BRACES

Well, it's day two of the April challenge, and I'm going to tell you about braces.

Braces are these metal things that set your teeth and jaw in place. You get to choose the colours you want them to be, and the authadontist (a braces dentist) puts these little couloured rubber things around the metal on each tooth.

It hurts for the first week. You can hardly chew without getting a massive ache all through your mouth. Sometimes your whole head pounds. You have to take heavy Neurofen, and it only dulls the pain for an hour or two before you're hating your own guts for anticipating this kind of agony.

Sorry. You probably didn't want to hear that. Good news is, after that first week, it's not too bad. There are minor things like having to brush your teeth a certain way, picking the food out from between the metal, and being careful how hard you chew on that hot, juicy steak.

Apart from that, there's nothing worth biting your tongue over. Braces look great in photos, set off your smile and leave your teeth straight and white and good enough for a toothpaste commercial.

Well. Nearly.

I had braces for about two years. When I can find the pics, I'll do up a before-and-after shot so you can see the results. For now, you can take a look at a photo that was taken quite a while ago, when I had braces:

Me, with braces...

Taken accidentally... what a nice fluke, aye! Haha.