WHY DID NOONE NOTICE MY LACK OF BRACES (and more issues)! :(

[danz23]

Has this happened to any of you? This is the second time i've had braces off and no one said anything! Except the people I told! I had them off yesterday. Last time it took 5 days before anyone noticed, wonder how long it'll take this time?! Grrrrr. And now I have to have 2 wisdom teeth out. Not looking foward to that, not to mention the costs. I have to go to an oral surgeon coz one of the teeth is impacted I think.

[TumbleDryLow]

You should post this over on the Metal Mouth Form so the newbies who are freaking out about having braces on can see just how astonishingly observant people are.

I just saw my sister in law this summer and mentioned something about having had braces. She looked at me and asked "when did you have braces?" OK---so she doesn't see me much. She lives is CA and I live in MI, but last Thanksgiving she stayed with me in my house 24/7 for 4 days and I had braces on my teeth then! She apparently didn't notice. I have several other similar stores, so yeah, par for the course. (If no one is going to notice your teeth it makes you wonder why you bothered spending 6 grand, huh?)

One of my wisdoms was impacted too. It's no fun but a good excuse to pamper yourself and eat lots of ice cream.

[Snowglobe32]

I agree...post this in the metal mouth forum.

One girl I work with, didn't know I had braces until 6 months after she started working with me!

Maybe those folks just feel since you didn't announce it to the world, maybe you didn't want attention. I think when mine come off, I will tell only a few and see how long it takes the rest to figure it out.

[Jethro]

LOL - I had posted this back in June:

"Since getting debraced, I have been out with my buddies several times, grinning from ear to ear whenever possible like some kind of lunatic, and guess what? No one has even noticed the missing hardware and elastics! LOL. I mention this only to encourage those who may be having trepidations about getting braced, and those who are already braced but are feeling self-conscious, how little other people care about what's happening with our teeth.

This is so worth it folks. Best wishes on your journey! "


Update: A few friends did finally notice several weeks later. Enjoy your new smile!

[danz23]

Thanks guys, your messages made me feel better . Hehe I posted the same type message last time I had my braces off, I reread it last night. Someone said how its funny how in many cases more people notice your bad teeth BEFORE your braces go on than they do when you have teeth that are improving WITH braces and that are nice AFTER braces! So yeah, basically you are paying all that money for people to not notice your teeth as much in a way! Oh and guess what, someone noticed today! . She woulda noticed yesterday but I didn't see her. Shes always been real interested in my braces though. Now gotta make that damn appointment with the surgeon. Need MONEYYYY!

[VA5]

I think differently. Since being debraced, I feel like my teeth are invisible. So nobody notices, and hence I am upset. I am upset b/c my teeth have been retracted so much that you can't even tell the difference between the hardware in my mouth, and without it. It's like a shadow in my mouth when I smile. I really miss having my protruding teeth now in THAT respect, b/c at least people could see my gleaming teeth when I did smile, albeit I always hated how my teeth protruded out. NOW.. they are retracted and nobody can even see them. I hate it!

If I could have done it again, I would have not extracted (I do think extractions are worthy for certain people) and just gotten my teeth shaved to have some retraction. It would not have been the same amount of retraction, sure.. however losing my teeth inside my mouth where nobody can see them is not the end result I wanted either. There is a happy medium.

No, let me say that I do wonder if my teeth just need whitening and that's why they seem to be a shadow in my mouth. So, I am giving whitestrips a shot, I've only used them a few times so far, so it's too early to say if it's working. I almost feel like I don't know how to smile anymore either.. it's weird to explain.

[acidcookie]

I had my braces off last July, 11 days before my birthday...so many of my co-workers suffered through them so I didn't feel too bad talking about it. So it was kind of a big deal when they came off...so I got lots of comments when I did...also, I just felt more compelled to smile and not feel weird about it. It also made me more confident to hold conversations as I felt no one was glaring at my big ol' gaps.

My boyfriend also proposed ON my birthday.

I can't decide what I wanted people to notice more, my lack of braces or the ring on my finger.

Although it's weird, I haven't taken that many pictures since my braces came off! So even I was like "meh" afterward I guess.