15 Jan Braces

For most teenagers braces are as natural a right of passage as blemishes and awkwardness. I say for most because smile alignment is not a priority to the poor or the middle class families that are struggling. It’s the difference between “need” and “want”.

When our boys were only toddlers and they would want something, the educator in me devised a saying. “We need food, water, shelter, and love.” All else falls in the want category. In later years, I added education to the “need” column because in my experience that has been the gateway to understanding and finding common ground amongst differences, and should be afforded to all who populate this Earth.

What seemed like all of my friends were getting braces during junior high. Their metal smiles gleaming in the Sun, leaving school for an hour for their Ortho appointments, complaining about the nuisances of braces, and showing off their pearly whites when the braces came off. How I envied their tortured existence!

Determined I went home to badger my Umme until she too got me braces, knowing full well that her minimum wage job (anywhere between $3.35-$4.25) at Montgomery Wards could not afford such extravagances. To my surprise, she asked around her workplace and shortly thereafter we went to see an Orthodontist (that’s what Ortho was short for) in San Bernardino.
 

“We need food, water, shelter, and love.” All else falls in the want category.

After the initial assessment, x-rays, and discussion, the financial manager gave Umme the estimated cost. She looked it over, asked if that was the best they could offer (she might be little and sweet but you have never met a better negotiator), and politely let them know that she could pay in monthly installments.

Two weeks later I too was in pain, couldn’t eat sticky candies, was scheduling Ortho appointments, had metal along my enamel, and felt so very normal. I have good genes. No one in my family has ever had braces before me. My grandparents, parents, aunts, and uncles all have beautiful smiles without manipulation so it was no surprise that my braces lasted six short months. In fact, the time was so brief that I have not been able to find a picture of me in braces.

“For a brief six months I too was part of that crowd.”

After six months the metal was removed to showcase my pearly whites. I don’t think most of my friends would recall me ever having braces: That right of passage that is for the upper middle or higher income earners, to visibly showcase the fact that they have enough money to get all their family’s “needs” and “wants” met. For a brief six months I too was part of that crowd.

Umme never mentioned the monthly payments until years later (I might have been in college or even married). “I paid off your braces,” she said very matter-of-factly. There was no resentment, no anger, no guilt, just a statement of fact. The same braces I had for six months took my mother a decade to pay off and pay off she did.

My braces came off 27 years ago, but I wear my retainer one night out of the month to keep my smile in check. It’s not for me as much as for the devotion I have for my Umme. Her sacrifice of time and money (both of which she had so little) just so I could have something I “wanted” isn’t lost on me.

I have a big smile. I brush twice a day with my Sonicare, I floss daily, and I enjoy my six month dental cleanings. I don’t hide my teeth. I laugh with my mouth open wide. I show my pearly whites to friends, family and strangers alike. You never have to tell me “cheese” for a photo. I’m that girl with the obnoxious smile thanks to my Umme.

-Samita Syed-Needelman