|
Fairy tale straightens our retainer loss.
In the real world, kids lose their retainers. In the fairy tale
world of Katie Lorenc, Kids still lose their retainers, but it's
much more entertaining.
The Lisle residents and Benet Academy sophomore had two years of
braces with Woodridge orthodontist Dr. Rob Girgis and was keeping
her now-dazzling smile in place with retainers. Then came the day
at lunch when she and her retainer were soon parted.
"Usually kids just leave their retainer on a napkin when they
are eating," Lorenc said. " I put mine in a paper bag.
I was planning on taking the bag with me after lunch. But someone
accidentally took my bag".
There followed a scramble through the many paper bags in Benet
Academy's lunchroom, but the wayward retainer was nowhere to be
found. The retainer is not an inexpensive appliance, and the cost
of replacement is usually picked up by the parents, who often pass
that cost along to the person who lost it.
But Dr. Girgis has a policy that in cases where the loss of the
retainer is not the direct fault of the owner, the first retainer
can be replaced free of charge if the child involved performs some
other task. Often, it means cookies, cakes or other baked goods
for the office staff. In Lorenc's case, Dr. Girgis had another idea.
"I asked her to write a story about how she lost it,"
Dr. Girgis said. " That way, there's still a consequence involved."
Lorenc created " A Princess's Tale" with herself in the
starring role. In the essay, the doctor is knighted Sir Girgis,
her parents are raised to the title of King and Queen and the lunchroom
at Benet became The Great hall. The story of her missing retainer
is told with proper levels of humor (she notes at one point her
frantic search through the paper bags while "the laughing and
remarks of the young knights in the crowd almost extinguished the
fire that was in her." ) and the story, as most fairy tales
do, has a moral:
"Putting my retainer in my lunch bag was a risky decision,
but hey, at least I didn't leave them in a napkin."
Dr. Girgis was impressed with Lorenc's effort. " The creativity
she put into it was remarkable," he said. "It was not
unlike Shrek, where she took a realistic situation and turned it
into fantasy. The excitement and the energy with which she did this
was great."
And as in most fairy tales, there is a happy ending. Dr. Girgis
replaced the retainer for Lorenc, and will use the story both as
a way to entertain future patients as well as offering another lesson
about the importance of keeping the retainer in plain sight at all
times.
She's got a few more months with the retainer, and she's keeping
her end of the bargain. The only place the retainers goes in on
her teeth before bed. "I always wear them to bed, every night,"
she said.
Lorenc can now smile openly about the experience, and the results
of her two years of work to straighten her teeth have paid off.
"It's worth it," she said of her orthodontic adventures.
" If you take care of them, you'll get good results. If you
slack off, you're just going t be on them longer. If you follow
the orthodontist's orders, things go much better."
|
