Anticpator you make some good points, but for many of us with ceramics, it's got nothing to do with having them for visibility factors. My ortho puts upper six on all his adults (18 years and over) for free, as he considers them a better look than a metal mouth for adults. He's also loves the glow of the coloured ligs on them.
I'm sure that there are some adults who choose ceramic brackets to produce a "glow" when using colored ligs but I truly doubt that it's a statistically significant percentage that opts for ceramics for that reason.
I'm going to stick with my position that ceramic brackets are largely chosen because they are not as visible. I personally think that colors look better on metal brackets, but that's my opinion.
He's also found that the majority of ceramic brackets are smoother in finish and therefore more comfortable. Something I agree with, due to having two different brands of ceramic brackets and two different brands of stainless steel brackets in my mouth. Ok ... that's a limited amount of research ... but more than most can do in one journey!
I've also read that they are smoother, but I've also read they are larger and bulkier.
I guess some people with braces do notice other people with braces, but remember people without braces (unless they have a fetish), will not notice ... it's just not important. So this is only an issue for the wearer and easily fixed by a visit to the ortho for new ligs, or waiting till your next appointment. This has not detered the many people on this site who still wear clear with ceramics due to them preferring this look.
I disagree that only people with braces and people with fetishes notice other peoples' teeth, otherwise I'd imagine less of us would get involved with getting our teeth fixed at all.
Plus if your statement were true that "people without braces will not notice (other people with braces)" then why even bother for ceramic at all?
Maybe it's a cultural difference between the US and NZ, but I think that with as many people who've grown up with the luxury of orthodontia during childhood in addition to the number of people who're currently going through it as adults, in the US teeth are paid attention to, and as an extention, the things on your teeth are paid attention to as well. My view was (when I was choosing brackets) and still is that metal brackets are more aesthetic than ceramic brackets with stained ligs.
I don't want to have to run to my ortho any time I feel like eating a staining food. My work schedule makes appointments hard enough to juggle without adding in additional quicky appointments (which I'm sure most orthos don't want to have to deal with) for purely aesthetic matters. I don't like to be a burden, I don't like to have to schedule in additional visits, I don't like to have yellow looking teeth, metal brackets seemed the proactive answer.
It's a shame you're finding orthodontics an inconvenience. Maybe you need to be more proactive with your treatment, and you'll find the only times you remember you have brackets is when you eat ... and that's very minor ... and clean ... which for me is only two or three times a day ... again minor, when compared to the many other things I do daily!
I do find having braces an inconvenience or maybe a better way of saying it is "it involves
commitments." It involves commitments of expense, time, image alteration, diet, occasional pain, and increased hygeine. I'm certainly happy to have the ability to do this for myself, but I did not want to add on additional
commitments such as having to skip certain menu items for fear of staining seeing as how I'm already skipping a number because of the "no no" list we've all been given.
No, having braces isn't a huge inconvience and I didn't mean it to sound that way, but it is a lot of small commitments that you have to address fairly regularly. Again, I'm happy to be going through this, I chose this completely for myself, but it does impact our daily lives, and when making my choice for brackets I tried to limit its impact, at least where I could.
I hope things continue well with your treatment, and apart from the inconvenience issues, you sound happy with your treatment ... and that's good!
![DancingBanana :banana:](./images/smilies/Dancing_Purple_Banana.gif)
Thank you, I am quite happy overall, I think my braces are due to come off quite soon (within the next month or two is my guess). I've seen your recent entries in your journal and your teeth are looking great.