To Avoid ‘Metal-Mouthed’ Teen Years, Braces Come Early

Tuesday, 16 November 2010 | by Pat's Picks

Question: if you still get visits from the Tooth Fairy, it’s safe to assume you’re too young for braces, right? Nope. The Wall Street Journal says the number of kids under the age of 17 who get braces has grown by almost 50 percent in the last decade.

Dentists say in many cases, parents are trying to spare their kids from going through what they did—teenage years full of “metal-mouth” hardship. But most of the time fixing an orthodontia problem early on doesn’t guarantee that it will stay fixed once a child’s adult teeth come in.