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My stupid “just woke up” face with stupid braces still on. A couple of hours later, no more stupid braces. Face is still stupid, though.

After 3 years and 5 months of wearing orthodontic braces, I finally had them removed. The relief I’m feeling right now is heavenly. It’s like I’ve just shit a ton after holding it for 3 hours or something. But even though I’m happy that I no longer have to put up with metal thingamajigs, I somehow miss wearing them braces.

Three and a half years ago, while I was visiting my dentist, I asked her about braces. How much will it cost? Do I need it? How much pain will I be in if I decide to go through with it? She told me the cost, she said I needed it, and she never mentioned anything about the pain. After a couple of minutes, I told her my decision. After 1 week, I was back in her clinic, enduring the tremendous pain inherent in having braces installed. I did it because I’ve always been bothered by the gaps between my teeth, not to mention my subtle overbite. But I did it mainly because I thought it would be cute. Yeah, dumb idea.

Pics taken the day I had the braces installed. Not much change, right? I was still stuck with a stupid face. Feh.

The first few months, wearing those braces was a bitch. I actually lost some weight because I mostly ate soup and noodles. The times when I ate meat, it was just a few spoonfuls. I even gave up on chips. Basically, I was forced to go on a diet, with impressive results. I even think my threshold for pain was increased because of the first several months of visiting my dentist for “maintenance and repair”.

Loosing some weight and thinking I was actually cute in a “high school cutie” kind of way, wearing braces actually increased my self-confidence, which posed some problems with my then girlfriend. See, with my self-confidence in high gear, I became more friendly with the ladies. I went out more. I did some things that I won’t divulge here, but I assure you that those things might just have earned me a ticket to hell. Aside from doing some naughty stuff, I also did stupid things like joining a Friendster “group” for people who have braces. Gah.

Eventually, I got used to wearing braces and the pain that’s involved. I slowly started to eat whatever I wanted to eat again. I slowly realized that wearing braces doesn’t necessarily make one special and cute. There was even a time when I terribly wanted them to be removed because at the time, I was working at a call center and speaking decent English all day long with braces on was sucky as hell. I couldn’t wait for my dentist to tell me that I can already have the braces removed. When she did, I just had to say “Oh hell, please do!”

A few hours ago, she removed them. It feels weird to “feel” my teeth again. I couldn’t be happier for my mouth. But I will always be thankful for experiencing orthodontic braces. It improved my threshold for pain, and even my tongue’s “talents”. I mean, almost 3 1/2 years of removing food stuck between my braces and my teeth using just my tongue? My future girlfriend would surely thank me.

Although I’d still need to wear retainers for a year or so, that wouldn’t be too much of a hassle. I don’t need to visit my dentist every month anymore, which is a relief. But I’d surely miss her hot assistant. The girl’s a bombshell, I tells ya!

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