|
3rd grade. Got braces. Oh boy. My top jaw was narrower than my bottom jaw, so they installed this thing called a palette splitter. 4 posts attach to 2 teeth on either side of the top jaw, and there's a screw in the center. You turn the screw and the thing expands. Your parent is supposed to turn it 1/2 turn per night and since kid's palettes haven't yet turned from cartilage to bone, it just slowly moves the jaw apart and then holds it there while new palette is grown. Easy and painless aside from the mounting process (those of you who had braces know that those bands freaking hurt when they're hammering them onto the teeth). All good, right?
Cept I was one of the ultra rare freaks who's palette had already fused into bone. So the pressure was unreal the first 2 days. Constant. Didn't hurt, though, so we kept going. 3rd day, the bone broke. Pain did not begin to describe it, especially as a little kid. I had a grudge against my orthodontist from that point on.
|