• “Oh, yes, I wear my appliance all the time.” - (I wear it some of the time.)
• “I wear it a lot.” - (I wear it a couple of hours a week.)
• “Well, sometimes I don’t wear it.” – (I don’t wear it on days ending with a “Y”.)
• “I don’t wear it well.” – (I haven’t seen it for over a month.)
• “I never chew gum.” – (I have never chewed gum during a total eclipse.)
• “I don’t chew very much gum.” – (I only chew “Double Bubble”.)
• “I just softly touched the brackets with my finger and they fell off.” – (I came first in an ice cube chewing contest at camp last week.)
• “I just dropped it onto my pillow and it broke into pieces.” – (I stepped on it.)
• “I can’t find all the pieces.” – (The dog got it first – he’s still at the Vet).
• “My mouth is all ripped up and raw.” – (I have a slight irritation in one spot.)
• “I was sure my appointment was today.” – (I had hockey practice yesterday at the time of my regular appointment.)
• “I took my elastics off just before I came to your office.” – (I haven’t worn elastics since my last appointment.)
• “Sorry but I couldn’t brush my teeth after lunch.” – (I can’t remember the last time I brushed my teeth.)
• “My retainer suddenly got much bigger and it doesn’t fit anymore.” – (I tried to boil my retainer to clean it.)
• “My retainer smells like garbage.” – (My mom finally found it after crawling through four McDonald’s dumpsters.)

By: Randy Lang, DDS, Dip. Ortho