Not Again!!!

Yesterday morning, I found myself trailing after a 10-year-old boy (let's call him Michael) down the halls of the UPenn Dental School. My dentist referred me for a consultation with the Orthodontics Department to see about addressing several of my mouth woes. Based on my observations of the waiting room demographics, I've decided that there are two kinds of people who seek orthodontic treatment - those who are young enough that their parents will pay for it, and those of us who have finally made it to the point in our careers where we are able to afford it (kind of).

Michael and I got our X-Rays together and then we were ushered in for our "screening" - the part of the show where about 10 students hover over you and confer about things like whether or not your face is symmetrical (thankfully mine is), if you have good hygiene (thanks to being reamed by my dentist recently, I do), and if you have a recessive chin (after all my ragging on Carolyn about her chin, it turns out mine is slightly recessive too!). It was all pretty unnerving, but in the end it looks like I will be going through the whole orthodontics process... again!

The bad news is that I will probably be sporting braces at some point in the next year. The good news is that they think they can address several things that have been a nuisance to me (and many of you) all of my life - like my lisp, teeth grinding, jaw clicking and all that good stuff. We'll see... but for the first time, I feel like someone is telling me that something about myself that I thought would never change is really not set in stone. It gives me some measure of hope!