Adults can have braces, too?

Just recently, I spoke to a parent at my daughter's basketball game. They found out I was an orthodontist and lamented that their teeth were "so messed up" that they were embarrassed of their smile. However, when I told them come into the office for a consultation they surprisingly exclaimed, "adults can have braces, too? I thought I was too old to fix them."

Absolutely. I like to say virtually anyone ages 7 to infinity can have braces or clear aligners to correct their bites and smiles. In fact, it's ultimately up to you what goals you would like to include into your treatment plan. When you and I are in the consultation room discussing your options, my job isn't to tell you what to do to correct your smile. Rather, my job is to tell you what options are available to you, so that you can decide for yourself how much commitment you want to invest into getting the results you originally sought.

Early in my career, I had the pleasure of meeting Elaine (not her real name). She was a little over 70 years old, and after our initial introduction we got into discussing how I might be able to help her. Elaine says, "I want to go out looking like a million bucks! I don't have much time left on this Earth, so I'm doing everything that I've wanted to do for a while starting now."

So, I did my usual comprehensive evaluation, derived a diagnosis, and devised a few treatment alternatives ranging from a 6 month limited plan to a full blown comprehensive treatment option in coordination with her regular dentist for veneers and crowns. Elaine could have chosen the fastest results that could have substantially improved her alignment. Instead, she chose to bring her dentist into the mix to basically complete a full mouth reconstruction after I aligned her teeth. Her reasoning was, "why have straight teeth that are all worn down and yellow looking?" This ended up being a nearly 2 year interdisciplinary treatment plan that included braces with me, followed by 10 veneers, a few crowns, and gum recontouring with her dentist. Yes, braces, not aligners.

Elaine was a lovely woman and a pleasure to have in the office, and she's most definitely one of my favorite patients since. When we all finished her treatment not only did she look like a million bucks, but she felt like a million bucks.

We need to understand that if we truly dislike our smile, then we need to decide if we want to live with it for the rest of our lives. Alternatively, a relatively short orthodontic plan can give us something we can proudly display for a lifetime.

Don't be shy. Adults can have braces (and aligners), too!