Braces (on teeth)

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Often I read or hear about kids that had a brace were the ''class geeks'' at school. But when I was at secondary school (in the early 2000's), having a brace became a trend, and you was not looked down upon or ridiculed at all. In fact fewer kids didn't have braces than did. I was never popular at school, but as soon as I got my brace fitted when I was 12, I got a crowd of kids from my class gathering round me admiring my braces and showing me their's and comparing colours of the ''train-track'' and so on. Having a brace made me feel one of them.

But when I read about kids with braces in magazines and in films, it always implies that they are the geeky types of kids - even in more modern books and films. Are people in the UK more tolerant of things like braces? Was having a brace ever considered ''cool'' in other countries?

When I was in school, braces on teeth were relatively uncommon. There were a few, but not many in my grade.

Braces were fairly common when I was a teen and it wasn't considered geeky.

In the 1970s, when I had braces, I was called "railroad tracks." It was considered quite nerdy.

I also wore horn-rimmed glasses, and was fat to boot--not a very popular kid when I was 13.

Wow, I don't know how it would have affected me socially - I was a complete "nobody" amongst my peers at school.

One of my front teeth overlaps the other, and I really wanted braces (thinking maybe my teeth were the cause of my unpopularity).

However, the dentist said it would cost $2000, which in 2014 dollars would be over $12,000. Money was tight in our family and so, it was not to be.

I wonder if braces might have been perceived as a status symbol because of the cost? Or, the lack of braces might have been an indication of "poverty" in our neighborhood. We lived in an upper-middle-class suburb where my family definitely was in the bottom 10% income-wise.

Where I went to school, my nerdy, OCD-like friend had braces and he was never bullied not even once. Then again, I have no idea what people bully anyway: I was tall and skinny and was mercilessly teased for that so why knows?

i think braces can have the potential to look quite stylish. and cute.
for 3 and a half years i had clear ceramic braces, tat some people did hardly notice. i also wore glasses and dressed pretty, um badly.

i'm a teen, i see some people that say they actually want braces for the aesthetics only, but they seem to be in the minority. the removal of braces is made to be a super big deal. i have not seen or heard once of locals being bullied for braces, or crutches or wheelchairs or anything like that.