Throwback Thursday: Bad Teeth

I was looking through some old pictures last night and I couldn't help but notice how my smile has changed with each passing year.  My parents passed on decent genes for the most part but my family kind of got the short end of the stick when it comes to teeth.  Let's take a look at my teeth progression, shall we?

 1)  As you can tell, I had interesting teeth from the start.
2)  I used to grind my teeth as a child, resulting in seriously sanded down cuspids.
3)  Then came the wonderful childhood rite of passage of losing all your baby teeth.
4)  When all of my teeth came back in, it was very apparent that I had a serious under-bite.
5)  The braces went on in 5th grade and remained there until 8th.  The goal was to correct my under-bite, straighten my teeth, close up the gaps, and create space for fake teeth (since I am missing my lateral incisors).

6)  Then came that period in middle school when I never smiled with my mouth open.
7)  My braces came off, I got a retainer with fake lateral incisors, and my teeth looked pretty normal.
8)  Every time I eat I take out my retainer to reveal major gaps between my front teeth and my cuspids.  This makes it easy to make "the rabbit" or "the beaver" face, whichever you prefer.

Conclusion:  Thank heavens for braces.