Toothless

My family has always had the worst teeth genetics. My parents don’t have the best teeth and neither do my grandparents on my dad’s side, so I inherited the bad genes. I feel like most people take theirs for granted, they just have good teeth, they get them in before the age of 2, and they have this perfect smile by middle school. I feel like no one understood my struggles with my teeth.

That being said, I’m going to talk about my struggles with my teeth throughout my life as well as why I feel I stand out and always stood out because of them. I didn’t get my first tooth until the age of one, as you know this is very unusual. The dentist already knew something was wrong just by the amount of time they took to come in. By the time I was in sixth grade, I still had almost all of my baby teeth! This made them decide they needed to pull them out and get things going. They pulled out, I believe eight teeth at once and slapped braces on my four front teeth that remained. Although all of this was abnormal, I didn’t really see how different I was until then because I was getting my first set of braces on. This was because most kids were getting theirs off at this time. It reminded me of baby birds finally leaving their nest after they are all developed but my wings are taking a long time to grow, so I was being left behind as everyone else flew away. I would be called so many names at school, which I just laugh about now, but it definitely was not funny at the moment.

I have been on a long journey with my teeth. I get my hopes up when they tell me I’ll be able to take the braces off at the next appointment just to be disappointed again. This being said I’m thankful to be almost done, I’m getting my last set of braces off in the next couple of months.

Growing up, I was called a lot of names, and I witnessed other kids experiencing the same thing. I witnessed kids get bullied for their smiles, weight acne, the way they spoke, teeth, and more. There is a saying that goes “you want what you can’t have” and I think this is so true. Maybe I want my best friend’s smile, but she really wants my hair color, no one is perfect in their own eyes.

I have always felt, I have stood out because of my teeth, I actually do stand out with my teeth, I have high enamel levels and my K9s are on the wrong sides, but growing up has made me realize I’m the only one that actually notices this. Everyone has their insecurities, but in reality the majority of the time others won’t even notice your “major flaw/s”. This event in my life has taught me that everyone feels different in some sort of way and to never judge someone based on their physical appearance because no matter how much you try to change it you will always just be you.

“panoramic x-ray of my teeth” by p_x_g is licensed under CC BY 2.0.