My dentist peered into my open mouth,
“We’ll have to take the bonding off your tooth if we want to do Invisalign.” (Clear braces).
As a middle child, I fell into the category of “good enough.”
My older sister needed braces, a dermatologist and a counselor. My younger brother needed glasses and an allergist. In my family, resource allocation was on an as needed basis and even though my teeth weren’t great, they were good enough.
As an adult, I became increasingly aware of my misalignment and how it looked when I spoke. I was beginning to have more public exposure and didn’t like how, in photographs, two teeth always looked as if they were missing because they were recessed.
I had minor orthodontia in my 40’s, but overtime I stopped wearing my retainer and my teeth returned to their recessed positions. The worst tooth was in the center on the bottom. It was so badly recessed and slanted to the left, I had it bonded to minimize the distortion. It was still undeniably crooked and misaligned, but at least it didn’t look as if it were missing.
Here’s what my brain heard when my dentist said we have to take the bonding off your tooth.
“You ‘ll have to look like a hillbilly, missing a tooth for 9 months, while we expand your jaw and make room for that recessed tooth to join the crowd.”
Vanity smacked me in the face with the sting of a volleyball.
I was 60 and ½ years old contemplating braces.
When I think of braces I imagine awkward kids with mouths full of metal.
Braces remind me of holding back or shoring up things that are in need of support. Braces sound like something done with force– a desperate attempt to hold back eventual ruination.
But “EXPANSION…..”
Ahhhh the thought of expanding, moving beyond where I am, opening
to unknown territories – Now that gets me pumped.
Now the only question was:
What would I have to let go of or embrace in order to
E X P A N D?
When my dentist said the course of treatment would take 9 months, I began to wonder in what other ways could I expand in nine months.
The last nine-month project I worked on was 22 years ago and I made a whole human being.
Braces?
Piece of cake.
“Off with the bonding.” I said.
Whirr, whirr ,drill, spit spray. “Ok let’s take a look.”
I winced.
There it was my naked tooth. Crossed and recessed, but seriously
not a big deal.
Over the years I’d created a belief so much bigger and
distorted than reality.
As if my thought of looking like hillbilly were as true as the principle of gravity.
How often do we elevate our BELIEFS to the status of LAWS
and PRINCIPLES allowing that to limit us?
What would or could you do, if you only believed you could?
Forty years ago, my mother, a high school graduate, decided she wanted to go to college.
Her friends scoffed,
“Iris, you’re turning 55, why would you want to do that?”
“I’ll be 55 anyway, I might as well have a degree.”
My mother died nine years later with a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in social work.
She put no expiration date on her ability to expand.
It’s been a year since I began Invisalign.
How have I expanded?
From dental to mental, great shifts have occurred in my world of work, relationships, finances and yes, teeth!! Some painful and challenging, (not the teeth), but each one opening me and expanding me to become a bigger vessel than before.
We are all in either a state of expansion or decay.
We are never stagnant or stuck even if it feels that way.
What would it take for you to expand? What would you need to let go of to make way for something new? How are you expanding?
