I Got Conned... Almost.

Today was supposed to be a simple day of "After" pictures for the three of you reading this (Hi Mom). But since my day was not simple, neither is this post. Pictures are at the end, to hold your interest.

DISCLAIMER: This is probably the only blog post that will contain NO sarcasm or exaggeration. The story you are about to read is 100% true. The rest of the blogs... well, use your discretion.

At many friends and dentists suggestions I scheduled a routine cleaning for this morning so my teeth would be pearly white before the brackets got glued on for what will seem like the rest of my life. Since I am newly uninsured I went with the dentist with a coupon for an $80 cleaning - the cheapest I could find. I informed him that I didn't want any X-rays just a cleaning because I was getting braces on today. Now, a brief excerpt of dialogue.

Dentist: Braces, Today?

Me: Yes.

Dentist: Braces- Braces?

Me: Yes.

Dentist: Today-Today?

Me: (Are you kidding me?) Yes.

Dentist: You do not want to get braces. You don't want metal in your mouth. Do you know how that will feel? Do you know what you will look like? Braces will make you look ugly. A pretty young girl like you walking around with those things in your mouth? You will feel so unattractive.

Tears are rolling down my cheeks as I lay in the chair and he proceeds to tell me that he can fix all of my dental problems by using his Invisalign, in a shorter amount of time without "having to look ugly," despite the fact that the 3 Invisalign specialists (including my ortho) I went to said there was no way it could fix my teeth. In fact, he says they lied to me. He says my orthodontist has lied to me about the time frame, and has lied about the capabilities of Invisalign.

Then he shows me "pictures" of teeth on his software that show improvement of teeth "way worse than mine." "Pictures" of graphic designed jaws. His big offer? For $300 dollars I could submit my teeth pictures and see if it can help me too.

The only parts I am leaving out are his excessive statements of braces making me ugly, self-conscious, and uncomfortable. I was there for 25 minutes. I think you get the point.

I left, without getting my teeth cleaned, and also without paying him. I spent the next hour crying at work (what a great employee). Typing this and reading it now, he is obviously a scam artist giving cheap cleanings and talking you into treatments you don't need/ can't help you (my orthodontist informed me that invisalign software will always say a case can be treated because it is a computer, and it does not cost any money to put into the system).

But the day you have been waiting for comes, having spent 5 months of deliberating, making a huge monetary investment and hanging your pride out to dry, and a dental health professional tells you that you are making a huge mistake and that you will be ugly... I think you cry.

Bottom line, you get what you pay for.

So Braces are on despite emotional setbacks. It feels unlike anything I have ever felt before. My only major complaint is that to deal with my huge overbite she put brackets on the back side of my two front teeth so they can not overlap. ( See figure 1.1)

This creates two issues. 1) Only the front 4 teeth touch so chewing/ biting will be next to impossible for the next 6 weeks. Liquid diet it is. 2) I have a lisp. (insert laugh track ( but seriously... I do.))

So I did what any self-respecting 25 year-old girl does when she gets braces. I bought ice cream. (Doctors, if you are reading this... it was organic? )

All photos of me will now be taken in black and white.