Go back 20 years or so, and the only people you would see wearing braces and retainers were teenagers with crooked teeth. Hardly any adults bothered wearing them – aside from the odd celebrity here and there who wanted to improve their looks.
Fast forward a couple of decades, though, and the story is different. Now braces are standard cosmetic treatment. And everyone seems to be doing them.
What’s driving these dental industry trends, though? How have we gone from a situation where virtually no adults used braces to one where everyone seems to be doing it?
More Money, Thanks To Lockdown
It might sound strange to say that lockdown allowed people to get more money, but for many people it did.
Think about it. You couldn’t spend on travel or meals out. And you certainly couldn’t go to the cinema. And so people who were earning wondered what else they could spend their hard-earned cash on. Cosmetics, such as dental treatments, were the obvious option. Why not use the time away from the world to improve one’s appearance?
More Options
Metal braces are effective, but they’re not attractive. And that’s what held many people back from using them as adults in the past.
Now, though, there are a plethora of new options on the market, many of which are incredibly discreet.
Take Invisalign, for instance. This system works using a series of clear retainers that fit over the teeth. Every so often, wearers swap out the old retainer for a new one, moving their teeth slightly closer to the ideal position. What’s great about the system from a customer perspective is the fact that you can unclip the retainer whenever you want to reveal your natural teeth.
Another common option is lingual braces. These actually fit on the inside of the teeth. Some people are also using clear and ceramic braces that make them less visible.
Lower Costs
Braces are also coming down in price, especially retainer systems you can order over the internet. In the past, it could cost thousands of dollars to get a brace fitted. But today, there are solutions that are up to 75 percent less costly. For many people, the cost-benefit is worth it.
It’s The Fashion
Once one person starts doing something, it becomes increasingly acceptable for everyone else to follow suit. You see this in the world of fashion all the time. A solitary, daring soul takes a risk, people like it, and then everyone starts doing it en masse.
The same is true of braces. In the beginning, there were only a handful of pioneers. But now adult tooth alignment has become the norm. And orthodontists expect it.
Dentists used to tell people to get braces before they hit forty. But that no longer seems to be a rule. Anyone, except the elderly, can benefit from modern tooth-alignment technology.
Sorting out teeth has arguably never been easier. Even if you have extreme goofiness, you can correct it with the right procedures in a matter of a few months.