making room

In my various incarnations as a working girl I worked in an orthodontist's office. It was a fascinating experience on many levels, but mainly on learning the mechanics of the human mouth.

Did you know the human bite is the most germ ridden? Its theorized that the germs and bacteria of the mouth are there to defend against anything that would try to attack the system, to kill that which would try to kill. In working orthodontia what was fascinating to me were the barbaric things we do to our mouths in the name of beauty and symmetry.

For instance there is a contraption used in orthodontia called an expander. An expander is used when the patient doesn't have enough room for all the teeth intended (by their body) for their top palate. The patient in question has to be within a certain body age, or else this won't work. The expander is installed into the soft upper palate, its generally secured by rings of metal which are forced around the back molars. Its the caretaker's (mother or father generally) job to insert a small key into the expander once or twice a day, they then turn the key expanding the expander. Now, this hurts. This really fucking hurts. If you're kid is a whiny prima donna, you may or may not have the guts for this. This is not soft, feely, mwah mwah, kinda parenting. This is not nice, this is probably not approved by therapists, this is hard (but worth it). The patient ends up with more pronounced cheekbones and being able to keep all their teeth.

I also think this is an amazing metaphor/simile/etc/etc/etc. If actions like the expander aren't taken you have to get teeth pulled, yes thats painful, also destructive and unnecesary if you're willing to put up with lesser pain for a longer amount of time. The expander makes room for the new, the inevitable. While keeping space for the old. It painfully forces the patient to make room for what is to come. Just like life. But if I can do the work, put up with the lesser pain than I can keep the old and make room for the new. Which is preferable to the mouthful of blood involved with the alternative.