When an orthodontist comes through your cashier lane

To be honest it has been a while since I’ve last blogged. Nothing too drastic has changed on my teeth. I am still wearing my rubber bands. I have learned they can be quite entertaining to people. Little kids especially get really intrigued by them! As a cashier, I see hundreds of people a day. Of course it’s in my job description to smile. It’s a must for me to show braces because quite frankly I just don’t have a good “closed lipped” smile. One day, a week or so ago, I had a guy come through my lane. I asked him my routine questions and the only thing he replied back with is, “Who is your orthodontist?” I was confused because I had only asked him, “Did you find everything okay today?” He was stunned by my braces! I then went on my spiel about SCL and about Dr. Steven Colby in Edina, MN. I live in River Falls, WI, so Edina is a bit of a drive, but worth it to have such an amazing orthodontist! So far I have loved my treatment. Sure, braces are stereotyped as only for children and young teens, so I do look younger than I am, but I wouldn't change it. I have waited too many years for braces to become sad about people’s comments calling me a baby-face or too old for braces. When did braces come equipped with an age limit?

Back to my customer: He just loved Dr. Colby’s work so much and congratulated me up and down saying, “He is making your smile look just beautiful and your teeth just gorgeous! I am an orthodontist myself so I can see you’re in good hands with your teeth!”

His comments made me really happy and renewed my confidence as a 20 year old with braces. Since all my friends have already gone through the braces stage I am doing this alone. It’s just nice to know there are other people that focus on the end result rather than questioning my age because I have metal in my mouth.

Besides, changing my band colors is like painting my nails. I love picking the color! I decided to try gold once which turned into an embarrassing few weeks. It is not a color I recommend. It just doesn't work well. Yellow isn't too bad, but gold is a NO-NO!

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!

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! :) :)

It's Finally Friday!

It's the end of my first week of appointments with Dr. Colby for orthodontic care.

Monday was my first appt. It wasn't anything to huge. It’s just the beginning remember. As I sat patiently in the waiting room I thought to myself, “Today's the day you've been waiting for!" "It’s finally the beginning of the road to straight teeth!"

My name was called and I got to go back to sit in the chair. Dr. Colby came in and we met said our greetings and then he examined my teeth. After about 3 minutes he was done.

We sat down in his office and had a little talk about what things I may need before braces... ORAL SURGERY! :( Ohhhh NOOO!

It's not a positive yet, but because my top teeth go behind my bottom teeth (under bite) I may need oral surgery to realign my jaw before actually straightening them.

I can’t get oral surgery! How am I supposed to afford that? Did I have too much hope when I found out I was accepted? Before I lost hope I had to go to a place called “Cranial Facial.” I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some good news!

Seriously Unbelievable!

I got ACCEPTED! I found out through an e-mail from the SCL program coordinator, because she knew how antsy I was to find out, and when I read the e-mail my jaw dropped! I screamed with joy and started to cry. It was tears of joy!! I cried so hard. It was truly the best feeling I have ever felt. I called my boyfriend - he is everything to me and the best supporter I could possibly have- he’s truly incredible - and I told him the good news. He was so happy for me as well, he knew how much I have wanted this and how important braces were to me - even though he tells me daily how beautiful my smile is “just the way it is." I honestly felt like I just won a million dollars! It was seriously unbelievable.

Just being told I was accepted gave me a feeling of confidence. Better than the one I built up on my own throughout the years of being teased about my teeth. It was as if I had already had my braces on and off! It’s truly the greatest feeling ever; and I owe it all to Smiles Change Lives.

For me, this isn't going to be my typical first appointment. Yes, I will be doing the same thing I have done at every other first appointment I have gone to at the orthodontists, except this time I KNOW I will be going back! This time, there will be more than just one appointment.

I may have had to wait until I’m 18 to start my braces process due to financial problems but it has been worth it; this has been worth every trial I have had to go through my whole life. I truly believe it has made me the person I am today. I am so truly grateful to have Smiles Change Lives on my side. Thank You!

A sense of hope...

At the end of April I went to my dentist for a cleaning and checkup. I had a new dentist who I really liked. Once again she told me how much I need braces. At this point, with my increased insecurity, I broke down. I started to cry sitting in the chair. I couldn’t help it. I told her how bad I wanted to have braces, but I just couldn’t afford them! She told me, "You know, Christina, I believe you suffered a lot of pain and confidence issues due to your teeth. I know of a program that may be in your reach." She looked up the program called “Smiles Change Lives” and downloaded the application for me; she gave me the information and told me all about the process. She said she thought I had great potential on getting accepted into the program.

I went home that day with a sense of hope. I e-mailed Kirsten Myers from SCL to ask her, since I am now 18, if I was still able to qualify for the program. She e-mailed me back and said, “Yes,” and that if I were to qualify after the screening I could be accepted! That day I finished my application. I remember talking on the phone with Kirsten and she told me she had a screening open in the beginning of March, only a couple days after I faxed in my application. I got the screening done with and then the wait began…