Old-school metal braces are making a comeback: 'They're so endearing looking'

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Ask Laura Kissinger to smile, and she’ll do so happily. Broadly. Widely. Proudly displaying the metal brackets adorning her incisors, molars and canines.

“I’m not embarrassed!” said Kissinger, 47, a bartender in Sierra Vista, Arizona. “People come up to me on the street and they’re like, ‘I love your braces!’ I smile way more now.”

Kissinger’s metamorphosis into a bold brace face began two years ago, when she visited Brian Decker, an orthodontist with three offices in the Tucson area. Decker gave her options for fixing the spaces between her teeth: Ceramic or clear brackets, or a transparent aligner such as Invisalign? Kissinger wasn’t interested. The former were too expensive and could stain easily. As for the latter, Kissinger didn’t trust herself not to accidentally toss the plastic trays into the garbage.

What she really wanted – what she’d always wanted, ever since she was a kid unable to afford orthodonture – were the old-fashioned “electric can openers” sported by Marcia Brady in a particularly painful episode of the “Brady Bunch,” Drew Barrymore (a.k.a. Josie Grossie) in “Never Been Kissed,” and America Ferrera in “Ugly Betty.”

“They’re so endearing looking,” said Kissinger. “I don’t want them to come off.”

Orthodontists are noticing a rise in interest in the uncool oral train tracks of yore among Gen Z hipsters and adults who have no qualms about broadcasting their perceived imperfections. On the contrary, enthusiasts say, they show that the wearers care about their appearance and can afford to invest in themselves.

“When my practice started, kids and adults didn’t want braces,” said Decker, who has been receiving requests for metal braces over the past five years. “Now, little girls beg us for them. It’s more of a fashion symbol. Many middle-aged females like having braces now, as it adds a sort of youthful or innocent look. I can think of a couple of patients who were begging me not to take them off, and I’m like ‘You’re done, it’s been three years!'”

Richard Schechtman, an orthodontist in Santa Maria, California, has seen an uptick in the number of his patients in their 20s and 30s opt for metal braces. “I started noticing this a year ago but thought it was just a few of my patients,” he says. Out of curiosity, he put a query in a Facebook group he belonged to with orthodontists nationwide. They all reported seeing a similar trend among their patients. “Braces were associated with the stereotypical shame of appearance, but it’s much different today,” he said.

Happy wearers credit the trend to influencers and models such as Abbey Clancey, Charlie James and Kitty Hayes, whose metal smile graced the cover of Carine Roitfeld’s CR Fashion Book in 2015. More recently, rapper and singer Lil Uzi Vert broadcast his braces, along with his orthodontist, Cassandra Pinkerous, on Instagram.

“No shade to Invisalign, but it’s kind of boring to me,” said Francis Alvarez, a dental assistant in Brooklyn. Alvarez, 24, had a bad overbite, spaces between his teeth and a lower jaw that jutted out farther than the upper. He appreciated Lil Uzi Vert’s “using braces as a form of expression and individuality,” and chose them for himself, decorating them with colored rubber bands – green for St. Patrick’s Day, rainbow colors for Pride.

“I get that Invisalign is for individuals who are shy about showing others that they are working on themselves, but I’m not timid.” he said. “I’m bold, loud and proud about my own journey of improvement and individuality.”

For Alvarez and others, metal braces are both a status symbol – they are often not covered by insurance, and can range in price from $3,000 to $10,000 – and a desirable accessory. While serving an orthodontic purpose, they allow wearers to express their individuality with colorful rubber bands or “ties,” crystals or jewels. (“I have no issues with them doing that as long as they run it by us first – like bring them into the office so we can make sure it’s not in the wrong spot,” Decker says of adding embellishments to braces.)

The proliferation of fake or fashion braces that can be purchased online attests to the appeal of the real thing. But fakes can be dangerous. A May 2024 report from the American Association of Orthodontists notes that the devices can cause infections, poisoning, choking, oral cuts, tooth damage or misalignment.

Decker speculates that many people are becoming more aware of the downsides of aligners, especially the necessity of wearing them 22 hours a day. “Most people know somebody who has gone through it and for it took forever or they didn’t get the results they wanted,” he said. “We have more control and precision to move teeth with braces than with plastic, even when patient compliance is perfect, which it rarely is.”

Javier Hurtado, 26, and his girlfriend, Julia Nolan, 24, forestry aides in San Luis Obispo, California, simply didn’t like the way aligners looked. “I have wanted metal braces since I was in middle school,” said Nolan. “I used to have a big gap in my two front teeth that I was insecure about, and I knew I always wanted braces. I thought metal looked cool.”

Kissinger isn’t sure when her braces will come off. Soon, she suspects, which she’s not looking forward to. She’s considering asking her dentist whether she can keep them as a souvenir. “I’m worried that I’m kind of ending my time,” she said. “I’m not in a rush.”