Love-Hate: the Orthodontist

Normal people with braces have appointments every 6-8 weeks.  I have them every 3-4.  I've had my braces on for 2 1/2 years...and have up to a year to go.  Yippie.  Anyway, I had an appointment today and decided to tell a little about the goings-on in my mouth.  Once upon a time, the dentist told me I'd never have to have braces.  You now see how far that hope got me.  After having my braces for about a year and a half, I had to have oral surgery.  They went fishing for one of my canines that was stuck way up in my gums and sideways.  They opened me up (thank goodness I was asleep; when I got teeth pulled they only gave me laughing gas), glued a little bracket to the tooth, attached a gold chain (yes, legit bling), sewed me up so that only the chain was coming of my gums, attached the chain to my braces, and over the next year cranked the chain until the tooth came down into its spot.  Mind you they then had to rotate the tooth (maybe the worst part), close the space they opened to let the tooth in, and tuck the root.  It took a year to get here (worse than a baby) and caused me the most physical pain of my whole life.  I will be more thankful for my left canine than probably anyone else in the world.  I also have a molar that decided never to exist, so when the baby tooth fell out, there was nothing there.  There is still nothing there.  They will soon be driving a stake into my gum to move all my molars and my wisdom tooth over one spot.  At least then I'll be able to chew again-- and someday, somehow I will have a beautiful smile.  That's the love part of the relationship :)