Why I Decided to Get Adult Braces | What I Wore

At 28, married, and working full time, is not when I was expecting to have braces.

My teeth have always been a little wonky. I have a severe under-bite, a canine tooth that’s growing on top of all my other teeth, and teeth growing in all sorts of directions. As a kid, the haphazardness of my teeth never bothered me. So when an orthodontist told me that I would need both braces and jaw surgery to correct my bite, my mom decided to leave my teeth the way they were.

Fast forward a dozen or so years – I’m 28, married, working full time, and I have braces.

The outfit I wore to go to the oral surgeon to have 4 teeth extracted!

What Changed at 28?

So what changed my mind? Why did I decide to get braces at 28 (I actually started at 27), instead of in my teens like everyone else?

I had options.

As a kid, I remember being told that surgery was the only option to correct my teeth. My mom was horrified at the thought of someone cutting into my face and breaking my jaw. I mean, who wouldn’t be?? At my consultation, my orthodontist told me that I had options. He could correct everything except the under-bite without surgery, and for some, braces ended up correcting their bites as well. If I started the braces and decided I wanted the surgery, I would still have the option.

Taking care of my dental health was a part of taking care of myself.

Self care and self love are two phrases you see a lot nowadays. Self care, to me, can mean different things for different people. As someone who had never put that much focus on her dental health, I realized that taking care of my dental health was part of my self care. It was something good that I was doing for myself. I had wonky, crowded, and misaligned teeth, which meant I had issues with cavities and proper cleaning. But no more!

I was confident and I didn’t care.

You can imagine that there would be some stigma around a grown, working adult having braces. Of course there are other adults who have braces later in life like I do, but the majority of adults you encounter do not. As a teen, a lot of things can be mortifying – glasses, braces, acne, you name it. Although this did not affect my decision as a teen, as an adult, I found that I just didn’t care. I didn’t care what people would think. I was settled in life, with all the core people and things I needed. So really, what could shake my confidence? A handful of metal bits? No way.

My Outfit for the Big Day

Onto the fun part of this blog post! Part of my treatment plan was having 4 teeth extracted to make room for my other teeth. I heavily debated wearing a sweatshirt, leggings, and sneakers to the appointment. However, I decided that even a tooth extraction was worthy of some effort.

I wore leggings and a relaxed fit waffle shirt for comfort, and some heeled ankle booties for style. I love wearing scrunched up knit socks with ankle boots – they look cozy, and make my leg line look less chopped off. Over the top, I threw on a padded parka that cinches at the waist to both keep me warm and give me some shape.

I hope you enjoyed reading about why I decided to get adult braces. In addition, I hope that this helps to inspire anyone who might be hesitating to either get adult braces, or just to do something that might carry some stigma.

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Thanks for reading!