cosmetic or for dental health

[susieq182]

I am totally curious as to what motivated everyone to go ahead with braces. I realize that a good cosmetic outcome is a happy end result of braces, but who has braces simply for cosmetic reasons and who else like myself were happy with your teeth just as they were but had to get braces to fix issues such as bite problems. I understand that this could be a touchy subject and I am not acussing anyone of being vain or shallow I was just curious to know what motivates my comrads in brackets. Things like TMJ, under and over bites, cross bites, etc that cause neck pain headache etc.

[pucca26]

I thought more about my health than in my appearance, but both things were important for my decision; it was also uncomfortable to see how teeth went out of my mouth when I wasn’t thinking about it.

[CLAmom]

I have bite issues that have caused me to wear teeth down. In addition, I hate to smile or eat in public because it is really obvious how me teeth come together. I guess for me dental health is synonymous with how my teeth look cosmetically.

[jaswi]

pucca, what do you mean by " it was also uncomfortable to see how teeth went out of my mouth when I wasn’t thinking about it."?
For me, though I don't think braces will fix it, I have a really gummy smile, is that what you mean?

[alexa]

I had them fixed for both reasons.

My teeth were unattractive and their poor positions caused much tooth deteriation in wear and tear and cavities. They were hard to floss and brush and generally bad news medically and asthetically.

[Indy]

I think my teeth are pretty, despite the slight crowding so I wouldn't have considered getting braces. However, looks are deceiving! When I was a kid I had an accident with the top 2 teeth that resulted in a root canal in one tooth, the other is slightly loose & crackles at times (which is scary) and both have short roots. On top of that my top front teeth are in danger of coming out someday because of my bite (i.e. bottom teeth hit the top teeth).

For me, the cosmetic outcome is a second reward!!

It's funny how people may not understand why you get braces, but for many of us they can't SEE some of the problems.

[Flora2006]

I guess it was a bit of both altough I never experienced pain or anything like that. My bite isn't too bad...my only big problem was a dental crossbite on my canine.

I mostly got my braces to fix that crossbite...

[ingyandbert]

My bite was off, not that I could tell really, but over time it caused uneven wear on my teeth. Since I plan on living to 100 (I really do, lol!) my dentist said my chances of keeping my natural teeth in my old age would be greatly enhanced if my bite was corrected. So off to the ortho I went. I'm enjoying seeing my teeth straighten. I was one of those people who was sort of borderline cosmeticallly; could always stand some improvement but it was never a pressing deal. Most people wondered why I bothered, but that was because the most misaligned teeth didn't show when I smiled.

[missingu]

Was advised to get braces because my bite is aligned such that the top teeth and bottom teeth hit directly on one another and my teeth are wearing down badly because of it.

To be perfectly honest, if it weren't for the tooth weardown problem, I would never, ever have gotten braces and don't care about closing the gaps and such.

Cosmetic just isn't a priority for me...it is for others, just not for me. Since there's no such thing as a "correct" priority, I figure it's OK for me to prioritize what I do, and OK for most people here to prioritize what they do.

[pucca26]

pucca, what do you mean by " it was also uncomfortable to see how teeth went out of my mouth when I wasn’t thinking about it."?
For me, though I don't think braces will fix it, I have a really gummy smile, is that what you mean?

jaswi, one of my front teeth was literally outside of my lips while the other teeth were inside, it was really disgusting, when I realized it was happening I could close my lips in a very unnatural way and keep all of them inside, I looked like I had something into my mouth, that’s the way I am in most of the pictures I have!. It was disgusting when I was thinking about anything and suddenly saw myself in a mirror and a saw that tooth getting outside my mouth… awful.
But luckily it was the tooth that had the best improvement in the 18 days that I have been wearing braces and it looks too much better now.
I will show you pictures soon, when the improvement is more obvious.

[SueFromNJ]

My reason were completely cosmetic. Never afraid to admit that. Appearances matter - don't kid yourselves. People do judge you on how you look. And I want to look normal for the 1st time since I was a kid. My crooked teeth looked horrible, and I felt I was never treated well by others because of that. No one saw me as a person of any quality. Even if I tried to act confident, people (especially classmates when I was younger, and coworkers when I was older) around me always subtlely let me know I was never "one of them" - I was always less, "second class", so to say. My teeth defined my status, no matter what I did. I truly believe that.

I also believe my poor teeth prevented me from getting hired for professional jobs. I am not talking models, I am talking normal office jobs. I don't know a single successful adult who has horribly crooked teeth - you just don't see it around here. People with bad teeth either don't advance in professional jobs, or just don't get hired at all! Many corporate cultures won't hire someone who gives the company a bad image, and crooked teeth are preceived as saying "I don't care about myself", and are seen as a character flaw. There are parts of the USA (and I live in one of them) where you HAVE to have straight teeth to get advance anywhere (jobs or dates), and the emphasis is incredible.

Around here, the pressue is so great that most seven year olds already started some orthodontic appliance in their mouths. Everyone around here understands that crooked teeth means "second class" status, and no parent wants their child perceived and limited that way. I agree with this approach - if I had kids, they would be braced the minute their adult teeth come in, no hesitation!!

I am surprised that so many responses here are for "general health". Maybe the emphasis on perfect teeth is less in other parts of the country - wished I lived somewhere else sometimes! I am unabashed in admitting I want to look better, so I can finally start moving forward in my life. My crooked teeth stopped me in so many ways.

[missingu]

I also believe my poor teeth prevented me from getting hired for professional jobs. I am not talking models, I am talking normal office jobs. I don't know a single successful adult who has horribly crooked teeth - you just don't see it around here. People with bad teeth either don't advance in professional jobs, or just don't get hired at all! Many corporate cultures won't hire someone who gives the company a bad image, and crooked teeth are preceived as saying "I don't care about myself", and are seen as a character flaw. There are parts of the USA (and I live in one of them) where you HAVE to have straight teeth to get advance anywhere (jobs or dates), and the emphasis is incredible.

Around here, the pressue is so great that most seven year olds already started some orthodontic appliance in their mouths. Everyone around here understands that crooked teeth means "second class" status, and no parent wants their child perceived and limited that way. I agree with this approach - if I had kids, they would be braced the minute their adult teeth come in, no hesitation!!

While we are all entitled to our own opinion, to say that "everyone around here understands that crooked teeth means 'second class' status" troubles me. Maybe I'm not part of "everyone" , but I have worked with, dated, and interacted with lots of people with "crooked teeth" who were far from second class citizens. Serious oral malformations would probably make a person a less desirable job candidate, but crooked teeth?

How do you know it was your teeth, or other peoples' teeth, that kept them from advancing in a particular job? I truly don't understand how it is possible to discern if a person was "shunned" or because of their teeth, their educational backgrounk, how they carried themself, etc.

It is really sad that you had an unhappy childhood because of your teeth and it is good that you can rectify things now. But just because you had a bad experience doesn't mean that the rest of the world has suffered discrimination SPECIFICALLY because of their teeth. There may have been other factors involved which we will never know.

[pucca26]

SueFromNJ It looks like you suffered a lot about your crocked teeth, I know NYC may be a very competitive place to live in, but I think that many thing were only inside of your mind, when we think that other people discriminate us we get apart for ourselves, when we think we won’t get the job because our crocked teeth we don’t apply for it or we show ourselves depressed and we don’t get it. I’m talking about my personal experience, because sometimes it made feel so inferior that I had the same ideas than you, but a lot of people showed me than things were so different….. Maybe I lost some opportunities in my life for it but not all of them, and I can say I was very successful in career, love…. I also knew many people that had worse physical problems and they were successful and respected anyway. I understand your idea, b/c it’s a problem that has a solution and we are thought to take it if we have the money, but anyway I think that you are exaggerated.

[SueFromNJ]

While we are all entitled to our own opinion, to say that "everyone around here understands that crooked teeth means 'second class' status" troubles me. Maybe I'm not part of "everyone" , but I have worked with, dated, and interacted with lots of people with "crooked teeth" who were far from second class citizens. Serious oral malformations would probably make a person a less desirable job candidate, but crooked teeth?

How do you know it was your teeth, or other peoples' teeth, that kept them from advancing in a particular job? I truly don't understand how it is possible to discern if a person was "shunned" or because of their teeth, their educational backgrounk, how they carried themself, etc.

It is really sad that you had an unhappy childhood because of your teeth and it is good that you can rectify things now. But just because you had a bad experience doesn't mean that the rest of the world has suffered discrimination SPECIFICALLY because of their teeth. There may have been other factors involved which we will never know.

I agree and HOPE that the rest of the USA (and the World!) is not like it is here! But for where I live and from my own experiences, I stand by what I wrote 100 percent. Teeth are perceived as showing your class - this is an unsaid thing, too. No one will tell you that your teeth are holding you back. It is almost an unconscious thing too, to favor those with nice smiles, and to feel negatively towards those with poor smiles.

Nowadays, I can clearly see the difference in how I am treated now that I can smile and show straight teeth, even with braces. Of course, some would say it's simply because I am more confident now, but I think there is a natural positive response to a nice smile. There is a difference in how I am perceived, and I love it!! I hate to sound so negative towards people, but unfortunately, that's been my experiences over and over - the attractive people (who of course already have nice smiles) get the jobs and dates, and people like me - well, don't seem to do well at all.

And I live in an area where even in the early 1980s, most kids got braces. So having very crooked teeth was unusual and stood out. I guess if most people had average/crooked teeth, maybe the attitudes would be different. But around here (Northern NJ/Northeast USA), and I am sure California and other metro areas, straight teeth are the expected norm. Wish I could be more positive, but crooked teeth got me nowhere.

[SueFromNJ]

SueFromNJ It looks like you suffered a lot about your crooked teeth, I know NYC may be a very competitive place to live in, but I think that many thing were only inside of your mind, when we think that other people discriminate us we get apart for ourselves, when we think we won’t get the job because our crocked teeth we don’t apply for it or we show ourselves depressed and we don’t get it. I’m talking about my personal experience, because sometimes it made feel so inferior that I had the same ideas than you, but a lot of people showed me than things were so different….. Maybe I lost some opportunities in my life for it but not all of them, and I can say I was very successful in career, love…. I also knew many people that had worse physical problems and they were successful and respected anyway. I understand your idea, b/c it’s a problem that has a solution and we are thought to take it if we have the money, but anyway I think that you are exaggerated.

I wish I were exaggerating, but in my experiences, sadly I don't think so. I might also explain that my teeth were REALLY bad - I had protruding canines that literally stuck out WAY in front of the rest of my teeth. I couldn't even open my mouth properly, and there was no way to hide the teeth. I didn't just have a few crooked teeth here or there - I had these good awful fangs that just defined my whole face. I think here on Archwired I only once seen someone with something similiar. It distracted badly from the rest of my appearance.

And I agree that I know people with disabilities and differences who done far better than me, but I believe that is because teeth are seen as a character flaw, as something that is completely your own fault. And yes, not every person with crooked teeth around here doesn't succeed, but I can tell you I don't know a single successful professional person with noticeably bad teeth.

Sorry - I guess this is very hard to explain!! I guess it's difficult to understand the incredible emphasis on appearances here, or in other areas like it in the USA. You know, maybe I should move to where you all live, they sound like better places than here!!