braces and your social life?

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#16 Post by **iBorg** » Thu May 08, 2008 7:44 pm

My elf esteem and confidence is much higher now. I'm willing to smile now. I never did pre brace. I was too ashamed of my teeth.

Dating.... my wife wouldn't appreciate that.

Mike

#17 Post by **catfish** » Thu May 08, 2008 8:36 pm

No social impacts here. I'm seeing some impacts as far as the food I can eat, although I think having loose lower incisors is more to blame. I can't bite into sandwiches, for example.

I have yet to run into anyone who would tease me or give me weird looks because of my braces. People just ignore them. If they do comment, it's usually to tell me they had braces once upon a time, and to share some story about their experience. So far, this has all been a positive experience for me.

#18 Post by **catfish** » Thu May 08, 2008 8:39 pm

Luella - Cutting corn off the cob is messy but well worth it if you want to continue enjoying that food. I love fresh corn, so that's how I eat it.

YUM!!

#19 Post by **suetemi** » Thu May 08, 2008 9:11 pm

Much like OverJetSet, I find myself smiling a lot more at strangers. Being very introverted, this is not something I normally did before at all. I don't know why because it's not like my teeth look any better than before...in fact the braces probably accentuate my awful bite. But they make me feel cutesy sometimes so I just roll with it. I like the feeling of defying the false notion that braces are something to be self-conscious about. I've found that it does seem to disarm people. So now I've been implementing them like a superhero power... *bling* Unleash bracket power.

I don't know if it's the bright-colored ligs or what, but they seem pretty good at eliciting warm conversation or reciprocal smiles from apathetic faces.

#20 Post by **Lola** » Fri May 09, 2008 12:21 am

Braces do affect your social life, but only from the effect they have on you, not on other people. If I'm out I find it difficult to smile really wide as I am still pretty self conscious. I also cover my mouth with my hand when I laugh as I have big extraction gaps and worry people will be like "ugh, look at her and her awful smile!" then again, I often covered my mouth before I had braces to hide my fangs so it's no different! Other people don't notice or, if they do, don't care one way or another. I always think that when I met someone with braces I never really thought about it until I got my own. Why would they be any different? (On the plus side, most people who do comment on them do so to tell you their on brace story!)

#21 Post by **bracednconfused** » Fri May 09, 2008 9:37 am

I would like to offer my take on this topic as it differs from the majority of you.
Having braces has affected me socially because it has affected my self-confidence tremendously. Iâ€™m not as outgoing or talkative as I was before braces, even though I was very self-conscious about my crooked, crowded teeth. Now, it seems Iâ€™ve become even more self-conscious about the one thing that Iâ€™ve always been uncomfortable with so Iâ€™ve found this experience to be especially rough at times. I hope that this will change once my teeth straighten up but as of the last 7 weeks, Iâ€™ve been living with crooked teeth and braces plus jumpers on the back of my two front teeth since last week, preventing my top and bottom teeth to meet, making it even harder to get my mouth closed all the way.

I do keep my lips around them as much as possible and I cover my mouth when I laugh or look down. As far as getting dressed, some days I do dress up a little more to compensate for the braces but I have had days where I felt like - whatâ€™s the point. I told very few people I was getting braces beforehand, but so far, no one during social interaction has actually said anything out loud. I just get the â€œyou did something different but I cant quite tell yetâ€

#22 Post by **ArchAngle** » Fri May 09, 2008 10:17 am

The feeling is understandable, however if you view / weigh the big picture what does it really mean. It's 1 year max. say out of your life before they straighten sufficiently where you can at least smile. Even if you say indoors every single day for 12 months until that point, it is nothing. If you could have got them fixed at say 12 years old but didn't you lived with them till now, age 25, that's 13 years. Say you didn't get them fixed now, at 25 years old and put it off for another 20 years, (like some of us), what a waste of time and life and unnecessary worry about really nothing. Along of course with hiding your crooked smile. So in the grand scheme of things, one miserable year (maybe even max 6 months before sufficient change), is nothing. Sit back relax and enjoy the ride, 1 year will fly by and you'll be wondering what the heck it was that you were so worried about.

#23 Post by **ArchAngle** » Fri May 09, 2008 10:18 am

The feeling is understandable, however if you view / weigh the big picture what does it really mean. It's 1 year max. say out of your life before they straighten sufficiently where you can at least smile. Even if you say indoors every single day for 12 months until that point, it is nothing. If you could have got them fixed at say 12 years old but didn't you lived with them till now, age 25, that's 13 years. Say you didn't get them fixed now, at 25 years old and put it off for another 20 years, (like some of us), what a waste of time and life and unnecessary worry about really nothing. Along of course with hiding your crooked smile. So in the grand scheme of things, one miserable year (maybe even max 6 months before sufficient change), is nothing. Sit back relax and enjoy the ride, 1 year will fly by and you'll be wondering what the heck it was that you were so worried about.

#24 Post by **SnowSara** » Fri May 09, 2008 10:26 am

Your post reminded me of something - how much I hate photos of myself where I tried to keep my braces covered with my lips. I didn't realize I did this but I see it in some photos now and I'm like, "why the heck didn't I just smile normally? that looks awful!" The photos where I am smiling and showing my teeth with braces are so much better. In fact, that is the only thing my bf ever "teased" me about with braces - that I shouldn't try and cover them with my lips, it just didn't look natural. So I tried not to if I ever caught myself doing it.
Also, there are many people here admitting that they cover their mouths when they laugh and maybe even more that do it subconsciously - I probably did it at times, too without thinking. Trust me, you are drawing even more attention to your mouth and speaking volumes without saying a word about how you feel about yourself and your smile.

Also I don't want to say it's always easy, and I am sorry you're not having an easy time of it. It is especially tricky in the first few months of getting used to life in braces, but I still stick by the line of thinking that says only you can decide how others will perceive you. If you don't care, they won't care.
Best of luck! and I think deep down you do have the right attitude, I am glad to see this:

I will make up for the lack of laughing and smiling and talking then.

I hope you are able to find your smile again sooner than later!

FYI, i was 27 when I got my braces, I felt old and young all at the same time.

#25 Post by **sean83** » Fri May 09, 2008 12:55 pm

At first it had a big effect, as I was scared to drink most things in case I damaged my braces. I'm now back to normal (4 months in) and if anything my social life is better, probably as a result of improved confidence. That may seem odd, but the fact that nobody cares about my braces and the fact that my teeth are SO much straighter already is pleasing - and the thought of 14 months' time!

As for dating, I didn't do a lot of that before braces, being conscious of my bad teeth, etc. so things haven't changed there. One area which has changed is photography - I refuse to show my teeth with braces, mainly because most photos end up on Facebook! I'd rather keep them under wraps until complete - don't know if anyone else feels the same?

#26 Post by **nimo** » Fri May 09, 2008 4:53 pm

I definitely smile more without turning away or covering my mouth. There are things I can't eat, but that's more a result of my sugery than the braces. I haven't stayed away from curry or red wine (I have ho-hum metal braces, and I always always always have silver ligs, I don't care about staining.). People fixated on my teeth a lot more when I didn't have braces. I'm not thrilled about them AT ALL, but I would much rather look like I do now than go back to the way things were before.

In photos I actually smile. I've given up on hiding my braces, and I just let 'em out. I look a lot better that way.

People seem generally sympathetic to my situation, especially people who had braces when they were younger. After my surgery, when I couldn't eat anything harder than boiled potatoes, my co-worker made me potato salad and quiche almost every night. I mentioned in passing that the doctor said there was a risk of needing a transfusion, and my co-workers all volunteered to donate blood if I needed it. I was pretty surprised by all of it. So if anything it's made me feel better about the people I know.

#27 Post by **Nervous** » Fri May 09, 2008 10:18 pm

At first I felt a little weird in them when meeting people for the first time. Now that I have been in them for so long, I have just gotten so used to them I hardly think about it at all. It's like they've become a part of who I am!

#28 Post by **catfish** » Fri May 09, 2008 10:36 pm

bracednconfused - age and maturity may have something to do with it, but I think other factors may come into play as well. I'm 48 and married, so I don't have the dating factor to consider. But I still have to face people at work, and I have a job that includes a lot of interactions with people.

For me, I've never been that hung up on physical appearance. I dress appropriately for my profession, and make sure I'm always neat and presentable. But I'm a pretty practical person who puts function before form. I think that explains my acceptance of my braces more than my age. Add to that the fact that I have braces in an attempt to save my teeth (bad perio problems), so the fear factor is pretty motivating! My only hang-up is that I'm self-conscious about having food in my braces, so I always keep a toothbrush nearby.

As for smiling, I think I have a bigger smile now than I did before. It takes a bigger smile to clear the brackets - otherwise my lips get stuck!!

Good luck with your journey, and I hope it gets easier for you. We're all here to help!

#29 Post by **John37** » Sat May 10, 2008 1:25 am

I used to not smile as much. My canines stuck out and my teeth were yellow. I never thought they were that bad, but I still semi-unconsciously would not smile as much. If I did smile I would quickly stop smiling or look down or away if someone was looking at me.

I'm a little over halfway through my Invisalign treatment. My teeth are getting to the point where I am more comfortable smiling more. I think I came across as less friendly because I didn't smile more especially when I first met someone. I will have to update this when I done with my treatment.

I also had my teeth whitened which has helped my smile's appearance a lot. And like others, I almost always would keep my mouth closed in pictures. The camera flash shows every little imperfection in a smile.

#30 Post by **Pixel Witch** » Sat May 10, 2008 9:49 pm

Zero impact socially, but then I don't really care much about such things anymore.

I also roll out of bed and go to the store without makeup.