“Hello!  My name is JAMIE.  I am 13 years old.  I live on the Sunshine Coast.  I am writing today, to tell my story about being a child with a unilateral cleft lip and palate.

Jamie (right) and his brother Joshua

I do not remember any of the first operations I had to repair my lip and palate, but when I was 4 years old I remember having an orthodontic plate which was colourful and had a picture of a car on it.  I had to have someone put it in after meals but I could take it out before eating.  I used to talk funny and spit a lot with it.  I even wore it to childcare.

When I was seven years old, I remember getting my first set of braces.  It was a big day as we started the day with having horrible gum in my mouth.  I cried and felt like I was choking.  Mum was there rubbing my feet as I was so scared.  I felt like a loner having braces as I was the only one in grade 2 …. Nobody else had them.  They also stopped me from eating things I liked like crunching straight in to an apple.  Now Mum had to cut it up for me.  There were lots of trips to Oral Health which I did not mind as I could watch TV in the waiting room.  I then had another plate after that which was much better.  All I had to do was take it out before eating.

Five years later it was time to get braces again! This time it wasn’t so bad as other children at school were getting them and so I did not feel so alone anymore.  In actual fact, a lot of children thought I was rich as I had braces – I thought this was cool that I looked rich.  I am now in Year 8 and all my friends tell me what colours to get for the elastic… the latest colours are black and pink. It is great fun choosing the colours every 4 – 6 weeks.

On Friday 13^th April my braces shall be coming off and I will get my 3^rd plate.  For me this is great as I can eat crunchy things again.  It will be that nasty pink putty gum stuff again and I will probably gag again but at least my mouth will feel free.  Braces have made my teeth great and although I haven’t liked them they are really cool in the end.  So no matter which way you turn braces have two different opinions.  Although Friday 13^th is supposed to be unlucky – I disagree as I am having something very lucky …. My braces off!

Yours faithfully,

Jamie 

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Last modified: September 26, 2007