Metal Mouth Message Board

After years of being embarrassed by my teeth I can't stand to show anyone how my teeth are progressing especially when someone (namely Mum and sister) say "let's see your teeth"

I hate it. If I want to show someone how my teeth are progressing I will show them when I'm happy to do so (another reason I have ceramics and aesthetic archwire). I think once my diastema has closed despite the gaps either side I will be happy to show them off (to a degree) and am even contemplating coloured ligs/powerchain when that happens-pale blue, pale lilac or pale pink.

Does anyone else feel like I do about showing their teeth when asked?

I do. And I think it is normal. I would let them know that's how you feel, and they should understand.

Same here. I'm still a little anti social with them on.

It depends who for me. i'm always showing my boyfriend whether he wants to see or not. 'hey, look at my bite', 'can you measure my bite please?' 'does my overjet look different to an hour ago?'! However, I work in a pre-school and the kids always ask me to show them. I'm less willing to there partly because one of the mums told her kids that my teeth were ugly and if you eat sweets you get teeth like mine but also because usually after 'can i look at your teeth?' the next question is 'can i touch them?' But I try and let them look (and not touch) because a lot of them will probably get braces when they are older and a lot of the mums say things like 'oh you poor thing' to me and I don't want the kids freaking out that braces are this awful pain.

It might be because I'm the only one in my direct family who has done this.

A recent comment or two from my mother didn't help. One was something se casually said to my 14 month old son when she was holding him something along the lines of "you have your mummy's teeth". I didn't say anything but thought to myself any wonder why I'm doing this whole braces thing! The other comment was "your teeth they weren't that bad and it adds character". I objected to that comment but said nothing. I think because my mum also has a diastema and I did nothing about it as a teen she wonders why I am I doing it now using my money-two answers self confidence and some self esteem and the other I wouldn't want the hypercritical aspect of teeth and braces when my son is older if I hadn't done it.

On the opposite side of things my husband and mother in law admire the courage to do what I have done given the extreme phobia I overcame.

I hated it when my friends asked me to show them. I don't care if strangers see them though. My teeth were cosmetically fine and I didn't smile much before braces, I definitely don't now. Naturally my upper lip covers the brackets to where they don't show when I talk normally, but teeth are still visible so they're really hard to detect. My girlfriend didn't notice them until I told her I had them on the third date because I didn't want to freak her out later because I figured we'd kiss.

I loved showing off my braces and how my teeth, bite, and smile were improving. If people noticed them when I talked or smiled, they'd mention it and I'd discuss it. And I was also one of those annoying people who'd always show my wife every time I had an adjustment or noticed an improvement. The funny this is, now that I'm in retainers and everything looks great, I don't do that much anymore

The only one who wants to see my teeth is my boss . Every time my ortho has done something with my braces or if I tell boss that a tooth have moved he always has to ask if he can see.

Sometimes when I walk past boss at work he smiles and show his teeth, meaning that I should do the same so he can see them (it's very funny when he does it ). For me that has been a very good thing and he is a "big fan" of my treatment (he's an ortho for those of you who don't know ).

I was constantly showing my parents my teeth throughout my treatment And now that they're done I beam and laugh constantly to show them off. There was once though, nearer to the end of my treatment, where I got mortally embarrassed. It was a family party with loads of people there and my grandma got me to show them my teeth. I think it's because there were people there that didn't know I'd been having the treatment, and it took all the fun out of it showing them before they were done.

I did for the first week or so. Mainly because people knew I was getting the braces and kept asking to see them. After that I got over it and I think I smile more now than I did before the braces. I think it's normal to be self conscious at first but after a while you will forget they're there. Till then *hugs*.