The day I got the braces put on my face was not the happiest day of my life, to be perfectly honest. In fact, it was horrible. The weather was wild and windy, and the procedure took about four hours. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t hurt. It hurt like hell. Once they started though, I couldn’t pull out. I couldn’t even speak. That was part of the problem. The other part was that if I pulled out halfway through, I’d still have all these bits of metal stuck to my teeth that I couldn’t get off. Not a good look, as I’m sure you can imagine. Braces aren’t the coolest look in the world either. Three years later I got those braces taken off. Ah, there goes my holiday apartment on the Gold Coast mum said each time I flashed that smile at her. Gee that felt great; in fact I felt just like the ugly duckling that turned into a swan -- only swans don’t have teeth and neither do ducks.