I had braces in the early 70s and then it was very common for kids if their parents could afford it.
When did braces really become very common in the US?
I had friends in school in the 60’s who wore braces. They weren’t too common, but it wasn’t “oh my god what’s in your mouth” uncommon either. These were probably upper middle class people so I presume it wasn’t outrageously expensive either. I’m not sure why it would have been thought expensive either. Like most medical things, by and large dental costs were lower then relative to other prices.
Probably in the 50s and 60s. Prior to that, no one particularly cared to fix crooked teeth, but the rise of the middle class in the 50s made it affordable to more people. I had braces in the 60s, and knew several in my school who had them, too.
My sister had braces in the late 50’s. At that time they were unusual (at least where I lived) and generally worn only by kids who actually had a bite problem.
I don’t know how much they actually cost, but my parents’ used to joke that my sister had “a thousand dollar smile.” Considering that in 1960 the average family income in the U.S. was $6,691and the median family income was $5,620, braces would have been a substantial investment simply for cosmetic reasons.
my braces were $1000 in the early 70s
In the 60s plenty of kids had braces but it seemed to mainly be for very noticeable conditions. By the 70s there were a lot of kids getting braces in order to get a perfect smile.
I had braces in the late 50s. My parents had to finance them; I think the cost was around $2,000. We couldn’t really afford it (my father was a small farmer) but my teeth were a mess, very crowded together and the dentist predicted future problems if they weren’t fixed. I only had uppers; my lower teeth were less bad so the dentist agreed we could leave them be.
I also had braces in the late 50s, and they were fairly commonplace in our neighborhood. My father always complained about the cost, but he complained about everything.
When I was growing up in the 60’s and early 70’s, only a few kids in my class had braces - probably the ones with more noticeable tooth misalignment. I have a slight gap between my front teeth and I don’t recall any suggestion I needed braces. My wife went to school in the early 80’s and she got braces, and it was pretty common by then. (One of my co-workers in the early 80’s was also getting her two daughters braces, even though tooth alignment was not horrible but… not perfect.
I think it’s a combination of desire for perfection and the more general availability of work benefits that covered the procedure (typically 80% to 50% of total cost). When universal Medicare came along in Canada in the late 60’s, I suppose some of the employer money saved went to fund that sort of additional health benefit to attract employees.