Lila's Treatment

1.

Lila anxiously played with her blonde hair as she waited at the campus Starbucks. She was still getting used to it being this long, though it was only at an awkward growing out stage so far. College was when she planned to finally be herself, yet at the beginning of her sophomore year at Apollonia University she had only taken baby steps.

She perked up when she saw a familiar redhead in pink scrubs, timidly waving her over.

Zoey plopped down across from her. "So, how was your first week?" She grinned, showing off her stunningly perfect teeth. Zoey was studying dental hygiene, she and Lila met the year before at orientation. So far, she had been the only one Lila had confided to about her identity.

Lila smiled back, showing off her own slightly crooked teeth. "So far so good!... It's nice to be back." Lila's parents were kind, but she wasn't sure if they'd be ready to understand just yet...

The pair ordered some drinks as they both chatted about their classes. They'd become quite close in the past year, even if Lila was quite shy around everyone else.

After about an hour of conversation, Zoey remembered something. "Oh, Lila, I almost forgot..." She pulled a pamphlet from her bag, pushing it across the table. "There was a stack of these in the dental center. It... seemed like something you might be interested in..."

Lila raised an eyebrow as she looked over the pamphlet.

"They're looking for transgender students for a study on hormone therapy. The school's paying for all of it, so you don't have to worry about insurance or anything like that." Zoey explained.

Lila's heart was pounding as she looked over the document. It seemed too good to be true. Though, Apollonia University was known to be a very progressive school, and its medical research was known worldwide.

"I'll definitely check this out, thank you so, so much!" Lila hugged her friend as she slipped the pamphlet in her bag.

One thing seemed odd though. According to the last page, the study wasn't being done by an endocrinologist. The head researcher was a woman named Dr. Pearl E. Whites, an orthodontist.

2.

Lila nervously walked through the school dental center. She'd filled out a form online at the URL given in the pamphlet, and received a short email confirming an appointment that Saturday morning. She arrived at room 433, and took a deep breath before entering the door.

"You mutht be Lila!" A blonde woman called out.

Lila politely nodded, before doing a slight double take.

The room was a small dental office, with a single pink chair facing the window. The only other person in the room was an attractive woman in her early thirties, dressed in a traditional white dental tunic, which seemed unusually tight around the breasts. With her impressive bust, cheerleader pigtails, and well applied makeup, she almost looked like she could be a supermodel, if not for one thing...

While Lila didn't know the exact terminology, the woman was wearing a very complex reverse-pull headgear, combining a metal facemask and an occipital headgear. To Lila, it looked like her face was trapped in a prison of metal and plastic, her scalp mummified by cloth straps. She smiled, showing a mess of colorful brackets and rubber bands.

"Are you... Dr. Whites?" Lila asked.

The woman shook her head. "No, thweetie, my name ith Flothie, I'll be your hygienitht today. Pleathe, take a theat."

Lila nodded, removing her hoodie and placing it with her backpack, before slowly climbing into the chair. She never quite liked the dentist. Her family dentist was a somewhat grumpy older man, who never had much patience for teenage boys nervous about routine check-ups. The window at least gave her a nice view of the campus quad.

Flossie placed a paper bib around Lila's neck, donning a faceshield. "Dr. Whiteth ith actually my wife. I'm working on my DDS, and athithting her with her thtudy ith a perfect way to earn some exthtra credit! Not to mention, thith thtudy ith quite perthonal to the both of uth." Lila had noticed Flossie's appliances seemed to be in pastel shades of pink, white, and blue. She blushed slightly as something clicked in her head.

Flossie snapped on a pair of pink nitrile gloves as Lila's chair reclined. "Open real big for me... that'th a good girl..."

Lila blushed again as Flossie adjusted the exam light. Nobody had ever called her a good girl before...

Flossie began to explore her patient's mouth. "I thee you've had quite a few fillingth before... how often would you thay you brush and floth?"

"I brush almost every morning, and I... don't really floss." Lila admitted. Her dentist could always tell when she lied, and she didn't want to disrespect Flossie.

Flossie nodded, giving an understanding smile. "Don't be embarrathed, you're not the only one. But it ith crucial that you try to improve your hygiene ath you undergo your treatment, okay?"

Lila nodded, beginning to wonder what this "treatment" even was. What did her teeth have to do with HRT? Was this all a misunderstanding?

Flossie began carefully scraping away at Lila's teeth. "I'll be giving you a thorough cleaning, okay? I don't see any cavitieth, but you have quite a bit of plaque..."

Lila squirmed a bit in the chair at first, but calmed down as she realized how gentle Flossie was being.

"Tho, do you know what you want to major in yet?" Flossie asked.

"I think I want to do poetry..." Lila awkwardly replied around the instruments in her mouth.

A few minutes passed as Flossie made small talk as she worked, occasionally stopping to rinse out some blood. Lila tensed up as she heard the sound of the drill, but calmed down as Flossie just polished her teeth. Finally, she quickly worked between her teeth with a length of floss.

"Now, moving on, bite down on thethe for me..." Flossie took some x-rays and impressions, smirking a bit as Lila gagged on the tray.

"Now, for the really thcary part..." Flossie brought the chair to a sitting up position, pulling over a tray with some strange equipment... "Could you thit your arm on the armretht for me, pleathe?"

Lila complied, but froze up as the hygienist began tying a tourniquet. "I'm jutht going to take a little bit of blood..." Flossie paused, seeing her patient's face. "Are you afraid of needleth? I promithe, I'm very good, thith won't hurt a bit..."

Lila nodded, looking straight out the window, allowing Flossie to insert the butterfly needle. "Aaand... done! You've been a very brave girl today, Lila." She said, removing the tourniquet and throwing away the needle.

"We need to do a bit of bloodwork before we thtart your HRT." She stuck on a cotton ball and a band-aid. "At your next appointment, Dr. Whiteth will be there to exthplain a bit more about what we'll be doing, okay?"

Lila's heart skipped a beat when the HRT was mentioned. "Okay."

---

Lila left the dental center with a new toothbrush, dental floss, and a slight spring in her step. She was excited, if a little bit confused.

3.

The next Saturday, Lila nervously approached room 433. She'd been trying to brush and floss a bit more in the past week like Flossie told her, though she still wasn't quite sure what to expect. She took a deep breath and pushed open the door.

A woman in a white tunic was seated on a stool, putting some instruments in order. She turned around as Lila closed the door behind her.

"Hello, Lila? It's a pleasure to meet you, would you mind taking a seat?" The woman was short but stocky, with a somewhat athletic build. Her dark hair was buzzed very short, and a blue dust mask hung under her chin. She gave a very wide smile, showing pearly white teeth and pink and orange braces.

Lila climbed into the chair, her heart pounding. "Are you Dr. Whites?"

The woman nodded. "I am, but you can just call me Pearl! I'm sure you're wondering about what we're doing today, aren't you?" She asked as she placed a bib around Lila's neck.

Lila nodded, and Pearl picked up a set of model teeth. "Lila, have you ever worn braces before?"

Lila shook her head. "My dentist recommended I see an orthodontist, but my parents couldn't really afford it."

Pearl nodded and brought the model teeth closer to Lila, so she could see they were wearing pink, white, and blue braces.

"For a while now, I've been looking into orthodontic treatment as an alternative to facial feminization surgery. It only recently occurred to me that braces could be equipped with a slow release mechanism for certain medications. Combining hormone replacement therapy with a variety of orthodontic techniques, my wife Flossie and I have designed the Whites-Park Feminization Treatment, perfect for a young woman just beginning her transition journey!"

Lila shifted a bit in the chair. "Does it work?" She asked.

"I've used many of the techniques in Flossie's treatment, but you would be the very first patient to go through the full standard treatment plan!" Pearl beamed. "If you're not satisfied by the results after this semester, we'll pay for a more standard treatment, but only if you stay compliant with the experimental treatment, okay?"

Lila ran her tongue over her slightly crooked teeth. She never quite liked the dentist, and to be honest, she felt like she had dodged a bullet with regards to braces, but...

"I'll do it. I'll go along with whatever you think is best."

Pearl smiled. "Great! Now, if you would just sign this waiver..." She handed Lila a pen and a clipboard with a packet of dense legal text, lightly tapping the signature line.

Lila smiled as she signed on the line. "So, when do we start?"

Pearl beamed, moving a tray full of brackets and wires into view. "Today!"

4.

Lila's heart skipped a beat. Today? The braces weren't ideal but... she was going to start hormones today!

Lila nervously smiled as the chair reclined and she watched Pearl adjust the light.

"Now, before we get started, this will be quite a long procedure, so we'll have to strap you in for safety reasons. Would you please place your arms on the armrest and lie flat as possible?"

Lila obeyed, a bit confused. "What do you mean by- oh!" Pearl cut her off as she began wrapping a series of thick pink rubber straps around her body, adjusting their tightness with dials underneath the chair.

"Have you ever been restrained at the dentist before?" Pearl asked as she worked.

Lila shook her head no.

Pearl smiled. "There's a first time for everything, isn't there? I just need you to stay very still... that's a good girl..." She said as she placed the last strap over Lila's forehead.

Lila tried to squirm, but couldn't move an inch. Her childhood fear of the dentist began to creep back into her mind as her heart raced. She heard the door open and close behind her, and Flossie stepped into view, donning her pink gloves and faceshield. She squeezed Lila's hand as Pearl flicked on the light, her mask now pulled over her face, along with a pair of loupes.

"Okay, now open wide..." Lila felt a pinch as Pearl stretched her mouth open with the Nola dry field, and Flossie inserted the tongue guard and suction.

Lila stared up at Flossie as she began to polish her teeth. She looked closely at how her lips awkwardly rested over the rubber bands and facebows. She watched Flossie's lips open ever so slightly, giving a peek into the mess of multicolored brackets and bands covering her teeth.

How could a woman as beautiful as Flossie be okay wearing all that? Come to think of it, Pearl mentioned some of the techniques she used for Flossie were part of her own treatment... She won't have to wear anything like that, would she?

Flossie finished with the polishing, moving on to the etching. She scooted forward, her chest pressing against Lila's head.

Lila moaned a bit in surprise, looking up at Flossie's face, which was now even closer. Flossie rinsed off the acid, leaving a sour taste in Lila's mouth, then began placing the brackets. Lila blushed as Flossie gave a slight smirk and scooted forward just a little more.

Lila sighed, if still a little embarrassed, before realizing she felt blood rushing down below. She couldn't move her head, but strained her eyes to look down, and flushed red when she noticed a clearly visible bulge under her jeans. She shifted around as much as she could under the restraints, but there was no hiding it. She moaned quietly, hoping it would subside before Pearl or Flossie noticed.

Flossie finished placing the brackets, allowing Pearl to take over. Lila relaxed a bit as Flossie leaned back a bit, but blushed again when she looked down and back up at Lila, giving a knowing smile.

Pearl began carefully cementing the brackets, occasionally adjusting their positions. After what felt like an eternity, she removed the dry field and tongue guard. "How are you doing so far?" She asked.

Lila breathed a sigh of relief. "O-okay..."

"Good girl, you're almost done, open wide for me..." Pearl began to stuff Lila's mouth with cotton rolls, pushing back her tongue. She then got to work cementing the top and bottom expanders, alongside the tongue crib. She then threaded the wire through the brackets, and began gradually tightening them.

Lila began to grunt in pain as the metal restricted more and more, gripping the armrests and wiggling her feet.

"Don't worry, it'll be over soon..." Pearl said as she steadily continued her work. Flossie squeezed Lila's hand, stroking it slightly with her gloved thumb.

Lila winced more as Pearl screwed in the herbst, clenching her eyes shut and curling her toes.

Pearl removed the cotton rolls. "Alright, now's the easy part..." She said as she began placing the rubber bands.

Lila opened her eyes again, looking up at the two dental professionals.

"Aaand... done!" Pearl exclaimed, placing the last rubber band. Flossie held up a mirror to Lila's face. "Thmile!"

Lila awkwardly bared her teeth, revealing a maze of metal and rubber filling her mouth, all colored in pink, white, blue.

Flossie removed the bib and the straps, and Pearl lifted Lila out of the chair, who stumbled a bit after being restrained for so long.

"We gave you quite a mouthful, but I believe you'll get used to it quickly. You will have to wear the bands as much as possible, and brush and floss much more than you're used to. I'll schedule you for an appointment on the first Saturday of next month, if that's okay."

Lila nodded, clutching her jaw. Next time I'll try to ask for sedation, she thought to herself.

5.

Zoey gently pulled Lila's lips back, getting a better look. "Wow, they really stuffed you! This really helps with your transition?"

Lila nodded. "It'th thuppothed to releathe hormoneth thlowly over the next month." She still felt embarrassed talking with her new appliances. "Did you ever wear bratheth?"

"For a year and a half in middle school, but nothing like this. My older sister Anna wore them for what seemed like forever, but she never wore her elastics or headgear or anything. She wound up getting some experimental treatment she never gave me the details of, but it seemed to work for her." Zoey paused. "How do you feel anyway?"

"It'th only been a day, but my mouth ith thtill thore. My thkin feelth a bit thofter, but that might jutht be my imagination."

Zoey smiled. "Well, I've got a surprise for you! Here..." She pulled a package from under her bed, handing it to Lila.

Lila opened it and immediately blushed. It was a cute pink dress with a floral pattern.

"Try it on now! I promise I won't look."

Zoey turned away as Lila put on her first dress. It fit her quite nicely, though it was a little short. She twirled around in front of the mirror and grinned. Maybe the mess of appliances she saw weren't so bad...

---

A month had passed, and Lila once again approached room 433. She wore the dress Zoey gave her, one of the first times she wore it out around campus. She nervously walked through the dental center, receiving passing glances from young women in pink scrubs. Nothing to see here, just a regular girl going to the orthodontist, she thought to herself.

In the past month, she'd gone through some slight changes. Her skin had definitely gotten softer, and her breasts had begun to develop slightly. In terms of her teeth, she hadn't noticed much of a difference. She'd been trying to wear her bands like Pearl told her to, but had been forgetting a bit. It was also hard to keep up with her dental hygiene around all the equipment in her mouth, even with Zoey giving her advice.

Lila took a deep breath and pushed open the door.

Pearl and Flossie were waiting for her.

"Lila, right on time! Take a seat, we're just about ready for you!" Pearl said, patting the chair's headrest.

Lila nervously slid into the chair, wincing slightly as Flossie began applying the restraints.

"That's a lovely dress, have you been dressing up more often?" Pearl asked, pulling up her mask and rolling over to Lila's side.

"Not really, not a lot of people know I'm tranth yet..." Lila said watching Flossie strap down her torso.

"That's fine, it's okay to take your time. And how are the braces treating you?"

"A bit uncomfortable, but I like the effecth tho far." Lila mumbled.

Pearl adjusted the examination lamp as Flossie applied the last few straps. "Now, this first month has been a bit of a trial run, we'll be moving you into the next stage of treatment today."

Lila squirmed a bit under the restraints. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know what that meant...

"Now, before we start, we did notice you were a bit uncomfortable during our last appointment. Would you be interested in sedation beforehand?"

Lila perked up. "O-oh, yeth pleathe actually."

Pearl clipped a paper bib around Lila's neck. "Alright then, Flossie, would you please set her up?"

Flossie nodded, scooting up to Lila. "Okay thweetie, you're a poetry major aren't you?"

"Mm-hm."

"Could you tell me one of your favorite poeth?" Flossie asked, placing a rubber mask over Lila's nose.

"E-Emily Dickenthon..." Lila replied, nervously watching the hygienist.

"Do you think you could rethite one of her poemth for uth?" Flossie asked, turning on the gas.

Lila gulped, a strange scent filling her nostrils.

"Hope ith the thing with featherth, that percheth in the thoul, and thingth the tune without the... without..."

The last thing she saw before drifting off was Pearl looming above her, snapping on her gloves.

---

Lila moaned as she slowly came to. Her mouth felt even more stuffed than before, and something seemed to be tugging on her cheeks. She stretched, apparently no longer being restrained, though she still felt something wrapped around her head.

Her eyes fluttered open, seeing Pearl and Flossie in front of her again.

"How do you feel?" Pearl asked, seeming to carefully study Lila's face.

"Uh ah I aring?" Lila managed to get out.

Flossie held up a mirror to Lila's face. Pearl spoke up. "In order for your facial feminization to work fully, you'll have to wear a headgear full time."

Lila's eyes widened as she saw her reflection in front of her. It looked almost like a bright pink football helmet, with a plastic cup on her chin, a bumper on her forehead, and a metal halo around her head. Most peculiar was a series of six metal hooks in the corner of her mouth, pulling her lips wide open, giving a full view of her braces, linked to the headgear via a complex network of bands.

"Your appliances are far too delicate for your lips to rest on them, so I'm afraid you'll have to wear this as often as possible. Unlike most headgear, this can't be removed by the patient. Instead of going to the dining hall, you'll have to report to room 230 of the dental center for your meals, a student will be there to assist you." Pearl explained with a strange sparkle in her eyes.