the truth about having braces, by LH

This article was written for yooou! by 14-year-old, LH.

Well, if I am really being honest, my experience with braces has not been the best. 

I have had way more metal in my mouth than many of my other friends.

It started out in fourth grade when I got a piece in my mouth that looked like a fence, this was to stop my tongue from thrusting forward. This was probably one of the hardest things I had overcome because I had to teach myself how to swallow and chew food the right way.

That first week of having trouble eating and talking was rough! 

The fence ended up not working, so I went to go to a speech class, and it helped a lot more.

After that, I got an expander and top brace and I ended up getting both of those off by the end of beginning of sixth grade.

I always hoped my braces journey ended there but it sadly didn’t.

In seventh grade I got another expander, pins in the roof of my mouth, and another set of top braces. As you can see that is a lot of metal in my mouth, this caused me to have a hard time eating and talking and lots of pain at times. I was told that this would be a better option than surgery to help my bite and fix my teeth. 

Once again, I had to overcome these obstacles and decided to focus on an amazing end result they told me about. Beautiful straight teeth!  

Fast forward to now, in eighth grade, I am in my final stage of my orthodontic treatment. I have bottom and top braces, my expander, and the pins. I have just twelve more months to go and hopefully less!

I just want anyone who is going through a similar situation, whether it is with your braces or something else really uncomfortable, remember to stay strong and remember that it will all be worth it in the end. 

All the pain, those struggles and obstacles will make you stronger.

Photo cred: Marissa Easterling Photography