I told my therapist about this embarrassing situation that I went through when I was 10 (near the end of 4th grade) this past week during my session.
The day that I got my braces on was probably the most embarrassing day of my life (yes, it was one of those embarrassing moments). I remember being excited about leaving early from school, because my parents NEVER allowed that. But my mom had booked an appointment for after lunch. She was running late when she picked me up and we went off to the orthodontist’s office for my appointment. I knew my mom was already feeling super stressed about being late for the appointment, so I kept my mouth shut the entire car ride to my appointment.
When we got there, I was immediately called in for my appointment and greeted by the orthodontist (an older man who was friendly (maybe?) and spoke calmly and slowly). We did all the pre-braces stuff… X-Rays, brushing/flossing my teeth, making molds, etc.
I wasn’t going to get top braces that day, because the roots of my top teeth hadn’t grown deep enough into my gums yet (those went on 2 years later when I was in 6th grade). So in my mind, I thought that the appointment would go swiftly and smoothly without any complications…
I was directed to a chair and asked to sit there. (and I swear, I don’t remember if there were any other people in the office except me!) For some odd reason, it took FOREVER before they actually started prepping my teeth FOR the braces and all that fun stuff.
All I remember thinking of during that time was how much I wanted to get this appointment done with so I could go home and go pee. But I patiently sat there…too scared that I’d be disrupting everyone else’s plans for my silly need to go pee.
Each step of the process seemed to take FOREVER. From choosing bracket sizes (I think they tried on 3 different brackets on my teeth) to the wires. In addition to the main orthodontist guy, there were quite a few other people helping him choose brackets, trying to fit them on my teeth, etc.
When they finally started the process of putting the glue on my teeth and all that fun stuff, I was thinking in my head that I the process had finally started, of me actually getting braces on and I would be home free…. oh, but I was wrong. I had to WAIT for the glue to dry on my teeth, and that was just the first step.
As terrified as I am about speaking up, I started thinking that maybe I should ask if I could go to the bathroom… but I was also REALLY scared to do so. So I hoped, wished, and prayed that I would be able to wait until I got home…
They left the glue to dry on my teeth for… forever, and when they came back, I was pretty sure I was going to die. Then, they told me I was going to get to pick out the colors for my brackets, and when I said I needed some time to decide, they left, and didn’t come back for some time.
I finally couldn’t hold it any longer and ended up peeing my pants…
But I felt much more comfortable AND got to choose a color I liked (which was a consolation, I guess…)
If that wasn’t embarrassing enough, while I was lying on the chair getting my brackets put on (by the actual orthodontist himself), I suddenly found myself surrounded by 5 of the staff members, who were all concerned and discussing my “accident”. Fun stuff.
I’m pretty sure they were trying to be “discrete” about it, but I might as well have dug a hole and stuck myself there forever. The rest of the process went by in a blur, and I walked out of the inner office to the waiting room. As I passed by the waiting room desk, I heard the receptionist lady talking (again, as discretely as possible) to my mom about my accident, explaining that they think that I was “probably too nervous, or excited, so I wet my pants.”
When my mom was talking to the receptionist, I remember not wanting to awkwardly stand around in wet pants listening to their conversation, so I ended up hiding under a table near the entrance to the office– I was so ashamed– and afraid…
To be honest, I don’t know if big Amanda(older Amanda?), if faced with this exact same situation, would be able to interrupt something, inconvenience someone, etc. and make my needs known… Heck, I hope I’m never in this situation during a therapy session, because I don’t think I’d be able to open my freaking mouth and ask to go pee.
Let’s just hope that I’m never IN this situation, haha.
Any embarrassing stories from you guys?!
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