A Year Too Late

I was going through my date planner/scheduler the other day and noticed I had made a consultation with an orthodontist back in October 2005. He happened to be in my neighborhood and had a pretty informative website (if not completely disorganized and overwhelming!). When I went in for the consultation, he made me feel uncomfortable, like he was trying to sell himself a little too hard. He didn't have an assistant (apparently she had quit). He told me that I would absolutely be a candidate for Invisalign--except he didn't use Invisalign, he used some other brand that was similar (and he said it was better). At the end of the consultation, he offered to give me the phone number of one of his patients, just in case I had questions or needed a reference. I declined. He said he would call within a week to follow up. He never did.

It wasn't for another three months that I got a referral to my current orthodontist (Dr. M), from a friend, when things started to happen. It took nearly two months after that until I actually got braces. It's amazing how time can slip away from you! I remember telling Dr. M that this was my second consultation. He asked me who I had seen previously and when I mentioned the orthodontist's name, Dr. M said, "Whatever you do, do not go back to that guy. If you don't want to go with me, let me refer you to someone else." He was adamant. It frightened me a bit. What if I had gone with that guy? How do you really truly know what you're getting into?

This morning I got a voicemail from that initial orthodontist--I guess he found an assistant. She asked if I was still interested in getting braces and if she didn't hear from me in a week, she would discard my paperwork. One year later. Life works in mysterious ways!

Something to Smile About

This past week was pretty rough at work, more so than usual--so it is no surprise that I had to get a good dose of chai to push through it. There are about two Starbucks on every block near where I work (I guess lots of people need their chai!). But there's a very tiny, very busy one that's somehow come to be my favorite. People there are generally so friendly and happy and fun and I knew that this was exactly the place I needed to go to for my chai this week.

While I was waiting for my chai to get made, the guy who took my order came up to me and said, "I just wanted to tell you, you have a beautiful smile." I smiled big and blushed. "Even with the braces?" I said. "Especially with the braces--it shows you're taking care of yourself," he said. Then he gave me my chai (which just so happened to be much bigger than the one I had ordered...). I thanked him, still smiling, and told him to have a great day. The great thing about it was that he wasn't being sleazy or forward, just genuine. I think that's what I really needed--a good dose of genuine--to push through the week.

Getting out of the comfort zone

Before teaching yoga class last Tuesday I went into the orthodontist's to have a band put around one of my teeth--the one that lost the bracket. I wasn't exactly sure what this band would be like, but I imagined it being small and stretchy for some reason. It was actually large and metal and when the orthodontist (Dr. M) showed it to me before putting it on, my heart just sank. He took the wire off the brackets and was fiddling around here and there. I never know quite what they're doing as I'm lying back in the chair with my mouth wide open.

At a certain point my tongue got a chance to graze my teeth very briefly and something felt out of place--or, rather, not there at all. I said to Dr. M, "Did another bracket fall off?" "Oh, yeah," he said, "I mistakenly took it off...I guess we'll have to put a band around that tooth as well." It is just not a good idea to get upset with someone who is fooling around in your mouth with sharp objects. Not only did my heart sink, but I felt an ache in the pit of my stomach. Things seemed to be taking a terrible turn for the worse.

He put more spacers between my teeth--for the tooth that is also soon to be banded. The spacers hurt, my gums bled. Not a pretty picture. Then he finally put the band on the original problem child tooth. Thankfully it is in the back of my mouth, but this thing is about twice the size of the brackets and basically encompasses the whole tooth. Having one band is okay...but having to get another one in a few weeks...well, I'm not so okay with that.

As Dr. M was finishing up, Dr. Newman walked in and asked to take a look. So I smiled big and he's looking, investigating and says they're coming along. The visit was pretty unpleasant, I must admit. I stopped off in the bathroom before leaving so that I could check out this new and large contraption in my mouth. As I smiled in the mirror, I noticed a rather large amount of congealed blood stuck between one of my brackets and my tooth. I was so angry. Was anyone going to mention this to me before I left the office? Dr. Newman looked so intently at my teeth and didn't say a word. Nothing from any of the assistants... It took a while for me to get the blood out of there, but it was finally gone. It was the first time I left the orthodontist's office without a big smile on my face.

As I walked from the office to my yoga class, I realized how comfortable I had gotten with the way things were. But movement and change usually don't happen when you stay as is, in your comfort zone. Things begin to shift in the uncomfortable, or even painful, moments. These are the places you don't want to be and generally the feelings you would rather not feel. And, yet, they are also the greatest opportunities for change and growth.