Contact Admin. These are external links and will open in a new window. Once seen as a treatment for teenagers, more and more adults are now wearing braces. Orthodontists say grown-ups are flocking through their doors for teeth-straightening despite it often costing thousands and taking months or years to complete. So what's motivating people to chase the perfect smile?
According to the British Orthodontic Society BOS , three quarters of their members say they're seeing more grown-ups coming through their doors. Amid the rush to keep pace with demand, many have been expanding and buying new equipment - a trend that saw Barclays bank almost double its loans to dentists in two years. Some say the gleaming smiles seen on Instagram feeds and reality TV shows are behind the rise, while others say it's just become more socially acceptable for adults to wear them.
She had just given birth for the second time, and wanted to focus on herself after "being a mum all the time". She said she first visited an orthodontist aged 14, but was scared off when told she would need a head brace. Aged 19, she returned, having grown in self-confidence, but discovered that, in most cases, treatment is not covered by the NHS for overs. Lucy, from Torquay, Devon, said watching a wave of flawless selfies scroll across her Instagram feed helped to persuade her to take the plunge.
Now 29 and a mum-of-four she gave birth to twins shortly before the braces were removed in October Lucy said she was "a lot more confident now". I'm a lot more confident now.
It's in all aspects of my life. In an interview, or something like that, it makes me confident. It helped that celebrities such as presenter Fearne Cotton, who posted about her own braces in , had "made it more cool" she said. The self-employed childminder, from Maidstone in Kent, is part-way through a six-month treatment.
