Adult braces and unintended consequences

[mensimageconsultant]

Originally Posted by dusty

I don't represent this forum. And there's a difference between having standards of attractiveness and having your standard of attractiveness set to where it requires expensive, painful, often unnecessary medical procedures. It's like foot-binding or some ****.

It's possible that reasonably straight teeth is a universal standard among those who can afford to have high standards. There's some evidence that people in preindustrial societies have better teeth than their more 'advanced' counterparts.

Anyway, if braces begin to worsen TMJ, what can be done?

 

[The Snob]

Originally Posted by dusty

I don't represent this forum. And there's a difference between having standards of attractiveness and having your standard of attractiveness set to where it requires expensive, painful, often unnecessary medical procedures. It's like foot-binding or some ****.
No you're right--you don't represent the forum, but your belief that such a standard is somehow unreasonable and telling of some negative personality trait of mine here in North America where the vast majority of people do have fairly straight teeth whether naturally or through a year or two of braces (that would be me, circa 8th grade) is ludicrous. Even if it were comparable to foot-binding (which it's not as foot-binding is a lot more painful and physically incapacitates a person whereas straighter teeth is both physically appealing and potentially better for one's bite), one person's preferences w/r/t another's physical appearance are frankly all in the same boat. At the end of the day, you're judging someone on something--whether it's their ********, lack of curves, too many curves, or crooked teeth... OR one's $3,000 borelli jacket vs another's $10 old navy t-shirt. Is it fair? No. Is anything? Duh.

 

[dusty]

Yes, people are judged by their appearances (!!). No, buying a nice shirt is not the same thing as a voluntary medical procedure. Don't interpret my distaste for a single unreasonable standard as a condemnation of all such judgments.

 

[The Snob]

As I've said, in our blessed land of fluoride-enriched water, such a standard is in no way unreasonable and as common as any other judgment based on appearance... especially since teeth are pretty much part of the whole facial package of attractiveness. An ugly face wouldn't get your number and while it's true an ugly face DOESNT have to go under the knife for optional surgery, the same is true of the teeth. So just as you would ignore that chick with the fugly face who chose not to go under the knife, I'd ignore that dude with the jacked up grill (obviously, there are varying levels of jacked-upness and in my original example, said date's teeth were a 3/10) as that contributes to the ENTIRE FACE.

There's a reason ppl are embarrassed to have bad teeth in adulthood--it's not part of our normative standards of beauty. No need for you to get on the offensive about this common standard unless you feel personally under attack because of bad teeth--in which case, there's always invisalign. Just sayin'

 

[dusty]

Originally Posted by The Snob

There's a reason ppl are embarrassed to have bad teeth in adulthood--it's not part of our normative standards of beauty. No need for you to get on the offensive about this common standard unless you feel personally under attack because of bad teeth--in which case, there's always invisalign. Just sayin'
I like how the implicit suggestion throughout all of your argument is that the only reason I should be annoyed at this is if I have crooked teeth myself. Also, I would ignore any chick that did go under the knife, at my age at least.

 

[Connemara]

The middle teeth on my bottom row have started to crowd over the past couple of years (thanks to a crappy orthodontist and wisdom teeth). I'm probably going to get Invisalign or something similar in the future.