A new experience

For the first couple of weeks, I have to say I absolutely hated my braces! Well, let me rephrase that, not the braces themselves, just the pain. The pain of not being able to eat all the foods I love to eat! However, I have learned to survive, and surprisingly, I’ve been doing amazingly well. There are some lessons I had to learn the hard way (especially that pickles are a NO- NO! And I love pickles). After an incident I had while eating a pickle, I had to play orthodontist because while eating a pickle I bit down hard on a space where there is not a tooth, and my wire came out of the back bracket.

After calling Dr. Colby’s office they said, “Either you can drive to here to have us put the wire in or you can take tweezers and try and get it in yourself. “ I decided to try it, and 25 minutes later—it worked! There are some lessons not worth learning, like chewing gum or eating hard candy with braces. Those are sacrifices that are worth making! I know that I’ve worked so hard to get the chance to have braces and I still love the fact that when I smile, people tell me how much my teeth have changed. I know that this couldn’t be possible without SCL and Dr. Colby. Everyone at both places have been so great with have patience with me during this whole process.

SpAcErS & BrAcEs!

After booking my two appointments, I was able to get spacers in on April 21^st. I didn’t know what spacers were exactly, but man did they hurt! I couldn’t chew too much on my right side for a while because of the pain (FYI to anyone who is getting braces and doesn’t know too much about the spacers…flossing where the spacers are is a HUGE NO NO! I learned the hard way).

On April 28^th I went to my orthodontist appointment to get BRACES! I was still in shock and basically couldn't believe I was finally getting braces. However, while sitting in the waiting room reading a magazine, I became incredibly aware of my guilt that I was one of the lucky ones that had been approved by Smiles Change Lives to receive braces, and I have been lucky to have an incredible orthodontist (Dr. Colby & his wonderful staff) that went above and beyond to make sure I would have the chance to get this treatment.

I think I felt so guilty because my whole life I was turned down for braces, I just never thought I would actually be getting them. Then I went in to get worked on and when Dr. Colby came in to check on me and talk to me he explained to me that he was very happy and relieved that we had gotten everything with my oral surgery figured out and how he was told by many that he "didn’t have to work this hard," and he, "didn’t have to go this far" for me, but he said, “No, I do, because if I’m going to be doing this for Christine I want to do this the right way.”

Dr. Colby then explained to me that, “We achieved what I thought was impossible and after all of this Christine, you will basically be getting about $50,000 donated to you.” I think I was just about to start crying because I was so startled to have faith that people like Dr.Colby are still around. Smiles Change Lives has changed everything about my life, and that kind of feeling is hard to find but never leaves the soul. I didn’t ever think my health insurance was actually going to cover my surgery. I just sat in my chair as they worked on me and thanked God that there are people and foundations that put in every effort to help others who need it.

My next appointment is in June. I have my braces now; I picked a tropical pink for my first color and for once, I can’t stop smiling. Right now I’m still sore from having braces put on and it’s hard to get use to it. I can’t eat too many things, but in time I will be able to eat what I want again. I can’t thank everyone enough who helped my case become what it is today. Thank You!