Reader Contribution: 1960s Braces Journey

One of my readers, Jonny 12, has provided me with his own braces story to share. I appreciate his contribution, because I'd really like to make this site one where people can share their braces experiences. Here it is:

My Journey with Braces in the 1960s

by Jonny 12 

I knew I would have to have treatment as my two front teeth protruded and the teeth next to them were set back because there were fang like teeth growing in front of them. I had other teeth growing where they shouldn't have. 

I was probably 12-13 years old in the 4 year at the middle school. The dentist just told my parents (but not me) what he was going to do. First thing was I had to have 6-8 teeth extracted. I can't remember which it was, but I can remember being dragged screaming to the room where they were removed, that many at once was very traumatic. 

I then had to go back two weeks later for the impressions to be taken for the first brace/plate, then two weeks later to have it fitted. It was a clear plastic plate with wires behind the set back teeth pushing them forward and clips at the back holding it in. The plate filled the roof of my mouth. It was removable. 

It was late 1960s (1967-1970) the dentist did everything, no orthodontist. I wore this brace/retainer all the time. Apart from a slight lisp no one realized. I had to keep going back to have it adjusted. Nine months later I had new impressions taken (I can still smell and taste the gunk they use when they take the impressions).

The next plate was again clear plastic which again filled the roof of my mouth, but this one also had a bar over the front teeth and clips on the sides and behind the front teeth. Now I would say they were Hawleys ,they were removable but I wore them most of the time. I had to go back every two weeks to get them tightened,

I can remember after this they were painful for a while but I did enjoy feeling the plastic and the bar with my tongue, This time I did get one or two comments as they were noticeable but nothing to bad.

A friend of mine also had a similar brace but his was smaller and the plate was pink. I was hoping my plate was going to be pink, but no luck. No one asked what I would like. Unlike today, where you get to choose, there were not many people with braces then. I had this about 9 months,I then had new impressions taken for the last one. 

The plate was bigger and really did fill the roof of my mouth. It also had two bars which attached to each other and went over the front teeth. This made my lips feel as they were sticking out. I did get comments this time as it was very noticeable. I really did have a mouthful. Yet again I went back every two weeks for it to be tightened. 

I can remember the dental surgery as if it was yesterday. I remember this big glass door you went through in the entrance. There was also a big glass door between the surgery and the waiting room. The assistant use to come from there when it was your turn to go in. Anyway after wearing it for 9 months the dentist said it had done the job and pushed the back teeth forward and pulled the protruding ones back.

They were much straighter. I think a fixed train track brace would have done a better job, but they were not about then. Years later I broke my two front ones playing football, so had the 4 front ones replaced with crowns.

Looking back I think I probably did enjoy all the treatment. I wish I had kept the 3 braces/ retainers I had as a reminder. This is where my fascination for them came from. My wife knows about my fascination.

My Retainer and Other Artifacts

I was digging around my house to see if I could find some artifacts from my orthodontic treatment. I located the retainer I received after finishing two years of fixed braces on both upper and lower teeth. As you can see, my upper retainer is decorated with this nifty alien cartoon.  Ooooo, spooky.  The thing in the back is my retainer carrying case.

Here's another angle of my top retainer (left) and my bottom retainer (right). 

Here's another angle with the top retainer (left) flipped over to see the other side.

As you can see, the lower retainer has a cool feature: there's a molded piece of acrylic attached to the labial bow wire, to hold the teeth in their place.  I liked this neat piece.

Unfortunately, I moved to a new location shortly after getting my retainer. Although I wore my retainer good amount of time before my move, I stopped wearing it consistently after my move. My teeth still look okay, but there has been some shift. Maybe I should go for another round of adult ortho? I'll have to give that one more thought!

And here's my little container of braces wax.  This always came in handy to prevent wires from sticking into my cheeks.

As you can see, I got into the habit of swiping these when I was at the ortho!  I also liked to grab those little packets of "o" shaped elastics for my braces, but for some reason I couldn't find any in my house. I used to have a lot of those.

I bought this little dental mirror so I could look at my orthodontic hardware. I seem to recall it wasn't all that easy to use when you are looking into your own mouth. 

There were other items I wish I could locate: my old waterpik (or actually a generic version of a waterpik), my special brushes the ortho gave me to reach between the brackets, and, as noted above, my elastics. If I find any, I'll be sure to post them.

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.

First Day At Work With Braces

I had gotten my braces on in two sessions, one for the top and one for the bottom. I seem to recall that I intentionally did it during a vacation so that I would have time to adjust to them myself before I faced my co-workers.

I showed up for work in my new braces, and at first made it a point to stay discreet and in my office for most of this time. It surprised me how much people didn't comment at first. It may have been that I was successful at being discreet (a lot of my work was office related, and I could hide there! LOL), or they saw and just were nice enough not to comment.

I recall that the first time I encountered someone who clearly saw my braces was when I crossed a female worker in the hall, and smiled to her a wide braces-covered grin before realizing that I had done so. As a reflexive act, I immediately closed my mouth really quick, and having a hard time of it because of my braces being there. I kind of got my lips briefly caught in the braces, before quickly pulling them over my teeth and covering them up.   My co-worker, mercifully, didn't say anything.

Finally, a few days into my return to work with my metalmouth, another co-worker finally broke the ice and asked me, "When did you get your braces?"  It was the first time she saw them. There were others present, and this allowed me to explain why I was getting orthodontic treatment. Apparently, news spread to others at my job, because as the day went on I would get people visiting me. Were they there to see my mouthmetal? One guy grinned at me and said, in a good natured way, "got a tingrin."
Finally, the oddest experience was that I had was when I suddenly got called by my boss into his office to ask me about something. The thing he asked me about was completely pointless, and the meeting ended rather quickly.  All polite and quick. I can't help but think that my boss (another guy like me), actually may have called me into his office for this impromptu meeting just to see his employee's new braces!!

Results of Adult Braces Poll

I've just concluded the Adult Braces Survey, which had questions from people who went through orthodontic braces treatment as an adult.  Since I've had braces as an adult myself, I also took this survey.  I posted the entire results over on the side bar. (or Click Here.) Thanks to all those who took the survey.

The results are pretty interesting.

Overall, 7 people took the survey. There was a good balance of males and females (4 females, 3 males).

Male or Female?

	42% (3)	Male
	57% (4)	Female

Here are the survey responses that had multiple choice answers:

How common were adults with braces where you lived?

	0% (0)	Very Common (i.e. you see lots of adults with braces)
	0% (0)	Somewhat common (some adults here and there)
	57% (4)	Not so common (you hardly ever see adults with braces)
	42% (3)	Very rare (besides yourself, you don't usually see adults with braces)

Was this your first time with braces?

	85% (6)	Yes, its my first time with braces.
	14% (1)	No, I had braces as a kid
	0% (0)	No, I had braces before as an adult.
	0% (0)	No, I had braces before, both as a kid and as an adult.

How happy are you with the results of your treatment? (or How happy are you with the results of your treatment so far?

	57% (4)	Very happy
	14% (1)	Somewhat happy
	14% (1)	Mixed feelings (part happy, part unhappy)
	0% (0)	Somewhat unhappy
	0% (0)	Very unhappy
	14% (1)	Not sure yet.

Which do you think is better, having braces as a kid/teenager, or as an adult?

	85% (6)	Kid/teenager
	14% (1)	Adult

As you can see, pretty interesting. Most, but not all, of the respondents had braces for the very first time as an adult, and thought that it was better having braces as a kid or teenager than as an adult. (One person thought differently in both of those cases.)  All respondents said that braces among adults was either not so common, or very rare.  There was a variety responses as to how satisfied the respondents were about their treatment. 

The essay responses were interesting to read, and they give you a good idea of what its like to have braces as an adult.  For example, one question asked "What did people say when they first saw your braces?"  Responses included simply remarking, "When did you get braces?" "I see you've been to the dentist." and "You've got braces."  One respondent said that people were surprised that he got braces at his age. Several responses noted that others were supportive.

As to that question, here was one respondent's answer:

Most people stared but politely said nothing. I was dreading their reactions, but them not saying anything was OK. I guess my front teeth always looked so bad, they assumed it was a cosmetic thing that I was finally fixing but no one said anything.

Another survey question was "How did you feel attending your first business or job function (i.e., meeting, conference, etc.) with braces?"  Most answers mentioned nervousness, self-consciousness, and even humiliation.

Here's one response to that answer:

Embarrassed for the first few months, then I got used to it and just got on with life. I interviewed for and got a new job while I had braces. The worst thing throughout treatment was eating meals with people I didn't know that well or just met professionally and having to think about which foods were "braces safe" and then worrying about having food caught in my teeth while conversing over the meal.

Here another:

Had to attend a conference 5 weeks after getting braces when I couldn't eat properly. So so awkward going to a formal meal and they served quinoa! But no-one actually said anything about the braces.

(I had to look up quinoa. Its a grain dish with edible seeds. Braces trouble!)

And here's my response, which mentioned an interesting incident:

The very day I went back to work with braces, I was called into a surprise meeting with my boss. It was a brief, pointless meeting. I think the boss may have been told I had braces, and wanted to see. Awkward.

I recommend checking out the full survey responses. Quite interesting.