Ode to the retainer...

In fifth grade I wore headgear. All 24 hours long. Every day. Just like I was told to. Nasty ugly thing that it was! I felt like a bumper car at the fair with that thing sticking out in front of my face all the time, but figured in the end it would be worth it and I would be done with it sooner than later. True that was, I was done with headgear in less than a year.

Then came the braces. Add to that the rubber bands and the regular tightening appointments at the orthodontist's office. Oh the sore mouth! I remembering not wanting to eat ANYTHING just for the fact that my gums felt bruised. Two years later I was through with the braces! Hooray!

I had perfectly straight, healthy, shiny teeth! And a permanent retainer to keep them in place... I hated flossing around it, but what was a kid to do?


A few years later I had dental work done that they had to cute through the permanent retainer to do... and then again a year or so later... after a while of patching up the darned thing I could no longer floss around it. So they took it off. And gave me one to wear at night.

This is where I fell off the wagon. Hard.

nighttime? when you get to college isn't that the time you are supposed to sleep? Remember to wear my retainer.... Ha! It had been a few years anyhow right? What was the likelihood that my teeth would move now anyways?! (I assumed, not high)

Well, I was sorely mistaken. Now I have a big gap between my two front teeth. And to fix it doesn't just mean something simple. Oh, no. It means braces again. OH THE HORROR. Why, oh why didn't I wear my retainer? I now realize that I effectively chucked my parents well earned money down the loo.

Grrrrr.