When most kids are little their biggest concerns are the bully on the playground or the new episode of SpongeBob on TV, but my biggest concern as a kid was actually looking like SpongeBob. With two buck teeth and a gap to match, I fit the part perfectly. I used to dream of the day when my teeth would line up seamlessly and people would see me and not the back of my throat every time I smiled. I looked up in awe every time I met anyone who had braces and I just couldn’t wait to be one of them. I really should’ve been careful for what I wished for.
It all started when I was about two years old. I was born a late bloomer in the sense that I didn’t get all my baby teeth until I could walk and to make it even better I wouldn’t have lost half of my baby teeth if it wasn’t for the help of many dentist visits. With the service of my wonderful dentist Dr.Wock, many pairs of pliers, dental assistants, numbing creams, patches of gauze to stop the bleeding and many cartons of ice cream I had officially lost all my baby teeth. Now all I had to do was wait for my grown up teeth to come in. Seemed simple enough, everyone had to do it to some extent. So that’s what I did. I waited and summer came and went with my many gaps still in place, then seventh grade came and went without much improvement; but then came eighth grade and that’s when I put my foot down. If I didn’t get this whole teeth situation sorted out now, I was going to be a senior with braces and there was no way I was ever going to let that happen. And as it turned out after a couple of x-rays my dentist discovered I had impacted canine teeth and there was no chance of them ever coming in on their own. Wow. I just wasted a whole year, waiting for something that was never going to happen. There’s nothing worse than working really hard on something only to realize you’re back at square one, and that’s exactly where I was. This time the only way to fix the problem was a bit more drastic then just getting a couple teeth pulled. Oral surgery here I came.

My palms were sweating, and the butterflies in my stomach were threatening to overflow from my mouth. I blasted Beyoncé’s, “Single Ladies” in my ears as loud as I could to take the focus off the drills in my mouth. I felt like I was in a Saw movie with someone I didn’t know sticking sharp tools into the most vulnerable part of my body. A couple of hours, a couple drills, a couple gas masks, a lot of stiches and one disoriented me later, we were good to go. All I had to do was heal and my teeth should come in as good as new. Once again, it seemed easy enough. How wrong was I? Well, I was pretty wrong. It turned out my canine teeth thought it would be really funny if they came in backward. Me? Not so much. But, this time nothing was stopping me from reaching my final destination, braces. I was finally cleared and ready to go. I was so excited I counted down the days, October 19, 2010. I have no idea why I wanted them who so badly when I look back on it; they were the single most painful thing I have ever experienced in my life. At night they would hurt so badly, I would have nightmares that I lost all my teeth and that my gums were just throbbing. I soon started to count down the months when they would finally rip the painful contraption out of my mouth. It couldn’t have come soon enough. I even had dreams at night that I got my braces off and it was probably the best dream I’ve ever had. But it came second to the day when I actually did get them removed, June 22, 2012. I honestly could not wait to show off my shiny, straight, pearly whites to everyone I knew.

It finally felt like my SpongeBob days were really behind me. I would have the picture perfect smile I always dreamed of having. No more gap, no more spaces, no crooked teeth. But, once again I was oh so wrong. Even with two sets of retainers I wear and clean religiously, I have come to have a teeny tiny gap. But I guess that’s the way it was always supposed to be, that’s just who I am and who I always was. But now instead of cringing away at my teeth in the mirror, I smile and I’m reminded that Bikini Bottom isn’t so bad after all.