How did you make the announcement you were getting braced?

[objectinspace]

Sounds a lot like me. I had trouble even telling my closest family because just talking about my teeth made me so uncomfortable. I know my teeth were bad but I could sort of ignore it, and dreaded braces bringing attention to them. The second I got braces that changed though.

The people I expected to be the hardest on me were the easiest (my friends). They either were suportive or just didn't care. When I saw a buddy of mine for the first time I said "Hey, what do you think of my braces?" ... He said he didn't even notice, looked for a half second then went into a speech about his own dental problems. Most people seem to use it as an excuse to talk about their own issues. It just goes to show braces are a huge deal to you, but really no one cares.

[KJM]

Like the others, I was a bit shy about them the esp first few weeks.

Only my immediate family knew I was getting them ( my dh and kids) and since then only my Mother and Brother have seen me until this past weekend when we went home for our "family holiday get together".

I was pretty worried what the reaction would be ( figuring it would be a snide "must be nice to have that much money to throw around" from them ) I choose however to immediately step up and say "How do you like my new teeth jewlery?" It got a chuckle, a few ooohs!, a stupid comment from my step Mom ( "why would you get braces? Your teeth werent crooked", to which my Grandmother said, "Oh yes they were!" ) and that was that, no one even said another word about them for the rest of the weekend.

[bajanrose]

I told my parents and 2 of my brothers, I'll surprise anyone else with 'em when I get 'em. My parents just asked why I wanted them so did my brothers and that was the end of that. They've been supportive, I got a TPA so far and they've all had a look at it out of curiousity haha. Only one person in my family has ever had braces, and that was my older brother but I was like 5 and he moved to Canada, so heh.

[dena]

thanks for your posts, everyone.

I feel a lot more comfortable NOT telling people ahead of time, so I'm glad others have taken that route! I agree that it tones down the whole situation, which is what I want. It's true that this is all-consuming to me so I assume it will be a big deal to others (but I think you're all right and it probably won't be noticed by others beyond the initial stage.)