NEWS STORY: Brace Yourself

James Hill, a cyclotron engineer in Spokane, was driving his car and “chomping on nuts” when his tooth fell apart in his mouth.

He pulled over. A fast call to his dentist’s office secured an emergency appointment, where he learned a wisdom tooth that emerged when Hill was 37 had put so much pressure on another tooth that the tooth died and decayed. A hard nut was the last straw, and the tooth shattered.

OK, Hill said, long frustrated with overcrowding. It’s time to get the teeth fixed.

Now 41, he sports a full set of metal brackets that are uncrowding his teeth and moving them into alignment, including his protruding canines – as a kid, he said, people called him the “dude with the fangs.”

Hill is not alone as an adult with braces. Formerly the realm of adolescents whose parents could foot the bill, the orthodontist’s chair has seated a growing number of adults in recent years who can finally afford braces themselves – and who’ve found the hardware is more comfortable and less visible than it used to be.

Read the full article here: Brace Yourself