Today my youngest got his braces off. It was very exciting and he was happy to get them off. Until it came to all of the work of actually getting them off.
I have never had braces so I didn’t know how it all worked. They just pop the brackets off with a little tool. They don’t loosen the glue or anything. Then you have to lay there as they grind off all of the glue with a little baby sander. (I don’t know what dental tools are called but I do know a few construction tools.)
Then they glued a wire on to his bottom front teeth for a permanent retainer. Then they had to take impressions to make plastic retainers kind of like invisalign braces. (I have had impressions done and those totally stink!!!) Then all the pictures for before and after which are amazing! Then a fluoride treatment that took 4 minutes with plastic trays in his mouth.
The entire process took about 2 hours. Now if you know my monkey you know he doesn’t sit still very well or at all. This is torture for him having to sit still, keep his mouth open and tilted and have all of this stuff in his mouth.
The thing is though that he isn’t afraid of saying enough. He isn’t afraid of telling them that something hurts. Me? I just lay there gripping my hands together until they finish. Does it take longer when you ask to stop? Yes, but you get a breather and a break for a minute.
I love that he was confident enough to say no let me breathe. From now on I am going to be more confident about just asking for what I need. Too often I am one of those people that just wants you to read my mind. No more!
Day 7 – Ask for what you need and stand up for yourself!
