Orthodontically challenged

When I was a teenager, I had braces. My mouth is small, so they pulled a bunch of teeth and shoved them all together in a nice, straight line.

When I was in my late twenties, I got braces again. (The teeth had started to move, healthier bite, TMJ, blahblahblah.) They put in this contraption and stretched my jaw apart, because that’s what they do now. So then I got these big gaps where my teeth used to be. The plan was to get implants (teeth, that is) shortly after the braces came off.

But then I got pregnant. And then I was breast-feeding. This made the implants impossible because it’s a several month process and involves several rounds of anesthesia. There’s a much longer story about incorrectly made retainers and opening up spaces, but, essentially, this cycle repeated from Neko on down to Ellery.

So I finally went for my consultation to get my implants, only to discover that, although the teeth have remained properly spaced apart, the roots have crept over into the gums above the gap. Bottom line…no implants unless the roots are moved. My choices? Destroy four perfectly good teeth to accommodate two bridges or go back into braces.

So on December 19th I get braces again. Feel free to consider it a day of mourning.