dental disasters

So this poor boy in my daughter's riding class was wearing a permanent retainer--the kind that fastens to braces--and he lost a tooth.

A crucial tooth--the one anchoring everything else.

And so all these wires came exploding out of his mouth, some of them with other teeth attached.

Grandma to the rescue! The boy's grandmother reached into her purse, pulled out--get this--wire cutters (!), snipped the dangling ends, and voila, all was well again.