Originally posted by Dr Unne
I never had braces. I don't believe in such things, and my parents don't either. I don't believe in going through years of pain just to look similar to an arbitrary standard of beauty. Why not just tell your kid "Hey, you're ugly, you need medical treatments to make you look normal". What does that tell a kid?

And what are the benefits of braces? Straighter teeth, for what? Will it find you a spouse? Will it get you a job? Will it make people like you? You can have teeth like a Greek god, and if you're a jerk, I still won't like you. Maybe those thousands of dollars and years of pain should be put to better use. For example, put it towards college tuition or something.

My teeth aren't straight, and that's the way I likes it. If I had children, I would never subject them to having braces.
Well, for some people, braces can fix a couple of things. Some people when they open their jaw it "pops" a bit, and that creates friction on the joints on the jaw...which can wear it down over the years, making it harder to chew properly.

Also, with crooked teeth, it's harder to clean because in my case, I couldn't floss between a certain area of my teeth since the tooth got in the way. I mean at first all I thought braces were for were for straighter teeth, and while the most part they are...they do make it a lot easier to keep your teeth clean...though I must admit, $5200 to make your teeth easier to clean is steep...and the inconvenience of it for 2 years is absurd.