by Linda Ann Nickerson

Created on: March 31, 2009   Last Updated: January 01, 2012

Sink Your Teeth into This One.

I'd been dreading this dental appointment for weeks, and it wasn't even my appointment.

Somehow, my middle schooler's entire orthodontic process was leaving a curiously bad taste in my mouth. It certainly wasn't the dentist's fault. Still, as the dreaded appointment loomed, I began grinding my own teeth with trepidation for several reasons.

Rubber Band Banes

First of all, my middle schooler was not exactly wearing her orthodontic rubber bands daily, although the dental hygienist and orthodontist had expressly instructed her to do so. These dental professionals had painstakingly shown us diagrams and dental molds, flow charts and photographs, to demonstrate the effectiveness of their orthodontic strategies and programs.

If my daughter wore the tiny rubber bands religiously, attaching her upper canine teeth to her lower molars in the prescribed spring-like fashion, she might anticipate the removal of her dreaded braces within three months. If she failed to wear the elastic torture devices, she would have to endure a longer stretch with hardware in her mouth.

Although I persistently pestered my preteen to put on the rubber bands, I recalled my own orthodontic experience and remembered shooting tiny rubber bands across a junior high study hall from my own braces.

Brushing Blues

From the first appearance of my daughter's first baby tooth, erupting through her shiny pink baby gums, we had practiced proper oral hygiene together. I purchased the tiny infant toothbrush and gently buffed each little white incisor, as it appeared. Before long, we stood at the sink, side by side, brushing our teeth together.

"What more could a parent do?" I wondered. Surely my child would become a paragon of perfect dental hygiene.

Of course, my highest hygienic hopes were dashed, as we began the braces process. Visit after visit, the dental hygienist rehearsed the perils of poor toothbrushing with us. She showed us pictures of teenagers with perfectly aligned teeth with glaring yellow and white spots on them.

"This is what happens when the braces come off, if you fail to brush properly," she scoffed sweetly. (Is that even possible?)

As another orthodontic appointment approached, I dreaded the certain reprisal. Perhaps a parent never fully disengages from feeling frowned upon for his or her child's misbehaviors.

Missed Appointment Mayhem

To make matters worse, our entire family had somehow overlooked the originally scheduled orthodontist appointment.

Any parent can imagine my embarrassment, as I picked up the ringing home phone to hear the orthodontist's cheery receptionist's voice. Did we really schedule a late afternoon appointment for a braces check on the last day before the school vacation?

Sheepishly, I rescheduled the session, hanging a big bold sign on the refrigerator door. We would not forget this one again. Would we?

Flashing the Fangs

Perhaps the good Lord gave preteens a surplus of personality, simply to restore proper perspective to parents. Maybe we simply take ourselves (and others) too seriously.

At the scheduled time, my daughter and I seated ourselves in the orthodontist's waiting room. The dental hygienist called her name. She settled into the examination chair.

As surreptitiously as possible, I peeked over the two-year-old gardening magazine to see what verdict might be passed upon my youngster. The orthodontist pulled his spinning stool closer to the now reclined chair and adjusted his glasses. What did he see?

My daughter eagerly opened her mouth to display a sparkling white set of plastic Halloween vampire teeth.

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