In surfing the election coverage I was surprised by the physical appearance of the Gov. Of OhioBob Taft when he was being interviewed. He has a mouth full of poorly aligned bottom teeth. It was kind of surprising to me, in that part of the intro setup for his appearance was the claim that his family has historically been a political dynasty in the state, and would assumedly have been reasonably well off. He was born in 1942, so he would have been 13-16 in 1955-1958.
It made me wonder when cosmetic orthodontic work became rigueur for middle class and upper class kids in this country. When I see someone 50 years old or younger nowdays with scrambled teeth, my impression is generally that their family did not have the resources to fix them when they were growing up.
For most families these days getting a kids teeth straightened is a priority, and some will even take out loans to get it done. When did cosmetic dentistry become a social fact for middle class kids in the US?
Do other developed countries do this, or do they let the teeth stay scrambled as long as they are otherwise healthy?
My sister is the only one of us kids who needed orthodontia, and she got hers in the 60’s. 1965 to 1969, to be exact. And it seemed like all her friends were wearing braces at the same time. I can’t think of any friends (and we would have needed our braces in the mid 70’s) who needed work but didn’t get it done.
I think once dental insurance began covering orthodontia, and it was seen as a legitimate health concern, not just cosmetic, was when it became that rite of passage.
Orthodontics is common here, but I don’t think it’s as universal as in the USA. Essentially, anybody with truly ‘wonky’ teeth will get referred by their dentist for orthodontic treatment, but it’s not generally done just to get a couple of teeth slightly moved. (On the other hand, if it’s deemed necessary by the dentist, the treatment is completely free for children…ain’t socialism the pits? )
On the other hand, we’ve some horrific political teeth too - such as Clare Short (bottom of that page, funnily enough most picture have her with her mouth closed…)
It’s possible he had braces as a child and his teeth shifted as he grew older. It happened to me, I had braces at the age of 13 and 27. I now wear my retainer faithfully (and plan to forever) and get my teeth checked once a year by an orthodontist to ensure they are staying in alignment.
My English boyfriend was slightly bemused to learn me and maybe a third of my friends in highschool had orthodontics fitted in our teenage years. It’s practically a rite of passage for Australian kids.
At least where I grew up, Australian parents get their kids’ teeth fixed. I’m not sure for how long this has been routine.
You know, I’ve noticed a lot of older people have poorly aligned bottom teeth. (I got braces at age 30 so I tend to notice teeth a lot) I actually think maybe the teeth get more out of place as you age so that’s why it wasn’t taken care of earlier. And this sounds weird too, but it seems to me that it’s easier to see the bottom teeth of older people when they talk, as if the way they’ve moved their lips has changed. Am I delisuional or has anyone else noticed these things?
I have crooked bottom teeth and i am a 24 yr old canuck. No coverage, no money so I didn’t get the braces I needed in my teen yrs. When I got out on my own I spent $4000 in one yr on my top teeth (inc. wisdom teeth) though my bottom teeth are the really bad ones. I figured I’d rather have a nice smile now and worry about the bottom ones in a few yrs when I have more income.
I always heard that orthodontia became a big thing when fluoride began to be put in toothpastes and the water supply. Kids stopped getting cavities, so the dental profession had to find another cash cow–of course, a dentist and an orthodontist are two different people, so this theory doesn’t entirely make sense.
I was blessed with strong, straight teeth. I had minor surgery to correct a gap between the two front ones, when I was a child, and had my wisdom teeth removed before they could cause any problems. In my bottom row of teeth, one is very slightly twisted, and I like it. It lets people know that the teeth are real A dentist once bandied about the idea of a night retainer for me, but somehow that was forgotten.
I don’t think it is cosmetic. I thought it was, too, until I was talking with the township’s deputy treasurer. She is also in the orthodontistry field, as a hygenist or whatever the orthodontic equivalent is. I can’t recall all the facts, but it is evidently not just cosmetic and is a real medical issue.
I once dated a guy whose family was quite well-off, and he told me that when he was a kid he’d been given a choice by his parents between getting the braces they were told he needed, or getting a new bike.
Guess which one he chose?
FTR, aside from a slight overbite, he didn’t have freak-mouth or anything.
I’m 33 years old, born and bred in Illinois. None of the 3 kids in my family had braces, although my sis may have had a retainer for awhile. My teeth aren’t Austin Powers bad, but they are crooked-y, clearly not orthodontia-ed.
We weren’t quite middle class when I was young, so that may have been the issue. I remember my Mom telling us the dentist kept saying, “Let’s let their mouths grow a little and see what happens.” Of course, that might have just been the line my Mom was giving me.
I am noticing more than a handful of adults with braces, something I would never have imagined 5 years or so ago.
My psychiatrist has braces, and he’s at least 45. It’s kind of weird.
I had braces when I was 12-13. It wasn’t just to straighten my teeth–one of my canine teeth wasn’t coming in right, and it would have ended getting cracked or infected if they hadn’t fixed it.
My little brother, who is 10, has terrible teeth. He has asthma, so he breathes through his mouth a lot, which causes weak teeth, so he has a lot of cavities, and his teeth are incredibly crooked. He has a palette expander, because his mouth is too small for all his teeth. He’ll get braces in a year or two, when all his baby teeth have fallen out.
My mom had braces in the 50’s in Pittsburg(h? crap, I forgot) and she was one of the only ones in school. Assuming her teeth were like mine (I spent years and years and years with various appliances wired in there) they were cosmetically dreadful but not an issue in any other way - not the sort of thing that causes a speech impediment or pain or anything. The pain all came with the orthodontics, and did it ever.
I grew up middle/upper-middle class, and my mother in particular was fanatical about keeping our teeth clean. We brushed and flossed with intense regularity, and my sister went through several years of braces and retainers to straighten her teeth, which were pretty crooked. As she’s taken less scrupulous care of her teeth in recent years, the bottom teeth are starting to get crooked again. My teeth are straight and I’m happy to say I still have no cavities at 30 years of age.
If I had to guess, I’d say that my parents’ desire for us to have good teeth grew out of their dental work. My father, who’s from Wales, has very British teeth, if I may use the stereotype; and my mother also has some pretty poor teeth in terms of straightness and general health. So speaking from my own personal experience, our dental regimen didn’t have much to do with class apart from being able to afford orthodontics for my sister, but more with my parents’ personal experience with bad teeth.
Just want to point out that not all orthodontia is the result of somebody wanting nicer-looking teeth. Sometimes, it’s a necessity.
I’m not sure if my story would qualify as the “medical issue” that js_africanus refers to but here it is anyway. When I was a child, my mouth was horrible. There were any number of foods I simply couldn’t eat because my teeth didn’t meet correctly. Mealtimes took forever as I tried to render food into a form in which it could be swallowed with minimal chewing.
My dentist was astounded, and so was the orthodontist he referred me to. (In fact, the orthodontist was also a professor at the local dental school, and planned to use my x-rays and impressions as teaching aids there.) Five years of braces and retainers and every other weapon in the orthodontist’s arsenal was the answer. And, as others have said, we had to wait until I had grown enough to make sure that any changes would not be corrupted by my growing, so it all took place during my teen years. It was quite expensive, but thankfully, the family dental policy my Dad had through work picked up the tab.
My teeth work pretty well now and don’t look too bad. But in my case, braces (and so on) were not for cosmetic reasons–they were simply so I could eat normal food.
My mother had braces @ 1950. My older sister and brother had braces, as did I. The biggest difference between theirs (my siblings) and mine is how the brackets were attached to the teeth, my siblings had steel loops around every tooth, mine were cemented. And we all three had teeth pulled. My neice who is 13 wore an aplliance for at least a year to widen her mouth or some such, it was some kind of bizarre contraption that had screws everywhere allowing it to be moved every couple weeks or something, and the good news is no teeth pulling.
I got braces very, very early (when I was 8). The permanant teeth that I had at that point were very, very crooked (tiny jaw), and the way two of my front teeth were meeting was going to lead to serious problems (cracked teeth, basically). I had braces for two years, was supposed to wear a retainer “until I stopped growing.”
Then our insurance changed and no longer covered orthodontia. Since I didn’t need to see the orthodontist anymore, I tossed the retainer away two months after I got it. I’ve still got crooked teeth, but got to laugh at my friends once we got to our teen years and every single one of them had braces.
My parents did have the resources to have my teeth “fixed” but I made the decision not to have it done (“If I was born with gaped-teeth I’ll die with gaped-teeth” - or something to that effect) But that wacky line of reasoning certainly isn’t the norm- I don’t know anyone else in my age group who doesn’t have straight, perfectly aligned teeth.
Actually, the only person I know with “scrambled” teeth is my dad.
When it became the primary source of dental incomes.
When I was a kid braces were a rarity - I don’t recall any close friend ever having them although you’d see the odd kid with braces.
Twenty years later with flouride in the water kids were no longer a goldmine of fillings and extractions - my kids needed hardly any dental care compared to my contemporaries. Ask any elderly dentist they will tell you that modern kids teeth are completely different to kids of a generation or two ago.
The proof of the ubiquity of orthodontics came some years ago when the excellent dentist I used to see closed his successful practice to go and study orthodontics because he could not see himself getting rich as a dentist.
)
A dentist once bandied about the idea of a night retainer for me, but somehow that was forgotten.