Braces and Headgear
Character-Building Dental Drama
“Some tortures are physical / And some are mental, / But the one that is both / Is dental.” – Ogden Nash, 1941
“I’m not getting out of the car,” 13-year-old me angrily cried to my mother as she dropped me off at school in the middle of the day. “There’s no way I’m going into my class looking like this.”
“There are other kids at your school who wear headgear,” my mother said, struggling to sympathize while at the same time trying to coax me to get out of the car. “I know it’s hard now but someday when you have a beautiful smile you’ll thank your Dad and me for the braces.”
I had just come from my orthodontist’s office where Dr. Ellis had freshly installed the ugliest dental device known to man: a cervical headgear. This torturous appliance was attached to my braces via the “face bow” (which sounds almost pretty and much more benign than it actually was) and a big, fat elasticized strap worn behind my neck. As if puberty wasn’t traumatic enough.
Even though a lot of my classmates wore braces, only a few – the nerd set – wore headgear. I felt like a total freak – and I don’t mean the cool, hippie kind of freak that was so iconic during the late 1960s. Headgear was instant, visual confirmation that I was a geek freak.
There was one other person in my class who, like me, had to wear headgear 24/7 in junior high. James was part of the group I travelled with to school and back. Of course, the other kids inevitably joked about us kissing and getting stuck together by our wiry dental devices.
In the late 1960s in Redding California, I went from being Bucky Bucktooth to Metal Mouth, dramatically increasing the hellishness factor of middle school life. I had never been part of the popular crowd in Grade 7 and 8, but turning into Tinsel Teeth pretty much clinched my status as a nerd. As a skinny girl with unruly curly hair that I constantly tried to straighten with Dippity Do and scotch tape, I felt insecure already. Once the implements of pain were installed to correct my pronounced overbite, I went for over two years smiling without my teeth showing. And now, in Grade 8, as I struggled daily to fit in at school, I had to wear the totally humiliating orthodontic headgear. Could things get any worse?
My mother drove me to my monthly appointments at Dr. Ellis’ office to get my braces tightened. The resulting pain meant I lived for days on aspirin and soft foods after each orthodontist appointment. Strips of red wax, which I warmed up under the hot water tap and then pressed onto the sharp metal wires on my teeth, protected the inside of my lips.
I could no longer chew gum or eat apples or hard candy or popcorn or corn on the cob. I brought my lunch to school and after I ate, I would rush to the girls’ bathroom to brush off the sandwich remnants that were stuck in my braces.
After an agonizing eternity sitting with my poor mother in our family car in front of my school on that sunny California day, I finally trudged into my Grade 8 classroom, headgear prominently on display. All eyes turned towards me as I took my seat at my desk. So embarrassing.
Looking back on my young self, all I can say is that, whether for good or for bad, it was character-building. Oh, and I did – and still do - thank my parents for the financial sacrifices they made to get my teeth straightened.
NOTE: Orthodontics have come a very long way since the 1960s. From the original practice of using wires and bands to straighten teeth, to modern day treatments that use 3D imaging and computer-aided design, orthodontic treatments have advanced significantly. Orthodontists are now able to predict and diagnose problems and develop treatment plans in a proactive way. Clear braces and Invisalign are now available to help patients get the smile they desire without the pain of wires. The use of headgear today is extremely rare.
I can't imagine that kind of dental care in the 60's where I grew up. No one had the money nor the time to drive the 90 mins that often to the dentist. We went to the city once or twice a year at max. Braces were extremely rare. I can't say I ever saw anyone with this sort of stuff on. It would definitely have been tough mentally --- curly hair was bad enough!
oooohhhhh I remember kids with that. Thank god I had good teeth in school as I would have never survived. You were so brave!
However, the karma of not great teeth caught up with me as an adult and I now have a very, very expensive mouthful of crowns with more coming end of March ...