Braces

I am twenty years old and I still have eight baby teeth. Yes, eight baby teeth. It's really ridiculous, I know. Adult teeth just never grew in. I never minded them growing up, they worked fine and didn't hurt. It never occurred to me that they would fall out, so when they started hurting and becoming loose, I panicked a bit.

At eighteen, my dentist recommended that I get braces. The procedure would be to extract all eight baby teeth, and attempt to close the gaps with braces. Now, at eighteen and a temperamental high schooler, I quickly denied and exclaimed "absolutely not." After that, it was dismissed and not spoken about again. Until one of them started giving me pain, and soon after, became loose.

I proceeded to visit my dentist, and by now I was ending my freshman year of college. I was turning twenty soon. The only option that he gave me was..braces. Of course, I could have eight teeth implants, but I, nor do my parents, have that kind of money.

So after a painstakingly visit to an orthodontist, it was set that I was getting braces two months before my twentieth birthday. I felt like a fool, and I was so angry that this was my only option. I was going to be a college sophomore, junior, and senior with braces. I cried hysterically. It was childish, I admit to that. But I felt that all my beauty would be stripped away from me.

It has taken a few months, but I now realize how foolish I was acting. Upon reading forums with many adults telling their experiences, I realize that it could always be worst (e.g one woman is getting braces for the second time and is twenty-five!) Looks are merely not as important as they seem to be. And after three years of horribly embarrassing teeth, I will be a recently graduated student with a masters in art history smiling with pride in her interviews. x