Remember how oddly excited we were to talk about our glasses? Let's wax philosophical about our tangles with orthodontia!
I spent the larger part of elementary school with exactly one snaggle tooth and a semi-significant space between my two front teeth. This, coupled with my awesome purple grandma glasses and triangle perm made for prettttty cute school photos, let me assure you. I spent fifth and sixth grade removing retainers before I mowed through the cafeteria pizza and spent the better part of seventh grade sporting braces.
I realize that one year of braces can't hold a candle to some people's two or three years. I even have friends who've been through two (!) sets of braces. When I'm traveling and living abroad, people occasionally peg me as American because of my "sparkly, overly perfect teeth." What?!
Did you have braces? Do you think Americans are unusually fixated on their teeth? How do you feel about crooked teeth?
59 comments:
Ugh! As a child my teeth refused to grow in straight. I went through retainers when I was 10 and 11 and I got braces at 12! I saw my orthodontist once every few weeks while only rarely seeing my medical doctor.
Looking back I feel it was all ridiculous. My teeth are still slightly crooked because thousands of dollars of braces still was not enough to fix it. But now, I love my teeth! I do believe that Americans are unusually fixated on their teeth. No child should have to go through that much pain and humiliation because their teeth are slightly crooked.
I had a plate, and then braces, and then another plate. It was three solid years of torture and my teeth aren't even straight - they've moved back! Grrrrrr. I might consider getting another set of braces when I'm older? I don't know.
I had a braces. Before getting them I needed to have four teeth removed surgically. I still remember it with quite a bit of distress.
I really don't agree with the "geek" approach of braces. Recently my dentist suggested I get braces again but as an adult the results are less noticeable (in terms of an improvement) as in children. It would be, I found out by visiting another dentist, somewhat of a waste of money unless I really wanted it.
Ohh, not just braces! (which I had for a year and a half). I've had the following lovely experiences with my teeth and other mouth related things:
over 60 fillings (yes...you read correctly...this includes my baby teeth), one root canal, a crown, gum grafts on 10 lower teeth, 2 frenectomies, all 4 wisdom teeth removed at once, tonsils and adenoids removed. I think that's it...it's amazing my teeth look as good as they do.
I hate when people assume I don't brush my teeth when I tell them this stuff :(
Never had braces. But then again, I'm not american. :P
I don't think there's really a difference, though. I guess everyone is overly worried about teeth. We had this contestant on Idol a few months ago who had slightly crooked front teeth, but always smiled like a movie star and had no intentions of hiding them. I found her extremely brave for that. :) But most of my friends just sort of going all like "oh, she's never gonna win, she can't be famous with teeth like those"... all I ever did to reply was smile and show them my very own crooked teeth in all their glory. All of my front teeth, all in between the canines anyway, are out of place. ALL OF THEM. I never had braces and I don't want them. These are MY teeth. If they were straight and perfect I wouldn't feel like me anymore. But most people don't see this my way nad just mumble something like "oh yea... hmm, but hers are much worse than yours!" and I just grin, "hmpf, right".
:D
xx
I never had braces.. As a child my teeth were slightly crooked and I had a big gap between my two front teeth, but my parents just didn't bother to take me to the orthodontist. After all my adult teeth were out, though, the gap closed and now I have an almost perfect smile with zero pain and money :)
My brother though had a huge problem and had to put on braces - not just for aesthetic reasons, obviously - so I know what a trouble the whole process is..
I had braces for about a year. Just the top 6, to straighten out my overlapping front teeth. It worked out just fine, and now I wear a full retainer most nights. I've actually worn my retainer for a decade now -- braces are expensive! My teeth still move if I don't wear the thing from time to time.
When I was done with the top, my ortho wanted me to get bottom braces, but we ixnayed that. Too much money, and it would have taken a lot of time. We're still not sure why he didn't suggest both together. In any case, my teeth both look good and act fine now, which are the keys.
I don't think Americans are too obsessed with teeth, tho we do have a thing about making them perfectly exactly straight that is a bit weird. I made my ortho take off my braces with a tiny bit of imperfection left because I didn't want that flat, shiny, ruler straight look. But, other than that, I think it's good to be careful with your teeth. I don't think everyone realizes that cavities and infections in your mouth can kill you if untreated. A little tooth obsession can be a good thing.
I never had them but I never needed them. I do have a couple of crooked teeth and quite an overbite!
I wish I had been given braces! My mum didn't really bother...I remember 2 dentist appointments my whole childhood :/ I have 2 kinda big front teeth, which face each other a little bit and the rest of my teeth are a little bit wonky too.. Throughout school I felt ugly and was occassionally called rabbit, beaver, goofy...those sorts of names, by horrible kids. It was pretty humiliating and they've definitely affected my confidence :(
These days I'm feeling a lot better about them and it definitely helps that quirky teeth are more accepted. I love seeing pretty girls with crooked/big teeth on weheartit - it makes me feel good about my own! I'm ok with how my smile looks from the front but still cringe (and un-tag!) when a side-shot of me laughing comes up on facebook.
The really sad thing is that my little boy has inherited my 2 big front teeth and they stick froward even more than mine :( He's 8 and has already had a few kids say he looks like a rabbit - I'm nervous for him when he starts highschool because that's when kids can be little shits! I'm keeping up with his dentist appointments (unlike my mum!) and hoping to get him braces a.s.a.p. And I'm also trying to build his confidence so those mean remarks won't affect him as much as they did me :/
PS. I'm intrigued by american's dental regimes - how do they all have such white clean teeth?! They can't all afford whitening and stuff surely..? lol
My teeth were straight when they put the braces on.... then when they came off I had a year of good teeth before they started going crooked. My bottom teeth are long gone but I've managed to semi-save my top teeth.
Crooked teeth only bother me if they're really, really messed up. For the most part it doesn't matter too much to me. I think Americans probably are more fixated on their teeth than other countries.
Ohh did I have braces.
6th grade, I got an expander to pull my 2 front teeth APART. I could fit a pencil in the gap it made. Every night, my dad had to tighten it so it pulled apart more. OW.
Then I got braces. I had them for about 3 years. They were even removed for a few months but I was told I had to wear them again because there was shifting. Oh geeze. So my 9th grade school picture was a closed mouth smile, when my 8th was a big naked grin. Then I had to wear a retainer for maybe about a year...maybe more. and THEN I had permanent retainers put in. They are little wires cemented to the backs of your teeth. one behind my 2 front teeth and another that spans my bottom front teeth. They are there to this day.
It's weird to think that I'll have these on the backs of my teeth for the rest of my life...but I barely realize that they are there anymore, and they do their job, so I guess it's okay.
Ahhhh braces. I had them for four long years. And not just your basic, average braces. I had braces AND two retainers (worn WITH braces), and at one point "jumpers" on each side. Jumpers are basically two mini springs in your mouth that wire your top and bottom jaws together. I used to break them all the time laughing too hard (and therefore opening my mouth too wide). They'd inevitably snap at one end, leaving the whole spring attached to the other jaw and hanging around uselessly in my mouth. This once happened on the first day of a two week vacation, and my dad was not about to listen to me cry about it for a week at the beach AND Disneyworld the week after. So he bought a pair of wire-cutters in the silk flower section of Michaels in South Carolina, told me to close my eyes, and remarkably didn't do any damage that would have added another year to my braces nightmare. I still wouldn't recommend trying it at home, though. ;)
Not only did I have braces, but I had an awful set of headgear - the kind that made a semi-circle around your head. Awful.
I had braces for 7 years. We're talking since the start of middle school until senior year, AND I had to wear my headgear all day for four of those years.
Coupled with cystic acne, I was quite the hottie.
The best part is a week ago I went into the dentist (four years after I got my braces off, and a year after I stopped using a retainer), and apparently my bottom back tooth is a little crooked and they want to put me back into braces.
Um.... HELL NO!
I've never had braces but my teeth were a little crooked because my mouth wasn't wide enough for them. However, I have a molar on each side at the bottom that never had an adult tooth underneath it to push it out so when they came out it gave my teeth enough room to straighten up.
That's not to say I've had an easy ride dentally speaking. I've had extractions and root canals, 2 of which were so painful and traumatic as a child that I have a terrible fear of the dentist. Really awful.
My pet peeve is the stereotype that British people have awful teeth. Maybe in the 1970s... maybe! But nowadays? Not so much.
I'm 36 and am currently sporting braces. I do sometimes second guess my decision, since my former smile did have a bit of character with one front tooth slightly askew. Even though braces are a pain (literallly) I wouldn't want to give up at this point and go back to the teeth I had.
i had braces for 2 years in middle school. So many people had them at my school i just thought it was cool to get them.
My teeth are slightly crooked (i mean other people do not see it and don't care if i point it out) but sometimes it bothers me. I wish I would have worn my retainer!!
Sometimes i imagine that if i had A LOT of money i would pay to have them done again.
I have lucked out on having healthy teeth. i've only had one cavity and no other problems although i don't care for my teeth as well as i should.
I had braces for four years, and then had to keep them on for another year while I waited to have major surgery to change the configuration of my jaws. My teeth were what the surgeons were going to use to line up my jaws, so the teeth had to be perfectly straight and in place. And then I had to wait another eight months after the surgery to finally get them off! I was finally braces-free by my second year of college.
I'm DESPERATE for braces.
I really shouldve had them about 5 years ago (I'm 19) but my back molars decided they wanted to hang around a bit before coming through.
Hopefully I'll get some soon, adult metalmouth here I come.
I don't think theres anything wrong with wanting nice teeth really. I mean you definitely CAN take it too far, but that's the same as everything I guess.
I had braces FOUR times, for a total of 8 years, on and off from the age of 8 to 22.
I had to wear the headgear, the rubber bands (that once got me in trouble at school because my teacher was CONVINCED I was chewing gum), the springs that dug into my cheeks, plates, and even at one point two knobs that dug so far into my cheeks that I still have scars.
I started at 8 because "my baby teeth were so messed up the adult teeth couldn't grow in", then got those removed and had others through junior high, but only a few years after (with wearing a retainer!) they shifted "due to a growth spurt". And then it happened again. Twice.
I'm not sure if I was an extreme case or really if my orthodontist was a sadist! I do know that now, at 30, my teeth are still not straight and because I so many years not smiling, I now often have to be coaxed to smile. The bands and cement being on my teeth cracked the enamel in several places and I have to be very careful about drinking coffee, wine, etc so those cracks don't stain. (And YES, I brush my teeth!)
I wish my parents would have let me have the crooked baby teeth and just seen what would happen. Yes, having crooked teeth can affect self-esteem, but make sure the price you're paying to fix it is worth it.
I had braces for SIX YEARS! It was worth it though-- but my teeth are not even completely straight. I think crooked teeth are totally fine, I truly don't get the obsession with having perfect teeth in America.
I had braces for 3 years to fix a horrible underbit I had. When it was corrected I wore a retainer for about 6 months. Around that time, my retainer started to fall out. I went back to the orthodontist who told me I had developed a cross bite. I got braces for another 3 years. So after a total of 6 years in braces, my teeth are still not straight. SUCH a waste of money.
i didn't have braces, but i did magically have 3 cavities every time we went to the dentist. by the time i was 20 i looked like a bad guy from a bond film. i recently changed them all to white (allergic to the fillings), which was HELL, but i'm glad i did.
My best friend had braces for 7 years because of an error on the part of her incompetent orthodontist!
Also:
I used to be really into straight, white teeth, until I fell in love with and married a man with wonky crooked teeth. Go figure.
I never had braces, although I wanted them when I was younger because all my friends were getting them.
I did, however, develop a nasty case of TMJ in high school and by putting off treatment for that I ended up having to wear a terrible mouthpiece in COLLEGE which I couldn't take off EVER except for meals, and it made me talk like my mouth was numb. Super embarrassing.
I do think Americans are fixated on teeth, and I have to say that I like that about us. I really appreciate straight teeth, although a little crookedness is kind of cute.
I remember it well. I was in seventh grade on the bus to Canada for a class trip. My crush of the week was mid flirt session when he stopped and looked at my mouth. "Jenny, you would be really pretty if it wasn't for your mouth." I know he wasn't being mean, but it stuck with me. I am so thankful my parents spent a small fortune on my mouth!
When my father got his new job & dental insurance, my sister & I got braces. First they had to pull out my baby eye teeth though, since they refused to fall out & the adult teeth started coming in on top thru the gums... I looked kind of like a shark. :)
I had them for about 2 years I guess, in Middle School when everybody else was doing it, so I felt cool (for once in grade school...)!
My teeth straightened themselves out, & now I still wear my retainer every day, at age 21, because we paid for them, so I may as well keep them. Also, I hope to be an actor, & my headshot has straight teeth, so I'd like to be consistent!
My teeth are, hands down, my least favourite feature! They're white as all nonsense (seriously, even dentists usually say to me ''you have the whitest teeth that I have ever seen!'' - and this is even with red wine drinking and cola swilling!), but I've always had a snaggle tooth (one of my teeth protrudes slightly in front of the others), and whilst I continue to routinely blow all my braces money on travel, probably will for a couple of years to come!
I had braces for 3 or 4 years. I was SO ANGRY with my parents when they put me in them. I hated all of it. I liked my quirky, crooked teeth. I didn't want to change them just for cosmetic reasons. And I didn't look that awesome with them on, either. I think some kids can really pull off braces and some, like me, just looked awkward with them.
I still don't know if I'm glad they did it, though. I don't really remember how crooked my teeth were so it's hard to say if they'd be cutely imperfect or just terrible looking. I don't much think of my teeth. The only time I really think about my braces now is when I visit the dentist - I had to get 4 teeth pulled before my braces, and magically that made enough room in my mouth that I haven't had to get my wisdom teeth out. Every time I see the dentist he remarks at how lucky I am to get to keep them. Hooray!
Oh and they HURT LIKE A BITCH. For a week after getting them tightened, I lived on oatmeal and milkshakes and sometimes just Ensure. I would wake up 10 times in the middle of the night after getting them tightened because every time even just something little happened, like my lips moved or I swallowed or something, my whole head would ache.
I had braces for 13 years- yes, THIRTEEN!!! Unfortunately you'd never know it. Ahh the torture I went through.
Oh the days of not being able to eat anything remotely solid, the blisters and sores. I once had a soccer ball kicked in my face and broke my front four ones off. I do not miss them one bit but now every one stairs at my teeth cause "they're so perfect". Oh well.
And yes americans care WAY to much about having pearly whites all neat and straight. But that's what makes us american. We care about useless things others don't.
Completely weird confession: ALL I wanted growing up was a retainer, preferably the ones that were made to look like a watermelon on the roof of your mouth. I have straight-ish teeth so I never got one, but I'd fashion a pretend one out of paper clips and wear it like a real one. Awesome.
That photo of the gold-plated retainer cracked me up! I was traumatized in 2nd grade when I got a retainer, and then had teeth pulled/braces/headgear/etc. for 6-7-8th grades. (And I think my school photos would give you a run for your money - plastic glasses, '80s bowl or triangle haircuts!)
I like my smile but I'm self conscious about a darker top tooth - it's half dead and no whitening can fix it. (But is vanity a valid reason to spend $1K for a cap?)
One of my big pet peeves about Hollywood actors are the "perfect" teeth - it can ruin a character in an instant for me...
Hmm, I had braces for about 2 and a half years. And I had to wear the dreaded headgear at night for the first year of that. Ugh. And then I had a retainer for a while. My teeth are slowly moving though... I can tell they're not as "perfect" as they used to be. I do think Americans are more fixated on teeth... more fixated on appearance in general, I think.
I am a lurker of the deepest, deepest proportions, but this topic just touches a sore spot with me so I am delurking. I did not have braces, I had a strange, clear, gummy-plastic mouth guard thing, something like what boxers and football players wear. The idea was that it would push in on my teeth as I bit down. (My left front tooth grew in almost completely sideways.) I wore this thing-day and night-for about three years in elementary school. As you can imagine, I could not talk or eat with it in, so it even inhibited my participation in class. The inside of my mouth would get sucked into the top and bottom of the thing overnight, so I would wake up with a sore ring around my mouth. (ew, that sounded more gross than I intended).
Anyhoo, it did in fact straighten my teeth. That is until I got my wisdom teeth, which my dentist said I had room for, and they pushed everything forward, overlapping my front teeth and pushing my eye teeth out like "fangs." It was too late to do anything about it. So, I had straight teeth for about one year.
I alternate between feeling like "hey, this is me-and I look great!" and like "Argh, I hate these damn things!" I read some of the horror stories here, and my husband had braces for three years, so I know that they are no picnic either. But my theory is that no one paid attention to me in jr. high and hardly in high school anyway, and if I'd had them I'd be all done with that now and over it, enjoying my nice straight teeth!
Americans are too obsessed with straight teeth, we should be more concerned with overall tooth health. Even people with small imperfections in their teeth like I have are self conscious about them, when in reality I have very healthy teeth and should be glad of that. I like seeing confident people with crooked teeth, because it's a sign that even our imperfections make us who we are. I want to be more like that. Magazines and TV and movies make it out like your teeth have to be perfect. They sometimes make an exception for people with a gap (hello, Lauren Hutton, Madonna!) but never someone with overlapping teeth. I remember Michelle Rodriguez from the first season of LOST with overlapping teeth, and by the time they brought her back she must have gotten veneers! That stuff ticks me off.
Oh, P.S.-I also had (have) glasses but I guess I missed that conversation!
I had braces and hated them. I was supposed to have them for 2 years, and then have that weird scary head thing, but I followed all the rules the dentist set and was free 8 months later. But then I was stuck with retainers for a while: boy did I hate those so much more.
woweeeeeeeeeee, do I have a braces story for you...
backstory: my mom prayed, when she was pregnant with me, that I'd have teeth like her auntie ... while I don't necessarily think God really cares what my teeth looked like, this might be a case of "be careful what you wish for" not only did my teeth turn out like great-auntie's but...my mouth was too small to hold all those teeth that a normal person has... (whew, I sound deformed.)
I ended up with fangs, and a second row of teeth on the bottom...after 4 years of braces, and jaw surgery (two titanium pins in each side of my jaw! alas, not enough metal to set of detectors...) and tears, and soup, I was finally able to just wear a retainer...
Well, I only wore it for so long, and my top teeth are straight and gorgeous, but the bottom teeth moved slightly back to their crowded-ness...they just like being together, okay? Truth be told, I like it this way...I think it gives me character...and a story, for sure (my parents aren't thrilled that the teeth moved back...oh well, I'm 23.)
My family couldn't afford dental work until I was 14, by which time three of my adult teeth had rotted away completely. My teeth look straight and clean from the front, but my mouth is a testament to the mundane downers of minimum-wage existence.
There's your RDA of self-pity!
i am 27 and currently have braces. i've had them for almost 2 years and my orthodontist tells me i should have them off by the end of this calendar year. i try not to get my hopes up... ;)
i never wanted 'perfect' teeth. i used to have a little gap in the front and honestly, i really miss it now!! i had to get the braces to fix an issue with a baby tooth [they were not optional], but i wish my teeth still had some character. :(
*
Oh man, not trying to brag (who brags about braces?! Unless they are gold, then there is no point, haha), but my horror story might take the cake.
First of all, I've had both of my bottom and top braces for 5.5-6 years. Not combined. Each. I had two "fangs" and all of my front teeth on the bottom overlapped eachother! Crazy biznass.
And the cherry on top:
Genetically, some members of my family don't have adult teeth underneath their baby teeth. Being me, I'm missing a tooth next to my two front teeth. My ortho attached a fake tooth to my braces and to my retainer. And yes, it gets a bit awkward when people notice I'm missing a tooth when I take my retainer out to eat.
So I just hum the "Deliverance" song as I give them a toothy smile :)
Two words for you:
HEAD GEAR
I had braces for a couple of years in my teens and I am very very grateful for it. My teeth weren't TOO horrible before, but I was still very self conscious about them. Being able to smile without worry about my teeth now is an amazing feeling!
Along the same lines as Americans being percieved as being overly concerned with their teeth, I have heard many Americans comment on how terrible British people's teeth are. This puzzles me as I only know a few Brits with crooked teeth. I guess maybe tooth whitening is less common here, so there are fewer dazzling Hollywood white teeth, but I am pretty sure orthodontistry is just as prevalent. Just, you know, for the record =)
I think that the worse part of orthodontia is how early we force kids to get their teeth fixed. Before even 16 or 18, teeth aren't done moving. So if you put kids in teeth fixing devices early on they are going to stay on much longer + once they come off, there is a bigger chance of the teeth shifting again.
I wish there wasn't so much emphasis also because I've had braces and I still don't think my teeth are "perfect" because they are too small so they won't ever look like a "perfect" set.
I think I win in the overly orthodontia-ed department. When I was in 7th grade, before I got braces, I had a rapid palette expander that made a HUGE gap between my front teeth. A gap that was sloooowly closed once I got braces. I wore those suckers for three years. Then, at 22, I was told that I had to get braces again and have major jaw surgery. That was so much fun, let me tell you. I had just graduated from college and started my first full-time working-girl job...only to get my braces put on a week later. No one ever took me seriously. Also? Kind of hard to date hot young dudes when you're sporting a mouth full of metal. I had someone once ask me when I was starting high school. Um, 1998? It was awful. The jaw surgery was also awful, and exceedingly painful. Now I have perfect teeth, but I still suffer from TMJ and have to wear a reallly sexy mouth guard at night.
@Lorra I have issues with my teeth as well, not quite as serious as yours, but I get the assumption that I don't brush my teeth because of my filings, the fact that they're not at all white, and wonky to boot. It gets a little frustrating at times.
I have wonky teeth, three+ years of braces and retainers and elastic bands that always went ping at inconvenient times, and I still have wonky teeth. I used to be really self conscious of them, but I'm getting used to it now as I get older, and there's no way I'm ever putting myself through the pain again, it's just not worth it as far as I am concerned.
I had braces twice. On in 4th and 5th grade. Retainers and jaw expanders in 6th and 7th grade, because there wasn't enough room for all my teeth at all. Braces again in 8th and 9th grade. Before all the orthodontia, I could fit those big kids chewable vitamins in between the gaps in my teeth. Now my teeth are close to straight- I still wear retainers maybe 1 night a week because otherwise they start to move a bit, but that's a small price to pay I guess.
My mom had an overbite, well, still does and every once and awhile it causes her jaw to lock. So, I had my overbite/overjet fixed with 3 years of braces in middle school.
I don't think it can be considered "overly obsessed" with teeth, if it's to prevent future, painful problems.
I never had to have braces, thank goodness. I was blessed with pretty straight teeth. I wouldn't say they're perfect, but it's nothing significant enough to need braces. That being said...if I ever have the money for it, I'll probably get those clear "braces" that you can take on and off, just to make my teeth completely perfect. And THAT being said, yes, I think Americans might be a little too fixated on perfect teeth, but whatever, at least we look good.
I have crooked teeth, never had braces, and my mom's British. So typical.
I'm British. Never had braces. Not perfect teeth, but they do the job. Growing up I remember a couple kids eith braces, but on the NHS braces are only if you have a problem, and just cos they dont look very nice isn't a big enough problem to warrant free orthodontist treatment. Nowadays, more kids have them as I think more people are aware of how their teeth look, of how they want them to look, and more people are willing to go for private health care for cosmetic reasons. I kinda like not being (anywhere near) perfect I guess! And it's true, North Americans do have shiny, straight teeth. I think flossing took a while to catch up here too, which may explain why we have a reputation for bad teeth. The again, the French have a reputation here for their women being hairy. I guess it's a cultural thing. As more people see others with white straight teeth, the more people want it, and the less acceptable / more you stand out if you don't.
Has anyone seen the latest commercial for Rouge Coco Chanel? It has Vanessa Paradis as the lipstick model, and she has a major gap in her teeth, but man is she sexy! Not the first person most American companies would choose to be a lipstick model (especially for a product where the focus is on the mouth); just goes to show beauty 'standards' are highly subjective.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzoH111HbJM&feature=related
I have very crooked teeth, and a set of 'vampire fangs'. When I was a teenager, I begged my mother to let me get braces, but we just couldn't afford it. I could get braces now, but I feel that my crooked teeth have character. Plus, I worry that if I straightened my teeth, it would alter the shape of my smile, which would just be a terrible shame.
I have a slightly sticky-outy tooth that is beside my two front teeth... I never really even thought about it until my ex started teasing me about it, saying that it was getting worse and telling me that I should get braces. (It's not getting worse. It's the same as it's always been. Yep, that guy was a douche.)
I got a bit self-conscious about it for a while, but seriously? I have neither the money nor the desire to get braces or other orthodontic devices to fix one tooth that's slightly out of line.
My teeth aren't perfect, but I'm fine with that. My only other dental adventure was getting a molar extracted a couple of weeks ago because I hadn't been to the dentist in 7 years and managed to develop a decent cavity in one of my teeth... yup, I've learned my lesson from that and will be getting regular dental check-ups from now on.
Braces went on the september I started the 8th grade, came off five days before grad photos in grade 12. 5 years. Almost all of highschool. Though I didn't get teased too badly.
My parents didn't take me to the dentist until I was about 12, so by then the damage had already been done -- my right canine grew in MEGA crooked and pushed the tooth next to it (closest to the front) so far back that it now sits behind my bottom teeth when I bite down. They didn't want to get me braces because it would cost too much.
Flash forward to now, age 20.. same teeth, but I'm unable to find a job with dental coverage and my parents aren't willing to put me back on their insurance plan. Pretty much, unless I win the lottery or save a ridiculous amount, I'm not getting braces anytime soon. I can't even afford to get my wisdom teeth taken out, so add on crowding and constant pain to my list. It's because of this that mean comments about peoples' teeth really hit close to home.
I hate that people will look at me and think I don't take care of myself because of how my teeth look. It's a real self-esteem crusher, knowing I'm being judged and probably romantically rejected for something that I can't even dream of affording to fix, even though I want to.
I had braces for an overbite, and I'm supposed to still be wearing my retainers, but I don't. Sometimes I'll wear my nightguard since I grind my teeth, but that's about it. I do have to go to the dentist a lot for bondings since I grind my teeth and have acid reflux which is super bad for my enamel.
I'm from more of a rural area in the US, so I'm not sure how extreme the teeth love is here, but I do think that public water being fluoridated is a little telling.
I had braces for an overbite, and I'm supposed to still be wearing my retainers, but I don't. Sometimes I'll wear my nightguard since I grind my teeth, but that's about it. I do have to go to the dentist a lot for bondings since I grind my teeth and have acid reflux which is super bad for my enamel.
I'm from more of a rural area in the US, so I'm not sure how extreme the teeth love is here, but I do think that public water being fluoridated is a little telling.
I had very sketchy dental care when I was a kid and I have been dealing with dental problems my whole adult life. A few years ago, I finally got braces! I really hated my teeth and was so embarrassed, I stopped smiling. I've been so happy since I got my braces off, get compliments all the time. My teeth are never going to be gleaming movie star white, but they are straight. And I'm healthier with no more tmj or clenching/grinding issues. Getting braces was one of the best things I ever did.
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