Why are my braces still on? A short skit with 5 Questions!

Those of you who have been in braces at our office may have experienced my “Are your teeth straight” stand-up comedy  act!  It goes something like this:

Q. Are your teeth straight?          (I never ask this question unless they really are pretty much straight!)
              A.  Yes they are…(sometimes we have to give the patient a mirror to look at their own teeth)

Q. So if your teeth are straight?: “Why are your braces still on?”

              A. Because my “bite” is off (sometimes we have to explain to our patients that you can have straight upper and lower arches but still have some type of overbite, overjet, openbite, etc.)

Q. So what do you think fixes your “bite”?

              A. Rubber bands!

Q. What happens if you do not wear your rubber bands as we instructed?

             A. My bite will not get fix and MY BRACES WILL NOT COME OFF.

Q. So who is in charge of how much longer the braces are on?

             A. You… the patient, is in charge, not the doctor, not your parents!

Crooked teeth all the rage in Japan

Hope this trend doesn't hit the US!

Pravda.Ru

We all know that people wear braces to make their teeth straight and their smile perfect. However, it is all different in Japan. Crooked teeth are considered beautiful in the Asian country.

The fashion trend, known as tseuke-yaeba, is currently at the height of fashion in the island nation. Young women do not hesitate to spare a few hundred dollars to "fix" their straight teeth.

Japanese dentists started to offer such procedures in 2011. However, tseuke-yaeba became highly popular just a short while ago, after members of local pop band TYB48 began to flaunt their imperfect smiles, says Shine.

The founder of the band is Taro Masuoka, a dentist, who was the first to deform the teeth of his patients. "My patients follow fashion and are very nice. I wanted to take the most of it, and I created TYB48," says the doctor. Masuoka adds that protruding teeth give a special charm to his client, while men consider such smiles especially attractive.