Braces Week 19: All Off!

I thought of a great movie today as I was brushing my teeth after my braces came off. It was Roman Holiday, with Audrey Hepburn. In the film she's a proper princess gone rouge in Rome. In one scene, she stops by a barber shop on a whim because she, like Pedro, realizes her hair is making her hot.
The quirky and endearing young barber asks how much of her hair she wants cut. "Here? Here? Where?" And Audrey bravely puts her hand all the way up by her ear. He responds incredulously, "All off?" She replies resolutely, "All off." The barber steels himself with an "if you insist," attitude and cuts off her very long, old-fashioned locks.

Audrey getting her hair cut.

 After a few minutes, the barber cheerily turns her chair to face the mirror. His expression slowly falls as hers does. She bites her lip and turns her head away. He determinedly looks at the mirror and turns her head back. He's on a mission now.

Uh oh, the first look...

He continues snipping and styling for a few minutes, then shows her his masterpiece again and waits anxiously while she turns her head from side to side and takes it in. 

Win.

This time, she loves it and goes out and celebrates her freedom and her symbolic short haircut!

That's a little bit how I felt as my braces were coming off today. It was just a big change and kinda scary. It hurt a little getting the brackets off, and it hurt because of my very recent gum surgery, and it was uncomfortable having all the dust blowing around me as they scrubbed of the glue...it was just an ordeal. Topped off with getting cast for a retainer:) He also had to do a little proceedure to close the last little gap up between my teeth. :/ That was a little uncomfortable. He just wired them shut and put a permanent retainer on the back of my two front teeth. At least they won't be moving anywhere!

 And here's the finished product ladies and gents! I may have him file down my canines just a little.  I haven't decided. He said I could do more detail work if something's not quite right. I see a lot of tiny flaws, but I'm sure I won't notice them any more after a few days when I'm no longer scrutinizing them:)

And it's hard for me to do a big, wide smile because of my gum surgery, so we'll see how it looks in a few days when I'm a little more mobile.

It was quite an ordeal, but at least the braces are off now. One more thing done:)