Metal Mouth Message Board

Yes, I smile so that my teeth show. I have always had a toothy smile, it is just much bigger now, trying to go around all those brackets. If I try not to smile I look goofy because the brackets push out on my cheeks and lips!

It depends....

If I'm out in bright or natural light, then yes, I do smile for pictures.

If I'm inside where it is dark or need to use the flash, then I usually don't. The metal reflects the light very well. It's not that I'm ashamed of the braces, the extra flash of light in the photo just seems to ruin it.

I smile bigger with braces than I did before--even my husband commented on how pretty my smile was with braces.

It seems like I can either not smile at all, or smile big, because with the brackets in the way I'm not really able to half-smile. It's funny, because I was looking at old pics of myself and I realized I rarely smile big, so I will have to train myself to smile the "new" way once my braces are off.

Not yet, I'm still so new to braces. But I've noticed a slight improvement lately so maybe that will change soon! :D

Yep! I've always smiled in photos- although I was always very self-conscious about my teeth. Now I have braces I smile and I'm not self-conscious at all- even after two and a bit months my teeth are looking so much better. I spent last week getting photos from the college Ball organised and now I have some gorgeous photos of me and my bf framed and on display- I'm not worried about my metal mouth at all!

I should add... I'm one of those lucky ones who yes, loves her braces. That's not to say I won't be glad when they're off- but they are a part of me at the moment and they're great!

I don't usually smile in pictures, but I will say that I sure smile a lot more since I got my braces...prior to getting them, I hadn't smiled with my mouth open in 10 years...

I thought at first I would not smile as much either but I felt it was harder to try to hide a bracie smile than to smile naturally.I know I have braces and the fact that others see or don't see them does not bother me as much as me trying to hide my smile to start with.I have ceramics on top and it wouldn't matter if I had metal instead-I smile the way I smile and it wouldn't be me if I didn't.I hope this makes the way you feel about your smile a little easier.
Tin Indian-over and out

i dont mind showing my braces... im proud that i took this step to bettering my life and im proud of them... anyways i dont think it looks that bad..

i would never smile in pictures...well not with any part of my mouth opened. when i got braces and things straightened out i started smiling.

last week the top braces came off....i haven't stopped smiling! i really just can't stop!

I never smile in pictures showing my teeth, i hate them so much Sometimes I get so humiliated talking to people because i know they are thinking 'gosh get your teeth fixed' and a few times people really close to me have made fun of me..it hurts more than anything. I cant wait til i have straight teeth so i can smile in pictures and talk with confidence.

I've always smiled big w/o braces, so I still smile in pictures with braces. It's only been 1.5 months, so I'm a little self conscious when people are focusing on me (like when I was a bridesmaid), but I never liked my closed mouth smile before, and I think it looks worse now w/ the protruding lips, and the hint of braces peeking out cuz I have to struggle to hide ALL my gear w/ my lips.

'Fraid not...can't seem to get top lip back down over the spring between my front tooth and canine (it just gets stuck on up there ) so have been kind avoiding smiling...photos or not!!!

I have to use an open-mouth smile in photos; for some reason, if I try to smile with my mouth closed, my bottom lip protrudes unusually far fowards. I keep having visions of myself looking like Bubba from Forest Gump, so I brave it and flash my teeth! Helps that I have ceramics though, so I'm not as self-conscious!

I echo sportsgrl97's sentiments exactly!
Smile on!

for my first time in braces, i had them on for 3 years, and i have not ONE photo of me showing my teeth...no one would ever tell from photos that i ever wore braces...and my closed mouth smile was not cute...it looked like something was trying to force its way out of my lips...