Goodbye Braceface, Hello World!
By Melisa, age 13, Belgium
I was 11 when I first got them on and I was scared of showing them to the world, so I remained quiet and hardly smiled. I was pretty much known as "The Braceface," but not really in a bad way. All my friends would say I looked cute and so young, but after I turned 13 I still held that image. I didn't want to look small anymore. All my friends were 13 or 14 and looked a lot older than me, and it was all because of my evil braces.
It was always such a hassle trying to brush them, not being able to eat the foods I love (like apples and carrots), and especially the embarrassment when I was walking around school with food stuck in them! Usually, I would ask a friend to come with me to the bathroom to take out the bits of food. :(
After a year of wearing them, all my friends started telling me: "You're going to look so pretty when you get your braces off!" I hated when they said that because I never knew what to think. Does that mean I'm not pretty now? Or does it mean I'm pretty but I'll look better?
After 1 year and 7 months, my dentist told me that I was ready for the braces to be taken out. I can't even explain the joy I was feeling - it was so amazing. I started picturing myself without them and how many compliments I'd get.
When I was in the waiting room, I was shaking with nervousness, not knowing how they were going to turn out. The procedure to take them out was quite simple, but I did feel some pain. They literally just pull the brackets out and then start grinding the glue off which caused my gums to bleed quite a lot, but I remained strong. After that ... Voilà!
I looked in a mirror and was shocked to see myself. Who was this person? I never knew it could change my face so drastically. My mom was extremely shocked as well and was very pleased with the results, as was I. Right now, I am brace-free and loving it! Unfortunately though, my gums are still quite swollen after the procedure, but whatever. That's the least I could care about at the moment.
So right now ... I'm sitting at home with straight, white teeth! Woohoo!
