worth the inconvenience they cause? Do the results triumph over the pain?
Why suspenders?
“Braces are devices used in orthodontics that align and straighten teeth and help position them in relation to a person’s bite” as defined by Wikipediaand they look like this:
Why Are Braces Commonly Called a “Teenager” Thing? For this, it is important to remember the main purpose of braces, which is both aesthetic and related to health.
As we know, teenagers are very aware of their outward appearance, of which the smile is a major determinant. And I, like my peers in my teenage years, gave in to the belief that outer beauty matters more than anything because your face is what a person sees first, right? Now, I was lucky and naive enough to believe braces were “cool,” but countless rom-coms would prove otherwise. The media has always associated braces with an awkward, ugly, and embarrassing phase of life. It’s common knowledge that braces + glasses = a complete nerd, who’s never touched a makeup brush, hasn’t heard the word “fashion” since the Barbie phase and has his nose buried in books . You do not believe me ? Well, Katie Perry’s “Last Friday Night” MV backs up all of those claims.
Despite these stereotypes, I tempted fate and begged my parents to get me braces.
The trip
My first appointment remains etched in my memory, because that’s when my dentist used this terribly corny line: “Now this treatment is not something I give, but something you takeOkay?”
But before I knew it, they were resting on my teeth like they had always belonged there. I had never felt so accomplished in my life and I could already imagine that beautiful smile with perfectly aligned teeth.
So when the dentist told me some pain the first week was normal, I thought, “Huh, how bad could that be?” Future me would probably describe it as “hell in your oral cavity”. My mouth became a reservoir for ulcers/canker sores, linea alba on the inside of my cheeks and constant stabbing pain. Although some people don’t feel any discomfort at first, if you’re going through this heinous agony, it doesn’t mean you have a “low threshold for pain.”
Over the first week, my mouth got used to the presence of small bits of metal on my teeth. The pain was gone and I was able to eat whatever I wanted (as long as no one reported me), even though the orthodontist had clearly advised me to avoid dried fruits, bagels, gum, sweets , bread, chips and anything that involved a biting motion by my front teeth, which is literally everything. The only time I felt half the affliction I felt at first was when I had to have my braces tightened every month, but that only lasted a day.
The real deal comes at night, when you walk into your bathroom and grab your super soft bristled toothbrush to brush away those jewels. It starts with a series of strokes in which you brush your teeth, followed by intense flossing.
It might not seem like much, but when you’ve had a day full of teachers pissing you off, parents who can never understand you, and friends who are too cool to care about you, it seems almost impossible to spend a whole 10 minutes in the bathroom when all you really want to do is kick the hay.
The verdict
So are they really worth it?
Yes, because when i started to see my teeth moving and aligning after a few months, i couldn’t describe the excitement i felt. People started commenting on how they were really moving forward, and the feeling was uh-ma-zing.
So go ahead and pick up that floss no matter how tired you are because one day everything will be then worth it!
