If Emily grew up so rich...

[chiccy]

...Why are her teeth so bad? Seriously, she claims to have grown up "in a five bedroom, three story Victorian on fifty four acres," that her mother's family is wealthy, and her dad, aunt and uncle went to Oxford and Cambridge. So why didn't she ever get orthodontia?

 

[Alecto]

...Why are her teeth so bad? Seriously, she claims to have grown up "in a five bedroom, three story Victorian on fifty four acres," that her mother's family is wealthy, and her dad, aunt and uncle went to Oxford and Cambridge. So why didn't she ever get orthodontia?

My family is solidly upper middle class and my parents never got me or my brother braces and we needed them. Some people are weird about that

[Deleted03]

I have similar unaligned teeth and I got orthodontia. There's a limit to what braces can do. My teeth are not aligned because I used a pacifier until I was 6. Orthodontia is not magical work, and very often is only a temporary solution (particularly on bottom tooth).

[clibbyjo]

I had retainers and when asked if I wanted braces I said no so that was the end of it. I wish now my parents would have made me get them. I didn't know many kids who had braces when I was a kid,now every kid I know gets them.(Including 2 of my 3 and the 3rd will have them as well)

[ilovetchotchkes]

I have a gap and an overbite and flat out refused braces after I saw what my sister went through. My family was pretty solidly middle middle class growing up.

[amydamy]

She may have had braces but didn't wear her retainer. My husband had braces as a teenager and never kept up with his retainer and while they are better than they were before the braces they are still crooked. A friend of mine has a permanent retainer behind her two front teeth because they will turn with out it. Once she busted the retainer on a granola bar of all things and with in hours you could see her tooth shifting.

[Creaky Mom]

Needed it here too and never got it. It just was never an issue. In Canada, I think fixing teeth cosmetically has only become common in the last 20 years. Dentists don't push it unless the teeth are terribly misaligned. One of the Creaky Kids decided against braces in order to keep a "character smile."

This is very common in Europe:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... aimed.html

whereas in the U.S. a perfectly aligned set of teeth is the goal.

Emily's teeth look fine.

[Deleted03]

Needed it here too and never got it. It just was never an issue. In Canada, I think fixing teeth cosmetically has only become common in the last 20 years. Dentists don't push it unless the teeth are terribly misaligned. One of the Creaky Kids decided against braces in order to keep a "character smile."

This is very common in Europe:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... aimed.html

whereas in the U.S. a perfectly aligned set of teeth is the goal.

Emily's teeth look fine.

ark most of my friends in France got braces (it was even covered by social security for me) and after my 3 years of dental apparatuses I was still made fun of for my un-even teeth. Actually my first time in Montréal I was suprised to see so many people with "bad" teeth. It's not covered by social security.

After a conference with a doctor who is against most cosmetic surgery, I think it was eye opening, that even if it can help a little, teeth often get back to their original place (that's why I never got any on the bottom). I had a spacer for 6 months twice, and it was torture the metal part would just bite into my palate, with skin growing on top of it. The brace of the first one got caught under one of the molar it was attached too. Yes my teeth look much nicer, but I must say I would never ever go through that again, I'd do a lot of research before doing that to my kids - while in France, in my generation, it's just automatic "here, fix my kid's teeth". All the while I might say, I was never told to floss or use mouthwash. my teeth may be straighter but now I have two crowns, and I'm only 25

[ophelia]

some people are really weird about it. My roommate comes from a upper middle class family with actually really loving and caring family, but she has got really bad teeth..

[keen23]

I don't see her teeth as being super bad. My own teeth aren't super straight, and might have benefited from braces, but I didn't want them. Braces were presented to me as "optional" so I just didn't get them. My brothers, who did have horrible teeth, were not given "optional" braces, they were mandatory.

[Lainey]

Emily's teeth look fine.

Yeah, I was going to ask what's wrong with her teeth? They look fine to me (and I had braces).

[Avalondaughter]

I think her teeth look pretty straight.

My own teeth weren't terrible, but my dentist was concerned that my overbite would eventually cause the bones of my upper teeth to deteriorate, so I got braces. I remember WANTING braces because I hated the spaces between my teeth.

After my braces came off, even though I had a special type of retainer, I still had a hairline gap between my front teeth. When my wisdom teeth came in, it closed up. Now I refuse to get my wisdom teeth out. My dentist gives me a hard time, especially since I never had a cavity in my life until I got one in my wisdom tooth. :mrgreen:

My husband's older brother got braces, but alas, my husband, who is otherwise pretty cute, does not have nice teeth. He said his parents never really gave him the option. No one pushed the issue, and he wasn't about to ask for them. Now his dentist is concerned about how his overbite might be causing him harm and has suggested braces, but at his age, he's too embarassed to get them.

[darkplumaged]

I have straight top teeth but crooked bottom ones, and I opted not to get braces. I figured that my bottom teeth rarely show, so why go through the discomfort and expense of braces? Almost every other kid in my (upper middle-class) middle school seemed to have had them, though.

I can't picture Emily being particular enough about her teeth (which don't look that bad) to have wanted braces.

[EmmieJ]

I grew up solidly middle class but with 7 siblings, and all of us have uneven teeth to one degree or another. My parents could afford regular dental care, but not braces for all of us, so none of us got braces. When I was an adult, I got them because I saved and paid on my own. My teeth are no longer perfectly aligned though - cuz I stopped wearing my retainer at some point, so they've shifted. Her teeth looked fine to me in that picture.

[Jessica]

I had braces but mine have gone crooked again. I tried wearing my retainer but it hurt so bad I couldn't eat for days after wearing it only for a couple of hours. The orthodontist didn't want to help, didn't seem to care that I was missing a ton of school because I was in so much pain (teeth hurting, throbbing headache all the way down my neck and shoulders) so I wasn't going to put up with it and threw the damn thing in my drawer and never looked back.

[Jezebel]

I had a terrible overbite, plus some teeth that came in so crookedly I got teased for it at school. So I was more than happy to get braces. But I couldn't deal with the pain of wearing rubber bands--I wouldn't wear them at night because I couldn't sleep with them in--so after three years my teeth still weren't "perfect." My orthodontist decided it was time for me to wear some heavy-duty ugly headgear, and I just wouldn't do it; I was getting bullied enough at school as it was. So he pretty much threatened to fire me as a patient. My parents were pissed, but as far as I was concerned my teeth were straight enough, and continuing to push for absolutely perfect teeth was ridiculous. I told my parents and my orthodontist that I'd pry the brackets off my teeth myself if I had to, but I was done. They gave in because they had to.

I did, however, wear my retainer exactly as I was told because I didn't want my teeth shifting back, and on the upper teeth it worked. The lower ones eventually became a bit of a jumble, but not what they were before braces. Thirty years after the fact, I'm satisfied with my teeth.

I don't see anything wrong with Emily's teeth, myself. Nor do I see any indication that she never had orthodontia. She could have had it, but been a stubborn little shit like me. She could have had it, but her teeth moved a bit post-braces. Or, she might never have needed them for anything more than purely cosmetic reasons, so she and her parents decided not to get them at all. I've known plenty of "rich" people where that's been the case.

[Patsy]

I can't see anything wrong with her teeth.

[fluttershies]

I don't see anything wrong with her teeth either. They're not yellow, they're actually pretty straight and if they're not causing her any problems, why bother doing anything? There are better things to spend money on than purely cosmetic dentistry.

[Austin]

I spent thousands upon thousands of dollars on braces for all three of our kids. Only one kept up with his retainer and while the other two look fine, one has re-developed a small gap between his two front teeth, which is very typical for people in my family. My family refers to it as the "Mc******* gap" - lol. I think it looks fine and I'm not big on perfection anyway because I think it is the little idiosyncrasies that make people interesting.

Point being, you really can't tell by looking at a person whether their parents put out a lot of money for braces or not.

[doe]

I had retainers and when asked if I wanted braces I said no so that was the end of it. I wish now my parents would have made me get them. I didn't know many kids who had braces when I was a kid,now every kid I know gets them.(Including 2 of my 3 and the 3rd will have them as well)

I was supposed to get them, but I knew my parents were struggling a bit financially, plus college was coming up in a couple of years. When I was asked about getting them I declined because I didn't want to be a burden and I didn't realize how big a deal it was.

If I could afford them, I would probably get them now. My teeth are pretty crooked and there is lots of overcrowding in my small mouth. Luckily I only had one wisdom tooth come in. Didn't have it pulled, though, because the one next to it was in bad shape so I opted to have that one removed.

[mockingbird]

I don't think her teeth look that bad.

I had braces but my teeth didn't look perfect even right after they came off. My dentist warned me that they wouldn't and it was the best he could do, however I had braces for major overcrowding issues so it wasn't cosmetic and at that point I could have cared less because I wanted them off. Braces were pretty painful for me. My mouth looks okay, but not perfect. I should still be wearing my retainer, I think, but I don't unless my jaw starts hurting and then I know I am having a lot of shifting and need to wear it for a few nights. The retainer is painful (I know it would get better if I wore it more often but still... it kills so no incentive to do that lol) and makes my mouth pretty dry so I don't like it. But luckily my teeth haven't shifted drastically, so I don't mind the minor change. I also got my wisdom teeth out for overcrowding. My sister and brother had braces too but both weren't cosmetic. Don't remember what was up with my brother, but my sister needs braces until her mouth stops growing because she knocked off part of her front teeth and needs the braces to keep the remnants of those teeth there otherwise it could seriously screw up her bite. She might end up needing permanent caps or fake teeth.

[Elle]

I'm another one who had braces, and my teeth are still a bit crooked.

Also some people just don't care. Jewel and Will Farrell are a couple millionaire-celebrities who come come to mine who never had their teeth fixed when they definitely could have. In the movie Anchorman, there is even a close-up of Will Farrell's teeth. I thought they were joke teeth they were that bad. Apparently they were real, and he wears flippers for roles with perfect teeth.

[chiccy]

I'm another one who had braces, and my teeth are still a bit crooked.

Also some people just don't care. Jewel and Will Farrell are a couple millionaire-celebrities who come come to mine who never had their teeth fixed when they definitely could have. In the movie Anchorman, there is even a close-up of Will Farrell's teeth. I thought they were joke teeth they were that bad. Apparently they were real, and he wears flippers for roles with perfect teeth.

I think Jewel and Will Farrell might be examples of celebrities who grew up poor or middle-class, and then didn't want to get braces later because, well, you can't have braces if you're a famous adult. I know Jewel grew up very poor, so that would explain it in her case.

I'm kind of surprised to hear about all these people brought up upper-middle class who never had braces, but I guess there are a lot of different explanations. Where I grew up, you got braces, period. Maybe 1 in 10 or 20 kids didn't get braces. That's why I was perplexed about Emily.

[Wolfie]

I don't see anything wrong with her teeth. I grew up upper middle class, and while my sister had braces, I didnt. My teeth are pretty straight, but I have some discoloring from too much fluoride. (no it won't kill you, and it just was a case of not thinking how much fluoride I was getting since I didn't live where there was fluoridated water, so we had supplements, my grandparents had fluoridated water, so I was getting it at their house and in any food that they brought over, including jams, jellies and pickles.)

I think Jewel and Will Farrell might be examples of celebrities who grew up poor or middle-class, and then didn't want to get braces later because, well, you can't have braces if you're a famous adult. I know Jewel grew up very poor, so that would explain it in her case.

There are lots of ways to have teeth straightened that adults can use. HOWEVER, they both may have issues with their jaws not being strong enough at this point, and they'd probably rather not have all their teeth pulled and implants put in. Even if you look at newscasters, their teeth are all over the place.

[polabear]

Some of you would cry at my teeth. I have an overbite and a gap between my front teeth. But, everything is pretty straight otherwise, and its not a functional issue. I'm sure if there was a real necessity, I would have had braces. But my mom was already getting our dental care by trading hair cuts, perms and curl sets to the entire dentist's family. I didn't get my wisdom teeth out until I had my own insurance at my first real job out of high school.

(Which, btw, is a sign that mom cared enough about us to work 70 hours a week so we could, say, get routine dental care and help us go to college. But I guess that doesn't count since there wasn't any lacto-fermenting.)