<p>“a change for life” you do know that generally your teeth will have moved back by the time you’re 30, particularly if you don’t always wear your retainer. The change really isn’t that permanent.</p>
<p>I wear a clear retainer at nights now I have my braces off, and I swear I would not be able to do it if it was full time. I absolutely hate it and it makes my teeth look really weird. Metal braces didn’t bother me nearly as much, and they reallly don’t look that bad.</p>
<p>Unless your teeth are realy bad, I just don’t think it’s worth the money to get a small correction that won’t last forever. Mine were really pretty good before, but I have an oversized molar and an undersized insizer (sp?) so I qualified for any orthodontistry I wanted on the NHS. Yay for free healthcare!!!</p>
<p>@enfield: I’m not sure you quite understand the definition of “scam.” If braces were marketed to straighten one’s teeth but didn’t actually work, that would be a scam. However, since braces actually <em>do</em> straighten one’s teeth, they’re entirely legitimate. If you actually meant “ripoff,” then you would have been more on-track. But there is nothing dishonest about braces.</p>
<p>yeah my use of ‘scam’ is loose. but i want to make the ubiquity of braces sound bad because i think it is. most often the majority of the incentive is social pressure it seems. that doesn’t wholly explain why the parents are independently falling for it though.</p>
<p>maybe because braces are a middle class status thing. also i think they make parents feel good about their child-rearing. like, if a parent pays for their kid’s braces then that is a shining example of how they are giving their kids a better life then they got. </p>
<p>it was a mix of those things for my mom anyway.</p>
<p>I know most parents don’t regret the investment. regret is often not an option for big investments like that - it would be too painful to acknowledge. and maybe the parents would have spent the money they didn’t spend on braces on equally value-empty things for their child. but maybe not. braces are pretty worthless. </p>
<p>essentially though the parents are paying for comfort - the comfort from knowing that their kid has braces like the dentist recommended, and the comfort from believing that they are helping their child and making their future brighter. but this comfort wouldn’t be needed if society (the dentists and everyone who has been fooled by them) didn’t make parents and kids feel unnecessarily uncomfortable about not having braces. that’s what is sad and wrong to me.</p>
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<p>WHAT. I did not go through braces so that it could change back -__- if you wear your retainer often, doesn’t that keep your teeth straight?</p>
<p>Just go to your orthodontist and they’ll give you options. If you tell them you don’t want braces, they’re certainly not going to tell you that you have to get braces. Overbites are different from person to person and some orthodontists have the resources to get you things you’ve never even heard of. I have an appliance in my mouth and when I was talking to one of my friends who is studying dentistry, she said she has never seen that appliance before. You’ll be surprised at how many options you have.</p>
<p>I had an overbite, and they orthodontist put on a Herbst Applicane while I had braces. Don’t be so afraid of braces, they’re normal and part of life. Herbst will just put some more metal in your mouth, but they fix it and so far my treatment has been permanent. I had about a 120% overbite (one tooth and 1/5 more)</p>
<p>I think if you keep wearing your retainer forever, they won’t change back. Apparently it’s normal for your teeth to start moving again around 30, and most people aren’t still wearing their retainer then. I get new free ones whenever I need it, but I don’t know if its this easy for everyone.
I have to wear my retainer every night until I’m 18, then I can start wearing it every week or so forever :(</p>
<p>I don’t really mind my retainer. I thought I would when I was first getting it, but now it just seems like a daily ritual, like brushing my teeth everyday. I only wear it at night :)</p>