Not So Pleasant Braces Experience

Marcus tells about his braces experience.

Fave Christmas Braces

Here's probably the most well known orthodontia associated with the Holiday Season: the braces worn by the bully Scut Farkus in the classic movie A Christmas Story.  I wrote about them in a previous post.

Brace Yourself for the Holidays

Here's a site that shows various braces color schemes for various occasions and interests, including the holidays.  Pretty cool. Here's an example of a Christmas tree color scheme:

https://bracemateapp.tumblr.com/post/180844738921/christmas-tree-braces-colours-christmas

Although the site focuses on Christmas, there are colors which can be used for Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, or other holidays.  To see more, check out BraceMate.

Braces on a 1976 Album Cover

Even in the '70s, braces could be a cool accessory.

A groovy set of tracks from the banded braces (pre-bracket) era.

Braces Cartoon: Super Braces

Check out this cartoon about braces with super powers! 

Braces in a 1975 Magazine Ad

A magazine ad from 1975 with an orthodontic theme. 

The ad extolled the benefits of brushing with Colgate when wearing braces.

This was back when braces had bands, rather than brackets. They also seemed to purposefully make the braces-clad kid appear particularly awkward and nerdy, according to the stereotype of the time.

Foods You Can Eat With Braces

 Here's a quiz about the foods you can (and can't) eat when you have braces.  This derives from the usual food choices most orthodontists tend to recommend.
However, when I had braces, I remember having all sorts of forbidden foods (even chewing gum!).  

Observing Braces

Even for those who have never had braces, they can provide interesting memories. Often friends and acquaintances will undergo orthodontic treatment. Here is a true account of being an observer of braces by one of my readers who goes by the name RUBBERBOOTS,

Me, I've never worn braces, & was pretty much oblivious to them throughout grade school, though I do remember a couple of instances:

There was a kid in my Grade 7 class, his name was John, who had braces with rubber bands. I remember him being playfully harassed by a classmate along the lines of, "How do you like wearing braces? And how about those elastics?" John took a deep breath and replied gently, "Oh yes, I just L-O-V-E my braces." And then, "Yeah, sure, I really L-O-V-E my elastics." In both cases, he deliberately drew out the word "love," extending it over several syllables. His voice was literally dripping with sarcasm.

In high school, the younger brother of a close friend got full metal braces & accompanying headgear. He called it "the works." I saw him around his house frequently in his full regalia, and he also wore it when taking driving lessons at the age of 16. He pretty much took it all in stride, though he complained privately to me on more than one occasion. [Oddly, this kid later became friends with Arthur, the younger brother of John from my first reminiscence.]

For reasons that escape me now, I thought I wanted to become a teacher when I was in my 20's, so I attended teacher's training college for a year. During my practice teaching sessions out in the field, I became much more aware of the proliferation of headgear on junior high & high-school students. I recall a kid slumped in his seat during Grade 9 history class. He looked normal in every other way: lanky build, scruffy hair, clad daily in a t-shirt & blue jeans, but with a cervical headgear perpetually wrapped round his neck. For the 3 weeks I was assigned to the class, he wore it constantly, never once removing it, not even for a moment. His parents must have been very strict. I couldn't help but feel bad for him, even though the expression on his face was inscrutable. I couldn't tell if he were truly depressed, or merely indifferent, or simply being stoic. Maybe it bothered me more than it bothered him?

Now, I never saw him interact much with any of his classmates, not that there was much chance for that in the formal classroom environment. On the other hand, I never saw anyone "razz" him about his appearance, and while he was the only kid in his class in headgear, I remember spotting at least 2 or 3 others in the hallways in full headgear, so he wasn't completely alone. One day, I happened to be seated at the back of the classroom, observing the regular teacher conduct an impromptu class workshop, during which students were encouraged to discuss topical issues informally amongst themselves, each partnered by a classmate or two. During a lull in the proceedings, one rather immature student wearing overalls wandered back to where I was seated and tried to strike up a conversation with me, something I knew I should discourage. "You need to get back to your workshop," I said somewhat sharply. "Who's your partner?" To my amazement, he indicated the kid in the headgear, though he took care to refer to him as "the boy in the blue shirt," without mentioning his orthodontia. How very politically correct of him!

Happy Ortho Health Month!

October: the spooky, scary month of Halloween, Trick or Treats, and chewy candy.

And appropriately also Orthodontic Health Month. 

Seasons Greetings to all my readers!!

True Account: Getting Braces

Here is a true account of getting braces, as told to Storycorps by a young orthodontic patient. This present day account has many similarities with older experiences of orthodontia.   

100 Reasons To Hate Braces

 
A braces oriented work on Wattpad.

Phone Commercial

Although braces have become much more accepted in recent years, some parts of the orthodontic experience remain the same. Here is a phone commercial from around 2010 featuring the trepidation of a newly acquired tingrin.

Braces in '70s and '80s TV Ads

Here's are examples of braces appearing on television commercials in the '70s and '80s. This post is put together from two 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. 

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

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. 

New Braces Novel In The Works

Here's some interesting news in the literary world. A writer named Jamie Ghione is writing a young-adult novel in a diary format, and one of the scenarios in the story involves the protagonist getting braces and going through the experience of orthodontia. The book is set in the '80s, and involves the mindset of that period.  Ms. Ghione has written about the evolution of the book in her blog. See here and here.   

As a bit of a preview, Jamie has posted an excerpt from the very beginning of the book, which as noted is a diary entry:

... I hate the way I look. Curly dark hair, dull-looking brown eyes and teeth sticking out in all directions…an overbite. It should come as no surprise that my dentist said I need braces. Hearing this triggered my anxiety. I was sure Mom would not be able to afford it and I would have crooked teeth all my life. I’d said that I would gladly skip it, but no such luck. My mom is always working to be able to feed the two of us and now she says has to get a second job so that I can get braces. If Rachel Blair won’t let one thing slide, it’s the fact that my teeth need straightening. “You’ll look and feel so much better,” she’s been trying to convince me. But she will say we can’t afford other stuff, like that new thing called a VCR that allows you to record TV shows to watch later. ...

She has also posted a comment on this site, and has mentioned it in her blog.  Jamie is looking for respectful feedback about her book, which appears to be coming along well.  From what I've observed, the book looks quite interesting. 

I wish Jamie well on her book, and look forward to checking out the finished product. 

Braces Comedy

Of course, you can have a few laughs at your orthodontia. Here's some stand up comedy about having braces.

Not everybody likes braces . . .

Here's an anti-braces viewpoint.

Classic Braces Scene

Here's the classic braces episode where Marsha Brady gets braces. As was the case in the 1970s, kids dreaded getting braces, and often were 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. 

How Do Braces Work?

Here's some orthodontic science for you.

Braces in Film- High School Braces

Here's a fun short film which does a great job of describing what high school was like. And one of the characters has braces.

The guys braces might be a little bit exaggerated, but they do express what it is that makes braces kinda cool: the ajar mouthful of metal, the awkward grimace, the conspicuous speech impediment.    

Can you name the celebrities who wear or wore braces?

Braces in Film: "Jimbo"

A short film about about braces, delivering pizza, and life.

Zits: Brace Yourself

An animated example of the hazards of teen braces.

Braces: Personal Accounts from the '80s

In the 1980s, braces were more common than they were in prior decades, but they were still worn by a minority of young people and mostly in cases where really needed. Wearing braces was still not at all as typical as they were by the late '90s and '00s, and it was very common for only one member of a family to have braces, and their siblings not. As a teen in the '80s, I was often aware of a friend having braces while his brother didn't, or of another braces-free kid talking about his sister having to wear braces and headgear. It was not yet something many kids wanted, and it still brought uneasiness to be told you might need braces, but I think there were some few who began to think they were kind-of cool.

In researching the net for braces-related material from different eras, I found an interesting article prepared by a student at Valparaiso University, a 1983 report called "What It Means to Wear Braces." The writer calls himself "a veteran brace-wearer " who has worn them for three years, and gave an account of what it was like to wear braces during the early '80s. His account is divided into sections about the orthodontic experience before, during, and after treatment.

First, he mentions what it was like to await getting braces, knowing you are about to get them:

Before you have them put on, wearing braces especially means dreading the pain of the procedure. It means being nervous about how you'll look, being afraid you won't be able to eat or brush your teeth, and wondering how long you'll be afflicted with them. While some kids vow never to smile again, others are eager because they consider braces to be fashionable. Yet others know that having straighter teeth will improve their looks, so they don't mind a year or two of inconvenience. Those whose teeth are so crooked that they may cause health problems realize that wearing braces is a necessity.

Then, he described what it was like to wear braces:

Now that you have them on, wearing braces means getting called great nicknames like "metal mouth," "tinsel teeth," or "Jaws" after the bad guy in recent James Bond movies. Your visits to the orthodontist come about once a month and you dread them because you're normally in pain for a few days after each visit. 

If you're as lucky as I was, you get to wear all sorts of neat contraptions to pull some teeth this way or push those back (I never really knew which). First was the headgear--a thick wire hooked into the top braces and strapped around the neck. Then on one trip to the orthodontist I got a bag of cute, tiny rubberbands and four new hooks fastened onto my wires.

Finally, the writer mentioned that "Most of all, getting your braces off means wanting

to smile all the time to show off your new pearly whites," and that "It can really help you feel like a new person."

Another enjoyable account of wearing braces during the 1980s comes from the graphic novel Smile by Raina Telgemeier. Although the book came out 2010, the account of orthodontic treatment which it gives takes place in the late 80s. Its my understanding that the 1989 California earthquake is even featured in the account.  Here is an excerpt of the book, courtesy of Google books:

An Account of '50s Braces

One of the most enjoyable accounts of the orthodontic experience of a kid during the 1950s and early 1960s is found in Tales from a Free-range Childhood by Donald Davis. Davis is a professional storyteller, and he uses his abilities to great effect by giving a wonderful account of his own experiences with braces.

His experience started during the late 1950's, when Davis was in his teens. At that time, braces were not so common, and were only applied to a child when it was necessary and when a family was able to afford them. Although Davis' family came from modest means, a family relative happened to be an orthodontist, and Davis needed them because he had apparently acquired the crooked teeth that came from his father's side of the family. Davis recounted how: "Over and over again, however, in eavesdropping on Mama's conversations with Dr. Phil Medford, our dentist, I began to hear the same repeated word: 'Braces . . . braces . . .  braces.'"

Davis originally really did not want braces, which in the fifties were unusual and embarrassing. However, the orthodontist office was in a nearby town, which required Davis to take a bus trip to see his orthodontist. Davis gave an enjoyable account of his trips to town, and ironically, the freedom he felt being alone as a kid in a sizable town, even while he was there to get braces. He also gave some good descriptions of his encounters at the orthodontist office, such as his account of getting his lower braces installed:

"Dr. Turbyfill worked on my mouth and put the bands on all of my lower teeth. Then he added wires to the bands and did a lot of tightening and twisting of wires. It was actually quite entertaining. There were times when there were ends of long wire hanging out of my mouth before they were trimmed off. It was like putting new strings on a guitar in my mouth."

The braces were not painful at first, but Davis recounts that: "By the time we were back home, my mouth was throbbing." In subsequent visits, the orthodontist installed his top braces, and the routine visits to get his braces tightened commenced. And along with each appointment, came the additional experiences of being a kid alone in a big town, visiting big department stores, walking around town, and going to the movie theater.

The chapter concludes with Davis getting his braces off, and he and his mother sharing their view of his school yearbook picture: "There I was, smiling, with both rows of straight, braces-free teeth."

Here, below, are potions of that chapter, provided by Google books. Enjoy.