Emma got her braces off.
Since Emma got braces, I've been looking at our student's teeth pretty regularly. And they all have straight teeth. Every one of them. When I ask them if they've had braces, they all have. Every one of them.
There's something disturbing about this. We demand uniform teeth. Why has our society developed this way? I know that it's one way to decide if a horse is a good one -- maybe it's related. What's next, though? Nose jobs for everyone? Same haircut all around? Everyone bathes every day? What?
Emma's had more braces than any kid should endure. Round one was a few years ago. This included a palate expander, which was a steel bar that ran across the roof of her mouth. For the first week or so, we had to reach in and use a tool to tighten it each night. (I'd pretend I was Dr. Frankenstein -- that went over well.) Then, a full set of braces (colored ones, if I remember correctly.)
She got those off, and went a year or two without anything. Then, full-blown braces -- rubber bands, steely smile, the whole ball of wax (sometime literally if the metal hurt.) This was part of the plan all along, but it's been a long process.
She looks good, though.
Jonah got the Invisalign system thingie last fall. It wasn't any cheaper, but it was pretty amazing. He went through the first set the ordered for him, and he thought he might be done last week, but they've ordered a few more to fine-tune things. A little disappointed, he was. I was worried because he can be appropriately scatterbrained for his age, but he's been awesome with these things -- no reminders needed, never close to losing one. He took great care of himself.
I suppose I shouldn't complain about every kid needing straight teeth. Our society has decided that every kid should learn math -- that's worked out well for me. My new title: "Orothodontist of Quantitative Reasoning."
Congrats to Emma! I'm sure she looks beautiful! I remember when I got mine off and it was pretty liberating. I had them from when I was seven until seventeen, palate expander and all, but I felt like I'd been born with them. I didn't like the palate expander because macaroni used to get stuck up there and when I got it off, the roof of my mouth was very ticklish when eating. Weird. Next I think, in addition to straight teeth, I think we should not only demand the learning of math for every child, but the ability to make change. I just made a dollar off Starbuck's today. :)
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