Braces on New Yorker Cover

 The cover of the New Yorker for September 13, 1999 featured a predicament involving a metal scanner and a metal mouth. It doesn't appear that orthodontia really causes metal detectors to go off that often, but it's an amusing thought.

'60s and '70s Magazine Ads

Wells Fargo Bank

1970's

The matter of paying for orthodontia was a common topic of magazine advertisements during the '60s and '70s.  As shown by this '70s era Wells Fargo ad, the ordeal of braces not only affected kids and teens, but their parents who had to pay for them.

Savings And Loan Associations

1964

This 1964 ad from Savings and Loan Associations also deals with funding orthodontia. The ad doesn't specifically mention braces, but reads "Most families believe that a beautiful future is worth a few sacrifices. For 135 years savings and loan associations have been encouraging people to save for the things they want most in life for their children and themselves."

The Savings and Loan ad is recognizably from the '60s, as it features authentic '60s era banded braces.

GMAC

1969

Heres a 1969 ad from GMAC aimed at parents with braces-bound kids, offering financial arrangement to assist in putting tin grins on your kids. 

The GMAC ad wants to help when "your kid's bill comes in from the orthodontist."

State Farm, 1973

In 1973, State Farm insurance asks "who braces you" for those dental bills. 

Want to see more braces-themed magazine ads? Here's a prior Braces Memories post about a braces-themed toothpaste ad from 1975.

    
 

Freaky Friday Braces Memory

Since were looking back at the '70s, here's an amended re-post of a prior braces memory.

Here's Annabel Andrews from the 1976 Disney movie "Freaky Friday," about to get her braces off.  (She's played by a young Jodie Foster, and the braces were actually just a movie prop... but still.)  She hates them and wants them off.

Her braces get quite a bit of attention in the movie.   First, some '70s era school dude asks about them.

Then, her little brother thinks she looks beautiful in them. And he wants some braces for himself as well!

'70s Braces Commercials

 Here's are examples of braces appearing on '70s television commercials.  This post is put together from content on previous posts on this blog.

When I was young kid, braces were much less common, and being told you needed braces was something that was dreaded by kids and teens who had to undergo orthodontic treatment.  This toothpaste commercial from the mid '70s shows the awkwardness of showing up at school for the first time with braces.

Check out this orthodontic Public Service Announcement from the 1970s. In this one, it looks like braces were really catching on with adults. But I remember the '70s, and braces weren't all too "groovy" with teens, much less grown ups. 

Braces in '80s and '90s Commercials

In the 1990s, football star Brett Favre was also known for having braces, which he put to great effect in this commercial for orthodontia.

When I was a teen in the '80s, braces were still stigmatized. This early '80s cheese commercial shows the tendency to hide newly acquired braces by keeping one's mouth closed and smiling without showing one's teeth.

This 1987 commercial shows the odd combination of fascination and embarrassment with which braces were perceived at that time. 

Of course, as shown by this mid '80s commercial, some kids and teens had no problem grinning through their metal mouths. Perhaps it took having a strong sense of individuality to bear one's tin grin without embarrassment.

Marcia Gets Braces

One of the classic sitcom episodes involving braces is the one where Marcia Brady gets braces, and has a hard time adjusting to them. This 1970 episode of The Brady Bunch shows a time before braces became cool, when kids dreaded getting braces, and were often nervous about being seen wearing them. These was the true "metal mouth" era, when when fewer kids had them, and they were much more conspicuous.

Zoom Episode About Braces (1978)

Here is a 1978 clip from the '70s youth oriented show Zoom, where one of the young hosts talks about her braces, and shows a short film of an orthodontic visit.  This is a classic braces memory from the 1970s.