braces and retainers

For some reason, I have a very very small mouth. This means that, naturally, my teeth are really crooked. When I was smaller (before year 5 - you turn 10 in year 5) I didn't particularly care and some people thought I looked cute. I'm not talking your run-of-the-mill crooked teeth, and it seemed to worsen as I got older and lost my milk teeth. I had quite a big overbite, bucked front teeth, and both my top and bottom rows of teeth were like a repeating pattern - one forward, one back, one up and one down. It was not pretty and I was really embarrassed about my teeth so I had this strange lip smile that didn't actually look like a smile. Basically, I avoided photographs at all times and when I failed I didn't look very nice. On top of that I was quite a chubby child so I don't have that many photos of me when I was younger. It jumps from baby and toddler me to 14 year old me - which is when I had been wearing braces for about 2 years.

I got braces in February 2010. Contrary to what most people say, it didn't actually hurt very much at the beginning (which I later found out meant that my teeth weren't moving/moved very slowly) and I was quite happy. My mum had told me since I was young that I would need to get braces and in year 8 braces are relatively exciting. I adjusted quite well actually and didn't really mind my braces. When they were tightened every other month I just ate a lot of soggy Weetabix and yoghurt for a week while my teeth hurt. I also ended taking a lot of paracetamol because sometimes the pain was just a bit too much and I couldn't resist.

Most people get their braces off after about 2 years, give or take a few months. I had my braces for almost 3 years, so I was ecstatic when I got my braces off. It was good timing actually since around this point I started to dislike my 'metal mouth' just because, well, I'm a teenage girl. Since my teeth straightened back in year 10 I've started smiling showing teeth since that's my only good smile face and now with my teeth all straight from my braces I really don't mind taking pictures anymore.

One thing that I didn't realise when I first got braces was how long it would all take. After your braces are taken off, you get a retainer. I was fully aware since a few girls in my form and my friend had had their braces taken off before me. Thing is, I didn't know that I would have to keep wearing my retainer until I am 21, I think the orthodontist said. And the retainer is a lot of maintenance, at the beginning you wear it full time and develop a nice lisp. This wasn't too good since I talk, a lot. Really quickly. But then after a few weeks I was told to only wear it at night for a year then every other night. It's so much effort, having a retainer is like having two sets of teeth to brush and sometimes the toothpaste stays on my hand and I need to go back and wash my hand again. Plus, my teeth move during the day and the retainer moves it back at night so my teeth have just become really sensitive. Similar to what a lot of people have said, sometimes I would rather just have my braces back. They were a lot less effort since they were stuck to my teeth.