Hollywoodsmile

[platinum]

I moved to USA from Finland and I have ever before checked out people's teeth so much. In Finland people really have teeth of all sorts, and people do not really care. I went to get braces because I managed to mess my bad bite to the level that it hurts. After reading this interesting forum I have started to watch people's teeth...

One finnish group came to visit the town I am living in. They told me that they met a collague of theirs who has been living in USA for a while. He has gotten himself straight and very white teeth here. These visitors found it very silly and vain. They also thought that this person had lost his personal looks. My sister lacks many teeth (a condition inherited from my mother) and she had a big cap between her front upper teeth plus some other ones further back. She has never complained about it, and neither has anybody else. The cap just is part of her looks.

Come to think of it, very few of my fellow pupils at school had braces. They were the cases with very problematic teeth. If there were a problem in upper arch, like very bad fangs, only upper teeth were braced.

I am actually worried that my teeth will look totally different after the bite has been fixed...

[hawaiian poi dog]

I moved to USA from Finland and I have ever before checked out people's teeth so much. In Finland people really have teeth of all sorts, and people do not really care. I went to get braces because I managed to mess my bad bite to the level that it hurts. After reading this interesting forum I have started to watch people's teeth...

One finnish group came to visit the town I am living in. They told me that they met a collague of theirs who has been living in USA for a while. He has gotten himself straight and very white teeth here. These visitors found it very silly and vain. They also thought that this person had lost his personal looks. My sister lacks many teeth (a condition inherited from my mother) and she had a big cap between her front upper teeth plus some other ones further back. She has never complained about it, and neither has anybody else. The cap just is part of her looks.

Come to think of it, very few of my fellow pupils at school had braces. They were the cases with very problematic teeth. If there were a problem in upper arch, like very bad fangs, only upper teeth were braced.

I am actually worried that my teeth will look totally different after the bite has been fixed...

I have heard that other cultures don't really put that much weight on how your teeth look. I know for one thing that many of my sweedish relatives have somewhat crooked/spaced teeth and have done nothing to fix that and never intend to.

[platinum]

may be so...
I lived also in some other europian country. Their teeth were also all sorts.
My sister used to be model in her teenie years. Not later, though, because she did not grow tall enough.

[platinum]

in my next life I will study to be an orthodontist and immigrate to USA.

[acrobat]

sometimes i also think, how vain did i become to pay so much money and go through all this.
I must say, most of my friends in belgium had braces when they were a kid so most of my age have good teeth. But nobody thinks of it as being vain, having braces as a kid is a normal thing (and it's paid back)
But having braces as an adult is something very different! I think most of my friends and family aren't very supportive because they think i became so vain.

[Mmmmuuaa]

I don't think it's fair of people to think we're vain because we want to have a nice smile. I always wanted braces but it was so expensive so I didn't. My parents didn't get me braces either, even though our dentist suggested it. All my friends had braces as teenagers and my siblings and parents all have straight teeth so they didn't know what it was like for me, being the different one. Also my parents got my little brother braces because his teeth and bite were worse than mine, doesn't seem fair if you ask me. Well if my parents would of gotten me braces I would've avoided all the jaw problems I have now from my poor bite and overcrowding! Now after years of jaw problems I was forced to get braces, and guess what, my parents still are not supportive of it! Go figure. I guess I should just live with a cracking, painful jaw that didn't open properly anymore. Well anyway my husband and friends have been really supportive. Wow now that I read this I sound bitter, I'm not, I just think people should keep their judgements to themselves. It's great if you want to better yourself, just remember that what's inside is what is really important.

[joney]

Mmmmuuaa

I don't think you sound bitter and you're right to want to put something right that can be sorted. I've only had two people say I shouldn't get braces. One had perfect teeth and had a brace themself when younger but thought that at 42 I had already bagged myself a husband and didn't need bargaining power! The other thinks it is unnecessary and vain. However I don't want to be in the situation of losing teeth in a few years time, which was likely. I have to admit though that I do like the thought of having straight teeth, something that othe people take for granted.

In Ireland and England there are quite a number of people with crooked teeth. It is changing now as more and more youngsters get braces. However generally people don't seem so bothered with aesthetics. In the media it is different, but not everybody has a perfect smile.

It's an individual choice and we shouldn't feel the need to justify what we are doing. Since I've had my brace on I have had a lot of people tell me that they would like to do something about their smile. Even with the inconvenience of the brace (not really a big inconvenience) I am glad that I have taken this step.

[rexthedestroyer]

In America we are supposed to have Big Houses, Big Cars, and nice teeth. It pretty much is a status symbol. Now a days breast implants and botox injections are becoming the norm for even teenagers. I live in Los Angeles and I encounter the super vein on a daily basis. WIth that being said, braces are more of a national culture thing than a form of vanity.

[platinum]

i think the all the people seem to have their teeth made by same mold.
kirsten dunst has nice teeth as they look natural.

[sjsarre]

Its funny this thread has come about.

I'm so glad i've gone down the route of braces and my smile is just so much better already, I have the confidence to smile which I haven't done for years.

Having said that, i've noticed the shape of my face and my lips have changed somewhat. I'm not sure if I like the new look... I'm hoping the extra tweaking and the removal of my braces will make it change a bit more because as it stands i'm really not so sure about my new profile.

Because my teeth used to point outwards I had a bit of a pout going on. This was good in a way because I have quite a defined nose, its not exactly large but its on the bigger side of normal.

Now my teeth have been moved back my side profile makes my nose look HUGE!

[platinum]

Having said that, i've noticed the shape of my face and my lips have changed somewhat. I'm not sure if I like the new look... I'm hoping the extra tweaking and the removal of my braces will make it change a bit more because as it stands i'm really not so sure about my new profile.

Because my teeth used to point outwards I had a bit of a pout going on. This was good in a way because I have quite a defined nose, its not exactly large but its on the bigger side of normal.

Now my teeth have been moved back my side profile makes my nose look HUGE!

I like my teeth and how they look at the moment. I am scared that when my overbite is pulled back i will look odd. I am also against tooth exractions, because they can cause changes in profile.

My parents were supportive when i told that i have to get braces. I guess they would not have liked the idea me correcting my crooked nose. My nose is really funny

[manglemouth]

I grew up in Europe (Austria) and I agree with the fact that having straight teeth isn't as important as it is here. Actually I think - unless I just got a really bad one - that is the reason why my ortho messed up my teeth so bad when I was a kid. I had horribly crooked teeth and yet he gave me the option of a nightly retainer or metal braces...with supposedly the same results. Now show me a kid who would choose metal braces when there is another option! Especially since not one other child in my class had braces. In fact, I think in all my childhood I have known only two friends personally who had braces. And one of them had teeth so crooked that her dentist told her they would all fall out later on in life. But just minor crowding or an overbite...from my experience, people there just don't worry about that. And the "high tech" stuff that is used here like headgears, I have never even seen before I came to the US. I remember watching an american sitcom with a kid that had headgear on and thought "omg, what is wrong with him???". In the show it was never explained, obviously since Americans know what that is

Anyway I think a straight, white smile is something great to have and not just for vain reasons. Even when a person has perfectly healthy teeth, but when they are really crooked and yellow, my first impression (even though I know better since I am one of them!!) is that it just looks less healthy than a really sparkling set of white, straight teeth. Something about that just spells clean and sanitary to me, i can't explain it. It just goes beyond just looking pretty