Metal Mouth Message Board

I have had my upper braces for about 3-1/2 months and only about 6 people have commented on my braces. I was having lunch with a friend today and she suddenly noticed my braces and asked me the normal questions -why, cost and any pain? After that we talked about her kids having braces and that she herself has a bad bite. Then we started talking about something else. All I can say is it is true when people notice your braces, it doesn't become the only thing people will talk about when they see you - in fact, I think people just get use to me having braces and it is a part of me. I usually feel some relief when people notice my braces and mentions them. I do wonder if all of the other people that I see often are not seeing my braces or are they just not bringing up the subject because they think it may make me feel uncomfortable which I think is very kind of them to think of my feelings.

I'm getting my lower braces next week and not sure if I will be able to get ceramic brackets but, if not, will people say anything if they see the metal brackets or will they keep not saying anything.

Has this happened to some of you?

ssfw

Hi ssfw,

I have never felt uncomfortable about my braces and I'm more than happy to talk about them if people ask. Which is good.... because I have had so many people comment on them! Mine are metal, but I don't think that really makes a difference because I've always noticed if someone has braces, even if they're ceramic. At first I thought I got a lot of comments because I live in a residential college at uni and we are all pretty close, live together etc, but other people from outside college have also noticed them and asked me about them

I think I am the exception though... I have never seen any posts on here saying anything other than hardly anyone has said anything.

ssfw, one of my nieces noticed my ceramics yesterday - 5 months after they went on - and asked me some questions. She had braces as a kid so there was common ground. She was sympathetic and interested, which was nice.

Once people got used to me in them it was a non issue for them...I really appreciate when people bring them up when first seeing me with them....I'm immediately moe comfortable once its been addressed and people have asked some questions..then like you said, we move on to another topic....

I also prefer it when people say something cause I can always tell that they notice by their eyes but when they don't say anything, I just wonder what they are thinking! My first public appearance was to a concert where lots of my friends were. The people that just came out with 'hey you've got braces' made me feel so much better cause we could launch into a discussion about it so we were both cool about it. It was the people that stared at them and then didn't say anything that was weird! Imagine if you turned up with all your friends with a drastic new hair cut/colour and people looked and didn't say anything - that when you assume the worst and that they hate it! I need people to be open and talking about it helps me feel supported (hence why I joined this forum!).

I made a point of telling as many people as I could that I was getting them before hand so they wouldn't be shocked and because I wanted them to know I was open to talking about and needed their support - all those people have been awesome - regularly asking me how I'm going with them and getting excited with me when my teeth move.

I wish I'd told more people cause its the people that I didnt' tell that have just looked at me funny and tried to pretend like I don't have them. I cant' hide them so why not talk about it? Maybe I should have emailed everyone in my address to say 'I'm getting braces, so when you see me next, ask me about them!'.

Sorry for the novel - can you tell I feel strongly about this?!

Hi,

I just got braced 3 days ago and I wanted to add my thoughts. People do notice and they don't say anything. No one has actually said "you got braces!" to me yet but I often spend most of my day in my cubicle so it's possible they haven't noticed them yet. I'd be much more comfortable if they brought it up, rather than just staring.

I met my orthodonotist through a referral of someone here at the station. He is a 40 something who had braces a year or so ago. I remember seeing him in braces and thinking - that's weird! But I did bring it up to him at some point and he was happy to talk about it. Now I am in the same boat- clear on top, metal on the bottom. He has been encouraging me all the way and it's helpful to have him here.

I guess it's a matter of just feeling comfortable in our braces. I haven't gotten there yet!

Gracie

I have ceramic on top and metal on bottom and most people already knew I was having them put on, so it was just "oh, let's see!", but I just had a couple of pictures taken last night, and you can't even see the bottom (because of the way I smile) and the uppers, well, you can just see the metal wire. I've had a couple of other people that didn't know I was getting them put on say "oh, you have braces!" and my other friend last night, was anxious to see them, but forgot about them and then said "hey, I didn't even notice your braces when you were talking!"

I'm slowly getting used to them, and it's nice to not have people just want to talk about them, and I'm noticing a lot more people with braces too!

Hey,

I have been braced for a month and 7 days and when I first started on this journey my main problem was "what are people going to say" and will people refer to me as " you know that girl in braces!" I never gave a second thought to the cost or even the pain (though after my first adjustment on Wednesday the pain is now a big factor!), I went through months of crying about how people would react, so much so there were many times when I was not going to go through with it. Sounds silly really cos at the end of the day I am doing this for myself and I shouldn;t really care what other people say, but sometimes that is easier said than done. I am not the most confident of girls and I don't believe in myself at all so sometimes this whole brace thing feels like it has happenend to make my life that little bit harder, which then makes me feel angry with myself for thinking that cos there are people in the world who have it alot harder in life and have to deal with things a lot worse than braces.

Anyway before I had the braces put on I told those people close to me so that they would be prepared and also support me, and so far these people have been great, I mean at first you get the initial "why are you bothering, your teeth are fine" etc, but at the end of the day they weren't there at my consultation and heard what I was told. I always feel before I start talking to people that I should mention that I have braces as in a kind of "hi there, yes I am in braces, get over it", or maybe i should have it printed on a t-shirt! I think I would prefer if people mentioned it rather than talking to me and thinkining what is wrong with her. Like previous posters have said most people are positive and say they wished that they had the courage to go through with it.

Since I have had the braces there have been some people that were shocked when i said that i had them as even though they had talked to me then didn't even notice them (i have ceramic on top and bottom and you can't really notice them when i speak apart from a slight lisp and my top lip sticks out a bit) and that sometimes perks you up a bit when you realise that there are some people that didn't notice at all. There are times when I forget about them, but the times when I notice them is when I am in new situations or meeting new people. Esp when you are single and think that now man will ever look at a girl in braces.

My fav moment was a couple of weeks ago when I bumped into a guy I used to go out with bout 2 years ago and when we went for a drink the next evening and he said that the wouldn't have guessed that I had braces when he spoke to me the previous day, he just thought that I had collegeon injections in my lips!

Thanks for all of the posts. I'm glad my situation isn't unusual. I just find it interesting that some people really don't notice a person's braces for months. I really feel that once a person has seen a person with braces it really is a non-issue for them and I think most people that have mentioned my braces really do think I am doing something good for myself. In some ways I am still self-conscious about my braces but find that once a person mentions my braces, that feeling is gone. I really don't mind talking about my ortho treatment. I know if it wasn't for reading some of the posts on this website it would have been more difficult for me to adjust to people asking about my braces. When people do mention my braces, I took the idea I got from this website and don't act embarassed and speak about my braces in a very positive manner - this has worked well for me. It's really true, when a person has noticed my braces it is not the only thing we talk about, we move on to another topic after the standard questions and a little conversation. In ways, I think the people I see often have noticed but they hesitate to mention it to avoid making me feel uncomfortable.


ssfw

Tin Indian Here, I got ceramic on top and metal on bottoms first thing this morning than went shopping at Walmart later in the afternoon. I got lot of looks AND smiles the whole time I was there. The only comment I got was the cashier. She Wanted to know how long I had braces and I told her this morning, She acted kinda shocked and said I looked real comfortable with them so she assumed I had them on for a while.And I'm 50ish
Tin Indian -over and out

I have a friend her name is Lucia Williams shes very short and she wears braces . she is around 50 years old, even thugh she don't look like it, shes so adorable, back to what i was saying, yes she is also my mom' s friend, nd I am lucky enough to have her as my school guidence counciler.She wears braces, the reason she wears them is because if she didn't her teeth would fall out and her teeth would cut into the roof of her mouth nd would cause her such pain and she had a bad overjet, horrific, she describes it to me.well yes she is a guidence counciler and got the braces not too long ago. she has the Clear Ceramic ones on the top, becuase she talks to people teenagers like every minute of everyday and she dicided to go with the clear ceramic kinds on her top row of teeth and the Traditional Steel metal kind on her bottom row . though she has the clear on top she didn't want them to be that visable, all her 9-1 (Freshmen Division 1 {that's her division only}) can tell and all know she wears braces as much as she didn't want ppl to see they all know. But even though she says she hates braces her end resuklt will be her keeping her teeth nd having them be perfect for her and no moore pain. which is good, she's too mice a person to have to go through that much pain.