SCL and I thought it would be a good idea to add a few photos on my blog to show me and my teeth "growing up." Basically I wanted to talk a little bit about how it felt watching all my friends take their journey with braces and me sitting and watching while knowing I may or may not ever know what that journey is like…until SCL of course! :)

Growing up I have always had some insecurity issues with my teeth. I was very much aware they need much work to be done! However, what I haven't spoken much about was how it felt watching all my friends get their braces on and complain about it while inside, I was dying to have them but knew that it wasn't as easy as it looks.

I remember one time I was at my best friend Missy's house and she was in the braces process and she had to have a spacer in and oh man do those things look painful! But she complained all the time about how she didn't even want braces. I didn't think she needed them either but her mom could afford to put the metal on her teeth to fix the little things she needed done to improve her smile.

It’s funny to look back now and think that most of my friends growing up have at least 1 or 2 school pictures dedicated to the classic "brace face" smile, which was usually in about the 6th-7th grade and I'm sure if you ask anyone they would say they "HATED" their braces. However, if you ask me, I'm going to be smiling and looking like a 12 year old all over again when I get my braces on because I never "had" the chance to experience the process!

I'm so grateful to get braces through SCL and Dr. Colby. You better bet I’ll be happily smiling! :D Sure the only downside is I already am petite and look very young for my age…and slapping some metal on my teeth is going to make me go from 18 to 14 really fast!

Most of my friends say I still look 16 anyways, so there's nothing I can really do to help it (when I am riding about 35-40 I’ll be loving it RIGHT?!)! Some of the pictures if you look at me and then look at my friends, they had the straight teeth and in a few years from now when I look back at pictures, I too will have straight teeth!

If you also look closely at my pictures growing up, I had a real "space" problem with my teeth. They were spread out very far apart and didn't come together until around junior/senior year in high school.

As far as what's going on right now, I have to have a procedure done on my jaw to correct it and we are waiting for my insurance to send me and Dr. Colby a letter confirming or denying the coverage of the procedure. The procedure will not take place before the braces however; it will take place about half way through my braces or basically when my teeth are all aligned and in place.

I have contacted my insurance and they do cover the procedure so I’m crossing my fingers that there won’t be a problem. This waiting period should take about 6 weeks or less! I’m hoping for the best because the next step is my BRACES! :) :)