Picture a loud, clanging factory with assembly lines zig-zagging all over the place, steam bursting out of pipes, and slick oil spills laying on cold, concrete floors. Then add blaring sirens, honking forklifts, and scraggly guys in cargo shorts and workboots trudging by with brooms now and then.
That chaotic jungle of a factory is sort of like the inside of my mouth. Yeah, it’s sad to admit folks, but I’ve got one messy mouthhole.
See, I’ve got a gap between my two front teeth. I had it filled it with white plastic so it’s invisible, but I still know it’s there. I remember sucking milkshakes and soup in through that Tooth Canal when I grew up and the memories haunt me still. Add to that a handful of black and white fillings dotting my molars like a checkerboard and a dangerous crossbite that wears down my pointy teeth, requiring pleasant maintenance fillings every couple of years. And let’s not forget that my bottom teeth are jumbled and cracked together like a rickety picket fence after a big blustery wind storm.
Most of my friends did the braces thing when they were younger and today they walk around town with confidence, sass, and perfectly straight teeth. After putting up with twisted-tight wires for a few years, they finally got them peeled off and joined the Perfect Pearls club with a punch.
And though I’ve never experienced it first hand, they tell me that slimy-smooth, new mouth feeling they got when the clamps came off can only be described with one big, all-caps word.
I’m just going to have to trust them on this one.
AWESOME!
Awesome 1000x awesome. I remember when I got mine off, the first place I went was Wendy’s for lunch. I seriously thought my teeth were gonna fall out. Then I went to see Super Troopers later that night. Good times.
Well it’s never too late to get braces! I have had them on for more than a year now and I’m 25. They’ll be coming off in the next few months so I can’t wait to experience that slimy feeling. Honestly, I don’t remember what it’s like to have smooth teeth anymore! Hehe
I too remember the day that I got my braces removed…
It was 1998. Grade nine was coming to an end, and I was just in time to fully enjoy a summer of eating popcorn, hard candy and anything else that had been forbade to me from my dentist.
No more extra trips to get a bracket re-cemented. No more using a threader to get floss in between each tooth.
No more kids making “chuka chuka” train noises when I would smile… which I avoided like the plague.
What an awesome day.
Ahhh… I can’t wait for the day when I can finally lick the front of my teeth again. I just know it’ll be AWESOME!
Yes, this is a pleasure some people will never know.
It’s like being released from a mild torture device after two years. Finally you can floss in less than fifteen minutes, and eat apples with abandon.
And bread, when I first got mine on, I was still unaware of the devil food bread when having braces. That stuff refuses to come out. After 4 years of aching teeth, aching jaws, and blisters, I finally got those stupid things off. Your teeth feel huge afterwords but it was probably the best feeling I have experienced. Until you have suffered from these torture devices, you will never know what it’s like to finally be free.
Bread was the bane of my existence when I had braces. If I ate any bread (especially in public), I would race to the bathroom with my mouth closed to get it out before I let anyone see my teeth.
Let’s not forget bubblegum!
oh i so agree wit that. just got mine off today. most awesome feeling, i wonder how long it will take to get used to. damn those 2 years of torture, but they were worth it.
It definitely is awesome, when of the best feeling there is! :)
Was hoping this one would show up. Best feeling in the world, no doubt about it.
OMG that is the BEST feeling in the world. I can remember it like it was yesterday. I was SO happy to have those suckers off.
Does this happen to you? When you sleep with your mouth closed, sometimes you form a slight suction, pulling your lips and cheeks against your teeth?
Well, when I had braces, this suction used to sort of fuse the insides of my lips to my braces while I slept at night, so in the morning I would have to carefully peel them back, revealing little train-track shaped dents in the flesh. Ouch.
So yeah, having smooth teeth again was definitely AWESOME.
That happens to me when I’m awake! Sometimes I have to moisten the inside of my mouth and just push my cheeks away with my tongue…incredibly annoying.
My braces tore the hell out of my poor inner mouth skin. Braces are truly mild torture devices!
I’ve had braces once already and am now on a second run, for an entirely different problem. On the plus side, I guess I get to feel the joy twice?
My 15-year-old enjoyed this experience just last week. Needless to say, it was a happy day.
I’d had mine in for 3 years when I finally got them off a couple years ago, and I can assure you that feeling is indeed AWESOME.
However I didn’t wear my retainers as much as I should have and now they’re beginning to creep back into disorder.
I never had braces, but I have loads of fake teeth (crowns).
I got my braces a week before Thanksgiving, so I got to have pureed turkey that year! I got them off a week before Thanksgiving two years later, so it was a very pleasant Turkey Day for me!! When I got mine off, my teeth felt HUGE. I couldn’t stop running my tongue over my chompers… what a wonderful feeling!!
Cannot wait to get my braces off – got them late in life at 33 years old…
First thing I am going to eat is corn on the cob followed by a caramel apple.
I am dying to experience the brace-free bliss.
ah! i remember braces!! i, too, used to have a large gap between my front teeth….i used it to whistle. now, it’s gone, and i’ve been working on whistling the old-fashioned way, but it was very awesome to get the braces off when i did. :)
i’m gonna feel that two years from now!!!
me tooooooooooooooo!! I get mine on this Monday!
I actually missed my braces when I got them off. Not because I liked having them, but because I got so used to them being on my teeth that I didn’t know what to do with my mouth once they were gone!
That’s definately an awesome feeling. It felt weird at first, not having anything on your teeth for the first time in years. Having straight teeth is totally worth it though. Retainers, however, are not awesome, even if they do keep your teeth straight after the braces.
I played in band when I had braces. Getting them off was definitely awesome, because I got home, started playing my euphonium, and didn’t feel any pain.
Liberation is awesome.
I had my braces on for four years, and when I finally got them off it was the BEST day ever. I had corn on the cob as a celebratory treat. This is one of my favorite Awesome things because I can truly relate.
OMG best day everrrrr
I still remember running my tongue along my teeth for days. It was indeed AWESOME!
I’m 25 too, and I have had braces for nearly 3 years… they come off in August 2009 ba-bay! I will no longer have to avoid the seedy “everything bagel”, the staining red vino or curry! eeexcited. That day will be a vino seed fest for sure.
It IS awesome, but a little creepy too. Quite the slimey feeling if I recall. But your teeth looked great!
How timely, I just got mine off this morning! (This was round two after having them 20 years ago as a teenager.) And it is so sweet to have all that smoothness in my mouth instead of the jagged metal. Aaah.
Omg, I can totally relate to this! I have had absolutely terrible teeth since I was born, and I have had traintracks on since 2007 – I had them on from the 23rd of January for 2 years, and then I got them off for a week before my retainer (currently wearing for another year – just demonstrates how bad my teeth actually were!) and they felt so slippery and straight and AWESOME!! :D
This is the most awesome thing on the list. I’m pretty sure. :)
I actually enjoyed my braces, thought they looked good. I would always put nice elastic colours. But it was a whole different story when I got them removed, my teeth looked even better without my braces!
It’ll be 3 years on october 16th. :)
I just saw a interview that Wilson Vega, from EL TIEMPO in Colombia, made you and I decided to enter your Blog.
That smooth feeling on your teeth after you get your braces off really touched me… When mines when off I was as happy as a kind with no braces….
Great blog.
I kind of miss wearing braces :)
Mine are gone in 8 days. Maybe I’ll understand how awesome this is then? :)
I’m 26, I’ve had braces on for the past 11 years for one reason or another. “AWESOME” doesn’t begin to describe the feeling.
I just got mine off today.
Weird slimy feeling all over the front of my teach.
I can not wait until I get mine off. They said that in 3 weeks i would be train track free! I’ve heard that it hurts to get them off, but it will totally be worth it.
In my book, this is #1 awesome. You only ever feel it once, if at all. It’s like looking at your face after a drastic cut’n’colour, and feeling delicious shock- except for your tongue and inner lips.
Or like when your manfriend grows a beard, then shaves it off. Smooooooooooooooooth, untouched buttery skin.
Oh, I long for the day…. I’m only five months into it. :/
I’d have to admit, It is one of the best feelings in the world!
im 26 and i also had a huge gap between my front teeth and am now wearing braces to fix it. Its been 5 months now and its almost closed! I cant wait for it to be removed!! Thanks for sharing how awesome its gona feel. I truly cannot wait for that smooth feeling and above all, the beautifull smile :-)
Of all the things that your blog lists this is the best thing! I got mine off 4 years ago and can still remember that slimy weird feeling after you got them off…
Im getting mine off TOMORROW!!! im going to have a caramel apple with nuts :) not a fan of corn on the cob though
Slimy, and I felt like my teeth were unanchored and about to float out of my mouth as in zero gravity.
It really is the best feeling ever.
But it also feels kinda strange.
The only way I can really properly describe it is..
you know when you lose a tooth, and that area feels kinda gummy and fleshy for a few days?
That’s how my whole mouth felt.
But at least I could feel my teeth again.
Awesome.
i’m 15 and i’ve had my braces on for a little over a year now…and i’m looking forward to that feeling! the orthodontist keeps saying “keep on wearing those rubber bands! maybe next visit they’ll be off!”…oh gosh, i really do hate him (;
maybe by the time september rolls around i’ll feel it!
My crowning moment of awesome will have a special tinge of greatness to it, because up until my senior year, I was the first trumpet player and pretty good at it. My braces took 9 years away of experience and skill that I had worked hard for–I had it all shouldered away in my senior year of high school. So yeah…there will be much applause but moreover, a lasting sigh at finally being able to let go of that burden.
There is nothing truer than this. I remember when I got my braces off, my tongue flew up to my teeth and rubbed over them like a reflex. And I thought “I can feel my teeth again……were they always this smooth? I don’t remember them being this smooth two and a half years ago………AWESOME!!!!!”
i remember that day. 2 days before Christmas on the very anniversary of it all beginning 2 years previously.
there is nothing anyone can say or do to stop you smiling that day. and over the next weeks when you catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror and do a double take coz you caqnt quite believe that your teeth are not covered in metal.
(that day was the worst btw, two days before christmas i go into hospital and had a huge chunk of gum removed from the roof of my mouth)
I got my braces off about half an hour ago.
IT FEELS SO NICE :D
I cant wait til mine come off. Just had them tightened for the first time 6 days ago. Theyre only just stopping to hurt fully :/ ouch. But the good thing is my orthodontist is really cool. hes pretty funny too. and I actually look good in my braces, but it will be even more awesome when they come off. Sigh, 3 months down, 15 to go…
Ooh, pain!! :( I’ve had braces for a year and a half, and I just can’t wait until they come off in August!
I hope I look good in my braces too :D
It finally happened!!!!! Today I got my braces off :DDDD I didn’t tell any of my friends so it was a complete surprise, I got many squeals and screams when they realised! But what I’m glad about is that my teeth don’t feel nearly as slimy as everyone says they feel. They’re just smooth. And the front two teeth feel really big after not feeling most of each tooth for 18 months. Just thought I’d share the extra awesome in my life today!
Actually, if you concentrate really hard on how the inside of your mouth (lips?) feel against your teeth, you can recapture that feeling of super-smoothness all over again.
AWESOME
I got mine off about a year and a half ago I believe.
And I still think that the front of my teeth are the smoothest things in the world.