It’s one of those traumatic experiences that is etched in my memory.
I cried the entire way home and sat in class with my mouth shut the entire day. I actually made a friend do the talking for me if a teacher asked me a question.
Hard to believe I know. Can you imagine me not talking for a whole eight hours? Impossible right?
Well it happened for a whole week. The experience was so distressing for me, I hid in the bathroom to eat my lunch — which basically consisted of two fruches because I couldn’t eat anything else.
I didn’t want anyone watching me eat, let alone looking at the creamy yoghurt-like mush get stuck in all that wire.
I knew the taunts — train tracks, metal mouth, brace face. And I was determined not to be at the receiving end.
So my plan was to keep my mouth shut for two years until they came off.
I obviously didn’t think that plan through and by the second week, I was back to my usual self.
I’m hoping that’s what it will be like for Ayla. Because my biggest girl will also be wearing them for the next two years of her life.
Unfortunately there was a bit of a hiccup last week when the orthodontist discovered the top of her mouth is too narrow so he could only put braces on her bottom teeth.
Which means, for the next two weeks, she has to wear a metal bar across the roof of her mouth that needs to be tightened with a mini wrench (yes, an actual wrench) twice a day to widen her mouth before the top braces are fitted.
That is an ordeal in itself. The sight of me armed with a wrench, slowly delving into her oral cavity was too much to bear for my terrified daughter.
A list of empty threats and devastating consequences didn’t help either.
Until I gave up and told her to do it herself. Surprisingly she did, so that’s one hurdle overcome. Only 730 to go.
Another obvious challenge for her is eating. Because her mouth is so sore, I’ve had to resort to mashing all her food. So her diet at the moment consists of soup, yoghurt and ice-cream and not necessarily in that order.
It’s an emotional time for her and I just have to think back to how I felt when I was in her situation.
I remember how painful it was having my braces tightened every month and the discomfort I felt when I had to use elastics.
While the long-term effects far outweigh the short-term pain (celebrity landscaper Jamie Durie once described my smile as perfect), it’s hard to explain that to a 12-year-old girl who can’t eat what she wants or close her mouth fully, drools a little more than usual and is super self-conscious about her ‘‘mouth full of metal’’.
She’s also pretty devastated about the fact that she won’t be allowed to chew lollies or have soft drink for at least the next two years.
I really have to fake my empathy with her on that one. That last thing we need is to replace the damn things because she’s got fizzers stuck in her braces.
I don’t need any more judgement from the dentist thank you very much.
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