30-"really old for braces"? What's the average?

[cosmicgirl]

At 46 I'm not too old for ANYTHING!!!!

[lindesd]

I was at my ortho appt. on Tuesday and there was a lady there that was 69!!!!! I say good for her. If it makes her feel better about herself, then why not. I have a friend who is 39 in braces and I am 37.

[mariahfromchicago]

I'm 14 on August 1st.
Ha you forgot to mention me! Just kidding!!!
Anyone younger than me here?
I never knew that dagwoman was a teenager.
I got mine on when I was 12 and a half.
- mariah

[markuhde]

20% of patients start after 20 I believe (something around there). Hence, we're all OLD for braces. I think the majority of the rest of us (worldwide not on Archwired) are in our early 20's.

So I stand by what I say - Archwired is a community of people really very old for braces - I'm old for braces and I'm among the youngest!

[SDFD TSchott]

20% of patients start after 20 I believe (something around there). Hence, we're all OLD for braces. I think the majority of the rest of us (worldwide not on Archwired) are in our early 20's.

So I stand by what I say - Archwired is a community of people really very old for braces - I'm old for braces and I'm among the youngest!

First off I spot this response from markuhde as a controversial start to a bad situation... Your never to old to get braces, in fact everyone I know that got braces, had braces or will be getting braces are 22 - 34 years old and there is alot of other people out there older then 34 still in braces, getting braces or had braces.

I personally think this subject should be locked or in best interst deleted before it becomes a controversial issue.

~Tim~

[bracieb]

I am 46 and not too old for anything, either! I see it this way- when you are very young and you have ortho treatment, your teeth have that much more time to shift as you get older, and there are several people on this board having their 2nd time around. I'm already pretty far along, so I figure I'll have lovely straight teeth pretty much the rest of my life. Besides, my kids are in braces now too, and we all commiserate together after adjustments.

I get comments on my braces all the time. Once time I had several colours of ligs, and all of them were bright. Not a day went by without a positive comment of some sort, and I even got strangers stopping me in the grocery store to say "great braces!"

I am a high school teacher, and my students think my braces are cool, and we compare notes. I wear coloured ligs all the time- I prefer them to clear as they don't stain. A few weeks ago I had clear ligs (the tech forgot to ask me what colour I wanted) and they lasted two weeks- they were stained and boring



Now I am in bright green- some might say day-glo green...

[markuhde]

"But where do you get this "statistic" that the majority of adult ortho patients are in their 20s?"

That's a guess. The 20% is a statistic. There is a difference. Either way, I get a little "wow, you're really old for braces" from my friends... It's just the way it is, not a bad thing *smiles*

Most of my friends are older teenagers BTW (finishing high school or in their first year or two of college for the most part) so I already get the fact I'm an oldie from them...

[ScottR]

Well, I just turned 50.... and I'm still seroiusly considering braces. I've been on the fence for sometime but I think I'm ready. I'm not too old. Just older than I'd like to be.

[markuhde]

Go for it Scott! Join the rest of us oldies in braces They're a lot of fun and my teeth look *soooo* much better already!

[Nancy51]

According to some of the "youngsters" on my team, 30 is just really old, full stop.

In another context, my generation logically knew that we'd pay for that "Don't trust anyone over 30" slogan, but emotionally we loved it. Now I figure it's time to pay the price, so that I don't mind the bit about "old for braces". Turnaround comes in many guises.

Anyway, we are old for braces: I don't see a lot of working adults in braces. However, we are not too old for braces simply because we are old for braces. Being atypical is not the same as being improper.

Any whipper snapper that says otherwise will get wacked with my giant handbag. And Jack Benny agrees with me--and wonders why you people are aging beyond 39, anyway.

[Tin Indian]

So I guess me being in braces at 55 along with the rest of the 50 and older gang here is just what? Too Old? That we are being to vane or maybe we are older and wiser and appreciate the fact that we can get braces at our age.Maybe we can afford them now or maybe we need them now too? Or maybe we realize that orthodontia is benificial at any age? Beleive me, age to me is just a relative term.
That is all.

[ilovemacs]

Age is just a number! It doesn't mean anything in the sense of orthodontics. There's NO magic number saying how old or young you have to be to have braces. It's JUST a number. I say no matter what age- GO FOR IT!!!!

I'm 15.

[Betty Bat]

I have yet to figure out the point that Markuhde was trying to make in his initial post on age. Do you want me to feel bad that I had braces when I was "old"? Are you trying to discourage "old" people from posting on the board? What's the point of this discussion? Isn't there something more constructive that all of us can be talking about and thinking about?

I like to think that this board celebrates, encourages, and supports adults who have braces - no matter what age they might be. Why not help other adults who have braces or are thinking about getting braces? Why put an "old" label on some of us?

On one hand, I wanted to just ignore this thread in the hopes that it would just go away. But, I think it's important for adults who are braced or thinking about braces to know that there are people, on this board and in real life, who can offer support.

[markuhde]

I'm 23, having 16 and 17 and 18 year old friends doesn't seem that odd to me. Most of these guys have been my friends for quite some time too. When I was 18 graduating H.S. and they were 11-13ish, that was more noteworthy, but there's always been a bit of "big brother/little brotherishness" to those friendships and our church is a tight-knit little family so I'd really call most of the people there my friends, but a few of these guys especially so. BIG SHOUT OUT TO JAMESEN IN ATLANTA - he just graduated H.S. and is doing Master's Commission down there on a full scholarship ( http://www.mcatlanta.org/ if you haven't heard about it). My big group of friends mostly just graduated H.S. actually, I was one of the older ones and the now 16 year olds were the younger ones in our little group.

So yeah, I have younger friends, so be it And I'm really immature so that adds to it. LOL. Most people who meet me think I'm in high school (a fact braces HAVE NOT helped but I don't care they're my teeth and I want them to look good!).

[markuhde]

"Do you want me to feel bad that I had braces when I was "old"? Are you trying to discourage "old" people from posting on the board? "

HECK NO!!!!! Go for it and make yourself look better and have fun with it!

What I posted was in a different thread and someone took offense and split my comment out! I didn't post it for all of y'all - I posted it for Mariah! She got some grief in her half-birthday thread and I just wanted to let her know it didn't matter how young she was and that if she wants to celebrate he half-birthday then all I can say is I now have the song Celebrate Jesus stuck in my head. If you don't know it goes:

Celebrate Jesus celebrate
Celebrate Jesus celebrate
Celebrate Jesus celebrate
Celebrate Jesus celebrate
He is risen He is risen
And He lives forevermore
He is risen He is risen
Come on and celebrate
Come on and celebrate
Come on and celebrate
The resurrection of our Lord

Not a birthday song but definitely a party song and yay Mariah! This board needs some more fun and some more half birthday yee-haws!