The Bionator

I remember going to the Orthodontists office at the age of 5 (Kindergarten) for my initial evaluation. I was introduced to this medicinal smelling man who really liked to stuff his rubber gloves in my mouth a tell me to open and close to what seemed like over 100 times. Let me tell you, that gets old.

After the initial evaluation, my parents were presented with 2 options to fix my severe under bite. #1 - break my jaw and reset it into place or #2 - start with the bionator and then head into braces.

My parents chose option #2 - start with the bionator and then head into braces.

Personally, I was happy with this choice because hearing the words "break" when referencing my jaw was a little scary especially at the age of 5. And to my parents credit, I think they picked the route of less initial trauma.

My next appointment moldings were made and I got to pick a color for my new best friend the bionator. I picked the color pink with silver metallic stars scattered about. A true princess from the begining.

At the following appointment about 2 weeks later, my bionator was presented to me. I was imagining opening this purple box and seeing something petite, dainty and pretty with silver metallic stars. To my surprise, this is what I saw when I opened the box:

It was not petite! Iit was certainly not dainty! For pete's sake it was not pretty! This thing was a monster!

The orthodontist told me to open wide and stuffed this huge piece of metal and plastic into my mouth and told me to close. To better explain the bionator, I am going to compare it to a retainer. When you think about a retainer, it only sticks to the top or bottom of your mouth. The bionator, is one thick piece of plastic that holds both your top and bottom teeth into place, together. There is no opening and closing. When you want to eat you have to take it out. When you want to talk you have to talk with your teeth closed and suck saliva back in between sentences. When you want to just be, you have to check your chin and lips to be sure you are not drooling, sometimes a little would sneak out.

As you can imagine, when you are in Kindergarten, most kids only care about the playground, eating sand and coloring. For me, my cares were eating the Elmer's glue paste with a stick, talking and coloring. Since I could not eat or talk with my bionater, I began to dispise it. This ugly piece of plastic was ruining my life.

The bionator was just the begining.