Survey Results: Braces In The 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s Survey

The survey of people who wore braces during the 50s, 60s, 70s and '80s has concluded and the results are ready. You can either click here to go to the results, or access them on the right hand side of this site, under Braces Survey Responses. The results really were quite interesting, and shows how the braces experience has changed and differed over the years.  Thanks to all who took this survey!

This survey had a total of 9 people responding, however there a few cases where certain respondents didn't respond to all the questions. 

The gender of the survey takers was lopsided. Unlike the previous survey, the response to the question of "Are You Male or Female," showed all 8 responses to that question were male. One survey taker did not answer that question. 

Are you Male or Female

	100% (8)	Male
	0% (0)	Female

8 voters have answered this question.

The response to the question of how common it was to see others in braces (at the time the responder had braces) was grouped together between responding that many other people had them (33%) and the middle ground answer that some people had them, but not many (66%). All 9 survey takers responded to this question.

At the time you had braces, how common was it to see others in braces?

	0% (0)	Very common. They were everywhere.
	33% (3)	Many other people had them.
	66% (6)	Some other people had them, but not "many."
	0% (0)	Not very common at all. You could see them here and there.
	0% (0)	Very rare. Besides me you hardly saw them.

9 voters have answered this question.

The place where the survey responses really started to differ was regarding how positive or negative the experience of wearing braces was for that survey responder. The responses are literally spread out across the board from hating wearing braces (2 responses, 22%), to loving wearing braces (also 2 responses, 22%), and every response in between. The biggest response was that the responder didn't like wearing braces, but didn't hate it (3 responses, 33%).

How did you feel at the time about wearing braces?

	22% (2)	I hated wearing braces.
	33% (3)	I didn't like wearing braces.
	11% (1)	Braces were no big deal either way.
	11% (1)	Wearing braces was okay.
	22% (2)	I loved wearing braces.

9 voters have answered this question.

In this question, I would say there seemed to be a shift in how positively or negatively braces were experienced over the years. Both survey responses saying they loved wearing braces came from responders who wore their braces during the 1980s (although there was an additional responder who wore braces during that same period who didn't like wearing braces). The two survey responses saying they hated braces were respectively from the late 60s (1966-1969), and the 1970s. 

Some of the most negative accounts of wearing braces came from the period of the '60s and '70s. In regard to the question "How did you react when you first got braces? How did you feel about them?" one survey responder answered:

I was miserable.  Forced to wear them and the headgear that went with them.  Did not leave my room for days.  Did not begin to smile for months.  Never stopped trying to cover them up.  There was no way to hide the headgear that my mother made sure I wore the required 14 hours EVERY day and more on weekends, vacation etc. It did not matter if that meant wearing it in public.  

The experience of wearing headgear drew some comments. The same responder who gave the above quote responded to the question "What did others (friends, family, others) say when they first saw you in braces?" with this response: 

With headgear on was not just what they said it was the stare you got.  Everything from "Oh, you have braces"  to "what the hell is that thing".  Most people were polite with an occasional "loser" thrown in.

And to another question the same survey responder gave this answer:

Try walking into high school on Monday morning after being seen wearing my headgear to the football game I got every insult.  I had been 'grounded' for lying about wearing it when I went out so I was dragged to the football game.  Everyone had their joke and I was branded as a geek.   

Another responder (in answering "What did others (friends, family, others) say when they first saw you in braces?") gave this response about the different responses of family members:

Mom was nice. Dad joked. Brother took me for a nerd. Classmates were surprisingly indifferent, no bullying because of headgear (although their parents made stupid remarks).

Other responses included that others asked questions, that others were supportive, that others were "a bit shocked," and that "all mentioned how much of a mouthful i had."

As noted by the headgear responses mentioned above, teasing was part of the braces experience for many. Here was another response mentioning that:

I will never forget the first Day with them, it was like WTF is that? How am I supposed to talk? My Friends where teasing me with them. Sometimes friendly, like you forgot your Birdcage, sometimes mean, that they where hiding my Box with them, so I had to come home and tell, that I lost them. But later with the fixed Braces, It was more normal.

Survey responders mentioned being called metalmouth, braceface, tinselteeth, tingrin, traintracks and similar names. 

Those survey responders who said they loved having braces gave positive responses about their braces experiences. On such survey responder said they "couldn't wait to get them."  Another gave the following response:

I guess it was unusual that I liked my braces.  At first, I got braces only on my lower teeth.  I was disappointed that they weren't all that visible.  I knew that once I got braces on my upper teeth, they would be quite apparent.  Finally, a few months later, I got my upper braces.  I made a point not to look at them in the orthodontist's office or in school so that I could get my first look at them at home where I would have time to properly inspect them.  I made a point of smiling whenever possible so that everyone else could see that I had braces.

Check out the full survey responses by clicking here.