I once worked with a guy for around 3 years, and all of that time he had braces on his teeth. I assumed that I’d caught him in the middle (or perhaps the totality) of adult orthodontia, and eventually he’d get them taken off.
But I just went to a potential high-school evening for parents, where I ran into someone whose kid went to my kid’s school from K-5. She had on braces. And she had on braces when our kids were in kindergarden. (Note: They are now in 8th grade.) So this looks like it might be a permanent thing. I mean, that’s at least 8 years there.
Could tooth straightening possibly take that long? What’s another explanation?
(Yeah, I could’ve asked her. But I just couldn’t bring myself to.)
Can’t answer for “forever,” but my sister had braces for eight years. She got them at 5 and got them off at 13. I was too young to remember what her teeth looked like before the braces, but I assume they were extraordinarily misaligned, but afterward they were very beautiful. And I don’t know why she got them so young; yes, she was losing baby teeth during that time. You’d think the orthodontia would wait until later, but apparently hers was an extreme case. (There is nobody still around for me to ask.)
My brace-wearing lasted 7 years, from 3rd grade to 10th. Basically, my front teeth stuck out far enough forward that I could spear food rather than chew it. In my case I got the braces off for a while and wore a retainer, then had a set of front ones put back on again for about a year or two. That was followed by having my wisdom teeth out in 12th grade, so by the time I left for college I finally had a healthy, normal-looking mouth.
So it wasn’t necessarily ‘forever’, but it can be a long-term process.
And let me tell you, getting braces, glasses, zits and body hair all within six months of each other did absolute wonders for my self-confidence :rolleyes:
I had mine for about 5 years, and my bottom teeth are still slightly crooked, so I could have kept them on for longer. One of my bottom teeth grew behind the baby teeth, so I basically had an extra “row”, so the braces eventually had to a) separate two teeth then b) pull that tooth up between them so I only had one row.
That along took awhile, it goes pretty slowly. So if someone had a few teeth like that, I could see it taking 8+ years to finish, especially if they wanted perfect teeth as an end result.
My wife has chronically, genetically bad teeth. She has had temporary braces three times, and each time a few years after removal her teeth shifted out of alignment on their own. Her dentist has told her that after her current temporary braces come out, they’ll be giving her permanent braces, hopefully to keep the teeth from shifting again.
If you had seen me when I was 25, you’d have seen me wearing braces. If you had seen me when I was 30, you’d have seen me wearing braces.
They weren’t the same braces, though. When I had the first set removed and was given hearty congratulations and a retainer and told why I really, really needed to wear that retainer constantly for awhile, I paid no attention. So three years later I had to have another set of braces put on.
You can bet your mortgage that I paid attention to that retainer schedule the **second **time, though.
I had braces for about two years. I had them taken off about 5 years ago, and I wore my retainer 90% of the time for about 2 years. Then a piece broke off rendering the retainer ineffective and I couldn’t be bothered to fix it. Now my bite is all fucked up.
I had some sort of orthodontic appliance from first grade through high school. (It started with the glorious Frankel. My god, the horror.) Braces on the bottom and a Lars device on top after they pulled my baby teeth that wouldn’t come out, I think in the sixth grade. Eighth grade they put on braces top and bottom with rubber bands. So yes, you probably would have thought that poor little girl has had wires in her mouth FOREVER.