“Adults in braces are kind of weird,” says my 16-year-old son. Until recently, I agreed with him. Suspenders have traditionally been the domain of teenagers, a rite of passage akin to having too many drinks at your first music festival. It wasn’t usually the accessory of choice for middle-aged women like me.
But with my 50th birthday fast approaching, I’ve decided I want to ring in a new decade with new teeth. Well, not entirely new. I’m not looking for the blindingly white veneers kind Island of Love contestants. No, what I would like are teeth that are straighter, brighter, and frankly, a little nicer. This is why I currently wear a set of braces on both my top and bottom sets of teeth and pay £2,500 for the privilege.
I am not alone in my quest for a smile upgrade. A study this year by the British Orthodontic Society found that 76 per cent of orthodontists reported an increase in adult patients – both female and male – seeking orthodontic treatment in the past three years. Of these, 83 percent are in the 26-55 age bracket.
“We’ve seen an increase in people wanting better teeth over the last 10 to 15 years,” says orthodontist Dr Pratik Sharma. “One reason has a lot to do with social media and people seeing celebrities with good teeth and thinking ‘why can’t I have teeth like that?’ But what really changed is Covid where so many people were seeing themselves up close on Zoom and they just didn’t like the way their teeth looked. The number of visits that I and other orthodontists have had post-Covid is just ridiculous.”
Another reason for the increase in treatments is the number of teeth straightening options available. These include “invisible” aligners, such as the widely marketed – and celebrity-endorsed – brand Invisalign. These clear, flexible plastic “mouth guards” that gradually move teeth by applying controlled pressure are popular as a discreet alternative to traditional braces.
“One of the biggest drivers of adults towards orthodontics has been the increase in aligner treatments and treatments,” says specialist orthodontist Dr Usman M Qureshi. “However, these are not suitable for everyone and some patients need a fixed device.”
“I started with Invisalign,” says Leanne Waldman, 44, who sought treatment after seeing nothing but her “disordered teeth” when she looked at photos of herself. “But I didn’t do too well with it and ended up going on the train tracks. They were really successful and I’m so glad I did it.”
Today, fixed braces don’t necessarily mean rows of titanium or stainless steel: modern options include clear-colored braces, made of porcelain or ceramic, or even lingual braces that involve placing orthodontic brackets on the inner sides of the teeth.
“It’s now much more acceptable for adults to have orthodontic treatment because you have appliance systems that are much less visible,” says Dr. Sharma.
This is true for celebrities as well as the average mom or dad, and while the A-list is often full of invisible aligners, some do sport braces. Actor Tom Cruise, who is almost as famous for his megawatt smile as he is for his blockbuster movies, had braces in his 40s, flashing them at his movie premiere. Minority report.
My decision to go wired wasn’t all about aesthetics. I spent a few years with a mouth full of metal in my early teens, but a fall in my 20s that included a broken jaw and a few missing teeth put paid to my previously straight smile. Not to mention the other issues that arose from the accident, including a dental bridge that is now in desperate need of replacement. And did I mention that your teeth – like many other body parts in middle age – change and move? These combined factors meant that aligners were not an option for me and instead, I had to go with a full metal jacket.
And so, at the beginning of the year, I began my journey to straighter teeth. Fortunately, I didn’t have to do it alone: my 13-year-old daughter Tess keeps me company.
We both started with braces along our upper teeth in January – she opted for traditional metal braces, while I opted for the more subtle ceramic ones – and had our lower teeth fitted a few months later. My husband found it all very amusing at first, but quickly got used to my new smile.
Now, every six weeks we travel together to our orthodontist appointments and take it in turns to change the tires around the brackets and change the cables. These gradually increase in thickness to help move the teeth into place. After adjustments, we sympathize with foods we find too difficult to eat (whole apples, raw carrots and sourdough bread are out, ice cream is thankfully in) and complain when the brackets rub painfully against our gums. Occasional mishaps do happen, usually when a cable snaps and needs to be replaced. More embarrassing was the time I finished an in-person job interview and then realized a small lunch was in one of my brackets.
I am now halfway through my quest for a brighter, straighter smile. I have a few more months in braces and then I will need two implants to replace the space my dental bridge was taking up. All in all, I’m looking at another six months or so of treatment, the promise of straight white teeth on the horizon. Just in time for my 50th birthday.
