Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 1, 1993 TAG: 9303010267
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: NF-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHY WILSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
YOU CAN COLOR YOUR WORLD
Zach Wimmer's are red and yellow. Jenel Holler's are blue and white to match her soccer uniform. Chris Lemons' are bright yellow. Amanda Poch's are blue. And Derek Leslie's are hot pink and orange.While these may be their favorite colors, we're not talking about hair ribbons or shoelaces or even trolls.
We're talking about their teeth. Well, actually, those are the colors of their braces.
When Zach Wimmer found out in November that he had to get braces, he thought for sure everyone would think he was dorky.
"I thought everyone would laugh at me," said Zach, who is 9 years old and goes to South Salem Elementary School.
But instead, they thought it was pretty cool.
That's because every time Zach smiles, he's a very colorful guy. Each month when he has his braces adjusted, Zach gets to pick new colored bands that hold the wire to the bracket.
The bands are called "quick sticks" and come in just about as many colors as you'll find in a big box of crayons. The last time Zach went to see Dr. Mac McCorkle, he chose red and yellow - the colors of one of his favorite football teams, the San Francisco 49ers.
In past months, he's worn the colors of some of his other favorite teams: blue and yellow for the Los Angeles Rams, green and white for the New York Jets, or orange and green for the Miami Hurricanes.
Lots of people have to wear braces for about two years to straighten their teeth - even grown-ups. But just because you have to wear braces doesn't mean it can't be fun.
Twelve-year-old Justin Ferguson is wearing two different shades of green for St. Patrick's Day later this month. He wore orange and black for Halloween, and green and red for Christmas.
"I really don't mind wearing braces because my teeth were really messed up before," he said.
McCorkle, Zach and Justin's doctor, and other orthodontists (they're the doctors who make your teeth look and fit better) all offer color quick sticks and rubber bands to brighten up your smile with braces.
Once you're finished wearing braces, you might have to wear a retainer for a while to get keep your teeth straight. These come in all sorts of colors, too. There's even one that's purple with glitter.
Nine-year-old Heather Dickerson, who goes to Masons Cove Elementary School, wore her braces for eight months and now has a purple retainer.
"Wearing braces was hard because you can't eat some of your favorite foods, like candy and popcorn and peanuts," she said.
When you have braces, you have to take extra special care of your teeth, not only by brushing after every meal, but also flossing, rinsing your mouth with mouthwash, and sometimes using a water pic.
When Dr. Orrin Clifton made an impression of 9-year-old Crystal Guerrant's teeth, she got to pick whether she wanted bubble gum-, cherry-, strawberry- , grape- or mint-flavored goo to sink her teeth into.
Crystal, who goes to Glen Cove Elementary, wears glasses, too. She found out in the first grade she could see the blackboard better with glasses and her parents let her pick out any she wanted. Crystal's first pair was pink. She wears pretty blue glasses now.
Six-year-old Tara Hall, who goes to Callaway Elementary School, has four pairs of glasses in different colors and styles.
Companies such as Fisher Price, Disney and even Nintendo make really cool glasses. Right now purple seems to be everyone's favorite color. The Mickey Mouse frames are sprinkled with flowers and balloons. There's even a pair that's blue and yellow with a little butterfly perched on the top.
While nobody probably really wants to wear glasses, lots of people have to at some point in their life. Kareem Abdul Jabbar wears prescription goggles when he plays basketball, and Martina Navratilova found she played better tennis when she started wearing glasses.
Kellie Martin, the actress who plays Becca on the television show "Life Goes On" wears bright red glasses. And in the movie "My Girl," Macauley Culkin's character, Thomas J., wore glasses, too.
As much fun as glasses might look, it's important to remember that they cost a lot of money (some more than $100!) and you need to take very good care of them.
They'll fit you better if you don't let your friends try them on and take care of them by always taking them off with both hands and laying them down the way the optician shows you.