Retainers, bleh.

Sorry it took me a while to update you on my teeth status, but I turned into a narcissist and I look at my teeth on my free time... Ok, not really! I'm just a procrastinator ^-^' (Which one is worse??)

Anyways... Here's my story! Pictures too!

When I got out of the ortho, they told me to come back at 1:30 AM for my retainers. Ok, no biggie. I drove to Walmart, bough candy, went home. I then began to eat, and smile, and be in love with my teeth. It was amazing! I was so happy to have my braces off. Time flew of course, and it was time to go get my retainers.

They passed me to a small room with one patient chair and a couple of regular chairs, the assistant told me to wait there. There was a man sitting there at the computer, giving me his back. I had seen him before, when I had my impressions taken. I waited for 5 minutes or so, and a guy in black scrubs came in. He was very nice and asked my name. He then shuffled through some baggies (there were three), and got mine. He opened it and took out a black case and gave it to me. "This is yours", he said. I looked at it and I though: "Pretty!! ^-^". Looks like this:

Glossy black with silver glitter, very nice.

Then he told me to open my mouth and put in my top retainer and bottom one. Both with some struggle and stretching of my face. He asked if they were bothering me, I said no. I heard myself. Not a lisp, but definitely something weird with my speech. Then he told me that I was supposed to clean them with water and a toothbrush. I asked if I should use toothpaste, and he said: "No for the retainers... but yes for your teeth". I was like, "Duh, yes, I know I need to use toothpaste for my teeth...", I almost felt offended :[ Then I noticed, I couldn't close my mouth. I asked him if that was normal, and he said that it was normal because the plastic wouldn't allow it. Sucks. Then I looked at myself in the wall mirror. Oh noes. My teeth looked huge! He asked if there was poking or anything. There was a little discomfort in some parts, so I told him, and he took my retainer off and went somewhere to get it filed down. While he was gone, I got up and looked at my teeth up close. I hated how I could see where the plastic ended, and wondered why they couldn't file it down to the maximum. When he came back, he put the bottom one back in, and asked if anything was bothering me. I told him that a part was bothering me in the top one. It wasn't really bothering me, but the plastic was too high and I felt it looked ugly. He took it out and went to get it filed down. He left some papers for me to sign, basically telling me that I'd received my retainer, blah blah blah, and a little guide on how to care for them. Then I took my Hello Kitty compact, and looked at my bottom retainer. I touched them, and I felt a sort of crack in between my front bottoms. When he came back, I asked him why it felt that it was broken, but he said that it wasn't broken, but that he couldn't file it doen anymore or they would break.

Semi-open mouth :]

Then a girl came in, and the guy in scrubs told her to take a sit. He asked me once more if it was comfortable, and I said yes. So he asked me to get up. I asked if I was done, but he said that the ortho has to come check me. The girl and I switched seats, and then another girl came in, wearing very high heels. The guy repeated the whole speech of the retainer case, and how to clean them, etc. Then the two new girls switched seats, and once again we heard the "speech". "You're gonna memorize this, right? Haha", joked the guy. Then he said that the ortho was coming, and he left. The girls and I chitchatted a little bit about how long we had braces for, and stuff like that. The girl in high heels said she even had to have surgery in another town, and that the insurance had payed for the hotel and everything.

Then the ortho came and started checking us. She satarted with the girl in high heels, because she was still sitting int he patient chair. Then it was my turn, so we switched places. She said: "Bite down", but I did, but left a big gap. She said: "Harder", and I did, and she said: "That's better", but I still couldn't bite all the way down. Then se said, looking back to the guy in scrubs: "Very nice...". Then she grabed my x-rays and said, "Oh no, wisdom teeth! You're going to need those out". I felt kinda sad then, like someone had hit me in the stomach. Then I switched seats with the other girl. They examined her, and the ortho checked also her x-rays, but that girl had had her wisdom teeth removed recently.

Then the girl in high heels asked me if we brushed the retainers, and the ortho overheard and said to the guy in scrubs: "You're going to explain all that to them, right?. And he said: "I already did!". But he repeated again, then joking: "If you'll remember... See, she scolded me..."

Then the other girls were asked to go get their appointment, and so we said bye. Then the ortho gave me a paper with "recommended extractions". She said that if I didn't get them out, they would ruin my teeth. Then the ortho left, and the guy with scrubs said that he thought they would come out by the time I was 21, so I should get them out before that. He asked if I had insurance, and I said no, "You'd better get one", he said. That made me nervous, but I tried to calm myself by thinking I could take a quick "trip" to Mexico and pay way, way less for the extractions. Then he sent me to get my appointment. I sat with my piece of papaer, worried. Then they called me and gave me an appointment for MAy 5th, but I have a presentation that day, so she changed it to May 6th. She also gave me the phone number of a dentist, for my extractions. Then I left. I walked to my car where my mom waited for me.

"Look!", I said, pointing at my teeth, "It's plastic!". She said: "Let me see!". I didn't tell her about the wisdom teeth until we were already on the street and out the parking lot. It made me clamer that I had shared that with her, she would know what to do.

Then we laughed on the way to the grocery store, about how I only got 3 hours of teeth freedom. That's funny :]

So here are some picture of my teeth with the retainers on. These were taken on April 8th, a week after I got them, so they're not as clear anymore:

You can see where the plastic ends, at least I don't smile like that... :

Closing my teeth as hard as I can without feeling like I'll break them:

Very open. If you click on it, you can see that on my left (right on the picture) front tooth there is a little horizontal white line. I hate it ;-;