My teeth.

     Ugh Jolie! No one wants to hear you talk about your teeth. Too bad! I'm getting excited about this! So, for those of you who don't know I have a palatal expander but not for much longer! I get it taken out on the 30th and I'll get a retainer to wear while I'm in Belgium! I will now explain my palatal expander and tell some (hopefully) funny stories.
       I needed an expander because my teeth were crowded due to my narrow upper jaw. It's function really is best explained by the picture below.

So, before I could get my expander I had to go to the orthodontist to figure out what I needed and what would have to be done because of my going to Belgium for a year. He told us that I needed a palatal expander and when I'm in Belgium I'll have to wear a retainer.

     Before I could do anything else they had to put spacers between my teeth. All spacers are, are these little blue rubber bands they put between your teeth to make space enough for your expander.  I only lost a spacer because I ate a gummy vitamin to be a good example for my younger cousin! When they went to take out the spacers they found that one of them had embedded itself in my gums. That wasn't fun.

 

     I can't remember when I got the molds taken but those were part of the process. I had to bite down on some pink stuff that tried really hard to be berry flavored. That was the day they had to get x-rays and I confused the lady by saying "brain pan" because she thought I was going on and on about being able to see my brain but I wasn't she was very nice and tried to tell me that I couldn't see my brain on the x-ray though. They had to use these cheek spreader things to get pictures and they used mirrors and I was laughing really hard because it isn't normal to have your face pulled like that. They do seem to have to tell me to stop laughing at the dentist and orthodontist offices a lot, LOL!

     Ok, so then I went in and got the terrible device that is no fun at all. For this I had to miss my first hour English class. When I got back to school I had missed a few minutes of second hour Chinese but as I got all sorted out in the office the English teacher walked in and was joking about something along the lines of "Oh I see how it is. Skipping only my class.." and what not. I had to stop by my locker to get all sorted out for class and my English teacher caught me in the hall and asked me about my expander and what not. I had such a terrible lisp for those first few days and I thought it was funny that my first class with my expander was Chinese where I had to try and pronounce things properly and I knew I wouldn't be able to. My Chinese teacher was really great about it and told me that I could "get used to [my] teeth" and that cracked me up just because it was so completely true. Then I had to get used to eating lunch, that was a trip! Later that day I had World History and I flat out told everyone that it was ok to make fun of my lisp because I knew it would go away soon enough. When I was talking I could see a few people trying so hard not to laugh so after I gave the ok it was almost a game to get me to say "Solar System" or a hard word or phrase like that  the teacher jokingly told me to say "Suffering Succotash" so I did because I also got a kick out of my lisp on that first day. I was so glad that all of my teachers and classmates (at least the ones who matter) were so wonderful about being patient with me while I was lisping and tried not to laugh too hard.

     After the first day I HATED that lisp of mine but I viewed it as a chance to see what not being able to communicate in Belgium might be like. I couldn't form my words properly so I often had to repeat myself and what not. Between that and not being able to swallow properly at first I was all sorts of upset but life got better as things got easier. It was really hard to be so frustrated at myself and have everyone tell me that it was all right because I didn't feel all right with the world. It's a good thing I quickly got over myself!

    Something I also had to learn quickly is how painful turning the key of the expander is.  It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be but it wasn't fun to have an adult take the key and have to keep my mouth open really wide as they turned the part that made the expander work. Usually a while after I would get this pain right in the middle of my forehead and we called it "The Harry Potters" because it felt similar to how  J.K. Rowling described Harry's scar acting up only difference was that I could tolerate it and no evil guy was trying to mess with my head. Any who this is what the key looks like. 

    

 

The last picture I have isn't of my expander but it looks very similar, if not exactly the same.

      I think it's funny that now there are marks on my tongue. Like those arrows printed on the metal left a funny print and what not although sometimes it is quite painful especially those arms that stick toward the front! I was thankful for dental wax that I could put on those small parts that stick into your cheek because those little buggers are quite painful!

     I've also found that the following foods aren't as fun to eat with an expander: Carrots break off into sharp fragments that will stab you in the gums, Popcorn, Ice cream because not being able to reach the roof of your mouth and getting brain freeze stinks, Chips, Blueberries, Starburst, and pretty much anything else if you're not careful! Also another note to add is that when you first get your expander you drool a LOT and you have trouble with drinking fountains (this caused the amusement of several people during Gym class) and just beverages in general. Oh! I should also point out that I never dared to try celery with my expander. Thank goodness for the water pick and the scrubby brush thingies!

     Other than funny lisp moments and getting food caught in the expander there hasn't been any real interesting stories.  I hope that this post was at least somewhat entertaining. I am so sorry about how jumbled this all is and the spelling and grammar mistakes that I've surely made but it has been that sort of a day.