After seeing Rebekah's horrifying "cat's cradle" rubber bands today, I have decided to talk about my views on braces. Everyone knows that braces are used by orthodontists to straighten your teeth and make them nice and pretty and give you "the perfect smile." A lot of kids get them at some point during their junior high or high school years, and people have become accustomed to seeing these metallic smiles. Sounds all right so far. The average cost of a two year treatment is around $5000 dollars. Add to that the price of broken bracket replacements, x-rays, and other things included within treatment, and you have quite a hefty bill. Some health insurance plans do cover orthodontic treatments such as braces, I know that the one my family has does, but it of course won't pay all of the fees. Setting aside the price for now, braces can cause tremendous discomfort by making your teeth ache or creating sores on the sides of your mouth through the friction from the metal brackets. Brushing your teeth becomes more complicated than it used to, food gets stuck in your braces. Your toothbrushes wear out a lot faster because they're not just brushing enamel now, they're up against steel. Rubber bands can be a hassle to manage, and in some extreme cases they will severely limit the motion range of your jaw and possibly cause pain (as in the case of Rebekah). Having a metal cage on your teeth specifically designed to move them simply will not be a pleasant experience. But the thing is, a lot of people were fine with their teeth until they got braces, then they start to think that they have terrible teeth that need correcting. In my honest opinion, I don't think it will affect your attractiveness at all if your smile isn't perfectly symmetrical. Is it worth it to pay thousands of dollars to secure brackets to your teeth and tie them together with steel wires in order to force your teeth into the "perfect smile"? I'm not saying that some people don't need it, there definitely are people out there who are born with their teeth so out of place it makes looking into their mouth painful. To these people: GO FOR IT, it actually will make a significant beneficial difference in your case. But if your teeth don't look horrendous and aren't jutting out at a 45 degree angle, think carefully before you decide you want braces. I am sure that there are kids like me who didn't want them at all in the first place, but were not given a choice by their parents. Initially, the only reason that I opposed them was because of the way that they looked, but once I got them on, I started thinking about it and realized that there were many other reasons to not get them put on.
Thanks for reading if you did, hope it wasn't too boring, and please feel free to disagree or criticize, I realize that this is more of a biased rant than it is a meaningful response. :D
Thanks for reading if you did, hope it wasn't too boring, and please feel free to disagree or criticize, I realize that this is more of a biased rant than it is a meaningful response. :D
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13 comments:
Speaking as someone who was given a choice about braces (I said no); and who has two sisters who sometimes get asked when the get their braces off; and whose sisters never even had braces...
I think that vanity can play two very different parts in getting braces- on the one hand, you want nice looking teeth, on the other hand you don't want 'train tracks' in your mouth. I think it truly depends on how bad your teeth are. I also think that to some extent, you'll thank your parents later. However, this is difficult to say as I'm hardly objective because I've never had retainers or braces or whatever.
I don't know.
I don't really mind braces. I don't find them to hurt much at all, and I have had them around a year. Just got the bottom ones, so it should be around 6 months until I get them off.
All in all, I think retainers/ expanders are worse. I had one when I was younger, and it was annoying to take it out, and they're overall pretty disgusting.
Hey, Chen, where's that life story you promised, huh?
Nice post on something random haha.
Alex, you made a good point, ten years from now I can easily imagine myself being glad that my parents made me go through them.
Pat, I decided that your life story is much too epic to be written as a mere blog post, I will write a biography and publish it :D
Well, I have to say..my braces scrape up my teeth constantly and are actually hurting my cheek right now! they're a pain, but i don't chew gum or anything really sticky for my own sake. I mean, I know that my parents are paying for them and the dentists are just trying to do their job. so, I respect that, and I think that throughout all the cheek scraping and the tooth pains, in the end my teeth will be straight!
i didn't mind my old teeth because i don't think they were that bad. but, then again, if you have bad teeth, would that increase the probability of something wrong going on in your gums or teeth or something? I don't really know about that but I do know that dentist have to get paid somehow! :)
Awww...now I feel bad about that "cat's cradle" thing, but it was soo true and funny.
I have to agree with Chen on this one. Braces were bad...I don't know how many people heard me complain about them, but I hated them. One, my teeth looked just like this when I got them on...two, my ortho wasn't the nicest person...and three, it seems that braces are the only thing you can get if you live in the north shore area. Have you met anyone who hasn't been told they "need" braces?
It seems like everyone has to be perfect...when my mom says...can you bite, chew and swallow...if so, then your teeth are working fine. That's the real purpose of teeth, not to look amazing, althought it would be nice to have them look good.
In addition to the pain and inconvenience that always accompany braces, I had an additional problem most people probably didn't have to deal with.
I don't think that anybody else in Academy plays a brass instrument, but you may already know that sound is produced on a trumpet or French horn by "buzzing" with your lips through a mouthpiece into the instrument. This is not as easy as it might sound, and when metal wires are attached to your teeth it doesn't make it any easier (or more comfortable). It was a long time before I could play as well as before I had gotten braces-- very frustrating since there was nothing I could do about it. Just another reason I was so happy when I finally got my braces off.
Connor, I completely forgot about band!
He's right. We always are told to never get braces within two weeks of a performance (woodwinds or bass, though moreso for brass) because it really throws off your playing. Any sort of thing in your mouth really doesn’t go well with band. I can’t even imagine how bad that might have been. : /
well i think it's one of those cultural things, you know? like in china they did the feet binding.
so instead of breaking feet in half (like we think is disgusting now), we bind our teeth and push them around into an unnatural position. an interesting parallel that might give you perspective on the matter.
Jason, your words of wisdom will hopefully inspire my parents to give me the right of choice.
I have yet to get my braces, my parents want me to have them. I don't want to have them until junior or senior year, although I wouldn't mind straight teeth. I probably won't mind the pain but I have never had railroad tracks stuck to my teeth.
I totally agree.
I thought my teeth were fine, and so did my family: as soon as I got braces, people would assume I'd had them on for several years. They looked fine to other people, so why was it a problem? I don't know. Happily, I got them off the spring of 7th grade.
I also had braces, which is probably why I don't have a real problem with them. This is what I have a problem with:
http://www.fazeteen.com/fall2003/cosmeticsurgery.htm
Are we sure Disney has no influence?
My response is going to seem shallow after everyone else'...but it is completely honest.
I wasn't to happy about having braces, but it wasn't that bad. I escaped with minimal pain, and 2 weeks of rubber bands. I didn't even follow the rules, I chewed gum everyday. But in the end it was so worth it, I LOVE my smile. That might sound arrogant, but being confident in my smile makes me smile more. It feels great when someone compliments your smile :). To disagree with just about everyone, I know a lot of people who find perfect smiles attractive. I also can't think of a celebrity that doesn't have perfect teeth, or Disney character for that matter.
We keep blaming things on Disney. Does Disney influence us, or just reflect societies feelings?
Braces were painful, but I also think that they were kinda worth it. Maybe I am being brainwashed by society because my teeth weren't that bad before I got braces, but I am still happy I got them.
Once you think about it, society plays such a large role when it comes to stuff like this. In places like Glenview and Northbrook its like a common "rule" that every kid get braces. Just as it is every kid play soccer in 1st and 2nd grade. Its just so common!
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