I don’t remember a period of time in my life when I wasn’t bullied in school. It honestly feels like I had my first day in school at five years old and then for the next ten years I was to be perpetually bullied every day. I was one of those kids that would pray for school holidays and the weekend just so I could get a break from being bullied. My older sisters were a lot luckier than me, for some reason everyone loved them but hated me. I wasn’t a weird kid either but it honestly did feel like I had a target on my back at times. Any unfair name a teenager can get, you best believe that I was called it! It only got worse when I discovered that I needed braces. I begged for my parents to change their minds or to consider teeth straightening with Invisalign. At least going down the Invisalign route would mean that my braces would be discrete so the students don’t notice them. My parents were tough to convince but they weighed up the pros and cons of getting Invisalign.
I begged my parents each night for months to not give me braces, but they were adamant it was something that I needed. They told me to just not worry about the bullies and that being this upset was only letting them win. Hearing those words was hard as it was clear they didn’t understand what I was going through. One of the days I ended up crying at the dentist. Bayside had a go-to dentist that most teenagers would visit, so he wasn’t surprised to have yet another teen crying in his chair. He asked what was wrong so I explained that I did not want to get braces. He invited my parents in for a discussion and explained to them the benefits of Invisalign. Eventually, they agreed that Invisalign was the right choice for me. Guess what? None of the bullies even noticed the Invisalign on my teeth!