Do braces make your face less attractive

[VA5]

Besides braces making your face more narrow (which seems to happen to a lot of us).. how else has it made your face? I feel that braces make some people look less attractive.. it just makes your face look less radiant or something. And, I also feel that it's awkward to talk and smile, and all of that.. and I feel that my face looks worse for now.

[believer1964]

do you have a before and after of how you look before and during braces?

[VA5]

Of course I have before and after pictures (well not really after, I still have them on), but I'm not going to post them anywhere.

I'm really more curious about what others here have to say about how braces changed the way they look. And, maybe some positive stories about how it looks after they came off.

[wearetheborg]

I actually kinda liked that I had metal in me

But I guess you can figure that out from my username

[believer1964]

whatever that means. im looking forward to a fuller smile.

my smile will be fuller wednesday when i install that bling bling on my teeth, lol

[VA5]

whatever that means. im looking forward to a fuller smile.

my smile will be fuller wednesday when i install that bling bling on my teeth, lol

You don't even have braces yet?

[itsabouttime22]

I totally think braces have made me less attractive. I honestly try not to look in the mirror as much and am just hoping when they come off I will be happy with my smile and therefore my whole appearance. I'm still glad I got them though.

[VA5]

I totally think braces have made me less attractive. I honestly try not to look in the mirror as much and am just hoping when they come off I will be happy with my smile and therefore my whole appearance. I'm still glad I got them though.

In what way? I feel that in general braces do make people less attractive but i'm wondering what it is about it.. if it really changes the face, or if it's b/c people just look different w/stuff in their mouth, and if that means their face will look normal after.

[sadpanda]

I haven't had my braces that long, but I think I look better with metal in my mouth. I don't really know why exactly. I've always thought I was ugly, but I know with the braces, my overjet is way less noticeable beause it's like my bottom braces fill up the space that used to just protrude over my bottom teeth. I even think my big overbite is not as noticeable because even though my top teeth mostly cover my bottom braces, I can't bite down as much as I used to. I've hated mirrors for a long time, but now I always look in them just to see my braces, which I've decided I really really like. I want them to stay on a long time although I do think that having all metal braces makes people not take me seriously for jobs and other things. Unfortunately, I guess I like how my braces look because I've had a permanent injury to my right eye which requires surgery I don't know if I'll ever have, and I hate the way it looks in pictures.

[VA5]

aw that's good sadpanda. I definitely agree that some people actually look fine (if not better?) with braces.. so you're lucky that way.

In general though, a lot of people I know look so much better after they're off so hopefully that will be me.

[believer1964]

unless i chicken out

[sisi]

When I had my braces on I felt my mouth looked really swollen and ugly. In fact, a couple of people asked if something had happened to my mouth.

However, I don't think it had any affect on the rest of my face. It did cause me to smile less so I probably looked older and more serious.

[TumbleDryLow]

I think I look great. I love my face now. I love my teeth. I love my smile. I love that I actually WANT to smile and I smile a lot these days.

I was in braces 33 months (scheduled to be debanded Thursday) and I couldn't be happier. I didn't think I looked ugly in braces. I looked like me....wearing braces. My face did change a bit. I can't even tell you how exactly. It's just different. But I really like it. I just took some portraits in May and was stunned at how good I looked.

And I just have to say: wearetheborg....I get you!!! (Resistance is futile.)

[VA5]

I think I look great. I love my face now. I love my teeth. I love my smile. I love that I actually WANT to smile and I smile a lot these days.

I was in braces 33 months (scheduled to be debanded Thursday) and I couldn't be happier. I didn't think I looked ugly in braces. I looked like me....wearing braces. My face did change a bit. I can't even tell you how exactly. It's just different. But I really like it. I just took some portraits in May and was stunned at how good I looked.

And I just have to say: wearetheborg....I get you!!! (Resistance is futile.)

That's awesome you feel so great with your braces! And, you're so lucky to have them off this week, that is VERY exciting!!! Did you know it was going ot take that long when you got them in?

You know what's weird is, as much as my cheeks have changed, I still don't regret this. I hated my teeth so much, and I look at old pictures of my mouth/teeth and just shake my head that I lived with it for so long. My smile was not very pretty, although my teeth were actually REALLY straight looking. Nobody understands why I got braces actually.. but I definitely needed to get it done for me.

Also, this memory is coming back to me. I actually had one ortho who I had a consult with, and he was so adament about my getting braces. I thought it was the weirdest thing. Here i was trying to get business from him and all he could do was say, you don't need them, you're fine looking without them. He said my nose would change, and some other things, and said after i get them off, i would find other things about my face i wouldn't like and i would basically never be happy.

So, that brings up another point.. I wonder if people here ever go through that too? Kind of like an addiction to plastic surgery.. I guess some people improve one thing and then they are never happy and want to continue to do things to their face/body to improve them... I wonder if people here are like that???

[VA5]

I meant to say "adament AGAINST my getting braces"