Metal Mouth Message Board

I never cover my mouth. I'm proud of 'em

I covered them the first few days, not anymore, let them see the braces

Anyway I realized most people don't even notice them ( got ceramics ) or simply don't care.

When I eat .... ouch, that's another story, I cover my mouth until I am done eating and I had at least the chance to rinse off and remove most of the food.

When I had my "flipper" in (a retainer type thing with a fake tooth on it..) I would cover my mouth when I laughed. It looked really bad and I had it for almost 1 year. UGH.

Now with my braces on, I am no longer wearing the flipper to cover the hole where a tooth once was.

I thought I would look *extra* bad, but the braces themselves distract folks from looking at alla that.

I'm proud of my braces in that I think they are a direct- yet "indirect" way to say I give a crap about me and I'm doing something nice for myself.

Yeah.

I agree GinaLime
I had 4 extractions about a few weeks ago and i always cover my mouth when i smile wide because im a 20 year old girl and I feel self conscious that there are gaps at the side of my mouth. Did you happen to have your bicuspids (1st premolars) removed- which are the 2 behind the eye teeth. Because you cant notice them smiling front on but you can from the side. I was very distressed when i first looked in the mirror after the extractions. Now im ok with it and looking forward to starting treatment to actually get a wriggle on with the process but I still find myself covering my mouth. I will probably stay in this habit for a little while with braces too before i get used to it

When I first had my braces placed I was covering my mouth but now that I"ve had them on about a year and a half I just let things happen. Except when I'm eatting, I still cover cause there is no telling whats showing.

I'm getting braced tomorrow and I'm pretty confident that I will still go on smiling and laughing like normal, showing all of my teeth. However I'm predicting that like katmc_tx, I'll cover my mouth when eating so I don't have to show the world half of my meal stuck around my brackets!

I show my teeth more now than I ever have in my entire life. I've spent so many years smiling with closed lips and hanging my head down when I laugh that I'm having to learn how to laugh and smile all over again.

I do sometimes cover my mouth. I am not anymore smiling that much.
I am getting rid of my smile wrinkles

I cover my mouth when I laugh sometimes...but only if I'm trying to be quiet or if I'm eating or something.

I'll usually just let it all out and laugh, though.

I covered my mouth more before I had braces than I do now!!

I cover my mouth when eating in public sometimes when my teeth hurt, coz then I end up eating with my mouth half open!!

no cover ups here...my partner and I got wired up together, this morning. I saw him try to talk without moving his lips, and besides hurting himself, he looked and sounded addled. He opened up, and looked like a guy in his early (rather than late) 20s getting his teeth straightened...kinda cute actually (real cute actually) Me, I'm not inhibited; being a phys therapist I gotta tell it like it is for my patient's well being and improvement whether they're 13 and recovereing from a broken wrist or 60 and recovering from hip replacemnt.

So I say open up and look natural...if you're comfortable, everybody else will be .

I do feel a bit self-conscious if I have been eating, but other than that I'm very proud of my braces

Definately smile, big grinning ones - Its costing a lot to put my teeth straight so i'm definately not covering up!!. Though I do agree after eating food. I'm always checking and cleaning.