The Trials, Joys, and Tribulations of Braces

The before and after of having braces. Photo: Nicole Salykine

By DANIELLA STAVIN, ASHLEY MOMBRUN, and DANIEL KALININ

“Say Cheese!” can be one of the most uncomfortable phrases to hear for anyone with insecurities about their teeth. So every year, millions of people in the U.S. make appointments with their local orthodontist and come home wearing the shiny metal contraption called braces.

Braces work by constantly pulling on your teeth using wires and brackets to slowly but surely move them into the right position. They have no age limit, but you will most commonly see a brace face amongst teenagers. From constant toothaches, gum pains, loose brackets, and more, braces can cause complete chaos at times. In the end, however, this unpleasant experience turns into something worthwhile.  

First comes the diagnosis. Common problems that can be fixed by braces are overcrowding or too much spacing between teeth, overbites or underbites, and even a misaligned jaw.

Junior Haelleca Alcindor said, “I went to the dentist and she noticed a little bit of crowding had started to appear, so she referred me to an orthodontist.” Alcindor was actually “excited” that she had the chance to fix an insecurity of hers, she said.

As expected, having pieces of metal attached to your teeth isn’t particularly comfortable. Due to the sudden change in your mouth, braces not only cause pain, they also alter your daily habits. The first few days can be especially rough.

Alexis Lawrence ‘22 remembers when she first got her braces on. “In the first week, I couldn’t eat anything,” she said. “I felt as if I had no teeth. It even hurt to eat foods that were soft. I was also talking a little weird, like I had a lisp.”

“After a few hours I couldn’t feel my jaw,” said Melanie Krupnik, a sophomore at LaGuardia High School. ”I constantly had to take Tylenol because the pain was unbearable and the swelling wouldn’t go down. It felt like there was something blocking me from opening my mouth.”

The pain diminishes after the first few days, but your orthodontist still waits for you every month to tighten the brace wires for better teeth alignment. In other words, you have to deal with that annoying mouth ache for a few days every single month. This comes with a throbbing sensation when simply biting down, and the need to sacrifice certain delicious foods. You could also have your teeth restricted by tiny rubber bands that link your top and bottom brackets.

“I had a hard time picking things to eat,” said Nicole Salykine, a sophomore. “I could only eat soft foods like mashed potatoes or smoothies without pain.”

Senior Kyle Lavkov downplayed the discomfort. “My friends in middle school would say that getting braces was going to be extremely painful when I’d ask them how it felt,” Lavkov said. “I was really scared at first, but it turns out my friends were exaggerating by a lot. My mouth definitely felt numb for the first few weeks, but as you go, you get used to it and adapt. Periodically though, whenever my braces would get tightened or changed, the numbing would come back for a few days.”

Getting food stuck in your wires is also an issue, and there are some foods that people wearing braces are not allowed to eat at all. Junior Amanda Quinones said, “When someone used to offer me gum, I would hear my orthodontist telling me ‘gum is off the table,’ and it kinda sucked, because you're tempted to take one.”

Besides pain, random bracket “injuries” happen more than you would think. Whether it’s from getting hit in the face with a basketball or from simply biting into an apple, the chance of a broken bracket is pretty common. 

“I was eating a carrot for lunch and felt something sharp in my throat,” said Ilan Podolski, a junior at Brooklyn Tech. “I touched my teeth and realized a bracket was missing.”

Zoelle Stepenkovsky, a junior at Goldstein High School, said, “It’s so annoying. Something randomly ends up breaking and then I have to make another inconvenient appointment with the orthodontist.”

The wires that run through the brackets can also be problematic. At times, they end up sticking out and poking your cheeks. 

“One time I was taking something out of my backpack in school and my loose wire got caught at the side of my bag,” Salykine laughed. “It was a scary experience, but I was able to detach it from my mouth.”

One alternative to the wires and brackets model is Invisalign, which is like wearing a clear, plastic, removable glove over your teeth.

Tyler Bravo, a sophomore who’s had Invisalign for nearly two years, is happy with his choice. “I’m totally cool with Invisalign,” he said. “It’s super comfortable once you get used to it. Was I mortified getting my first set? Yes. Was it a lot less painful than I imagined it would be? Yes. Does my jaw look weirdly enlarged when I put on my sets? Yes.”

However, the ability to remove Invisalign can also be a curse. “I sometimes forget to put them back on after I eat or before I go to sleep,” Bravo said, “So pretty much, it’s easy to mess up the whole process of fixing your teeth.”

And just because there’s no metal and wires with Invisalign doesn’t mean there’s no pain.

“I had a new set every two weeks,” Bravo said, “meaning every two weeks my teeth had fun being in pain. I probably looked ridiculous doing this, but when I’d wake up after putting on my new set the night before, I’d just aggressively open and close my mouth, and that eased the pain.”

However, through all the pain, soreness, and simple discomfort, braces end up creating an aesthetically pleasing picture-perfect smile. Through the art of braces, teens and adults are able to improve their self esteem and their appearance. 

Krupnik said, “Before braces, I refused to smile in pictures and always felt super insecure about the wide gaps in my teeth. My confidence has changed drastically after braces.”

It took Quinones time to get used to her new smile, she said, but her teeth “definitely look a million times better” than before. 

Aligning your teeth can take from six months to two years, and sometimes even longer. To junior Gabrielle Beauvais, it was worth it. “I was a bit shocked at how straight my teeth were,” she said. “I was also excited to see my teeth without braces for the first time in 3-4 years.”

Lavkov has been wearing his for four years. “I would’ve asked to get Invisalign if I’d known about it,” he said. “Once in a while, my braces would end up scraping against one of my teeth and leaving a little mark, which obviously sucks. Invisalign is harder to spot, so it kind of makes you look more natural. It’s definitely not invisible like some ads say, but it stands out a lot less compared to braces.” Lavkov plans on getting his braces off by this summer, which he said will “free his teeth from a four-year sentence.”

“I probably recommend people to get them,” Bravo said. “I mean there’s no reason not to get braces if you need them. Yeah, I’ve been in pain for a few years, but I just keep telling myself that I’ll end up looking like Daniel Riccardo in his prime once my teeth get all fixed up, and that’s basically my motivation to keep on going. The only thing I have is a minor overbite, but if there’s something to fix then I might as well just fix it.”

But don’t get too excited just yet. To maintain your brand new “Hollywood” smile means wearing your retainer every night while you sleep. Retainers, which are removable, hug the roof of your mouth to keep your teeth from shifting. 

“If there is one thing I would suggest to anyone getting braces, it would be to remember to wear your retainer,” said Anastasia Erokhina, a junior in PPAS High School. “I sadly didn’t and had to get braces all over again. The process is worth it, but it’s horrible going through it again.”

Although the orthodontic process is painful, annoying, and expensive, braces not only provide you with a beautiful smile but also a boost in your confidence. Besides, pain is temporary, and perfect teeth are forever... well, unless you forget to wear your retainer.