‘Fashion braces’ rising among young people as hot new accessory
Middle schoolers used to fight tooth and nail to remove their braces — metal fixtures synonymous with the gangly awkwardness of tweenage-hood.
Now, despite the clunky metal inspiring Invisalign innovation, the once-dreaded dental work is a sought-after ornamentation.
“I get around 15 to 20 direct messages from people a day, asking me where they can get them,” 18-year-old Chelsey Ochulo, who posts faux braces tutorials on TikTok, told the Wall Street Journal.
After all, geek is chic — specs, specifically thin-framed Bayonetta glasses, are the hottest red carpet accessory of late. Now, braces-flaunting celebrities like musician Coi Leray are inspiring fashionistas to adopt the fake metal into their accessory arsenal.
Dubbed “fashion braces,” the faux orthodontic wires are sold online at vendors like Etsy and Amazon or through individual businesses like V’Adorned, a site run by 23-year-old Favour Egwu. In her city of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, people wear braces to “show off” wealth since dental work is a rare luxury, she told the Journal.
Egwu also sells grills and tooth gems — another buzzy dental accessory — but began offering fashion braces last year, which she says are popular among customers who want a nontraditional addition to their pearly whites.
Meanwhile, Georgia-based Kayo Odom sells fashion braces for $55 on her Etsy storefront Shimmer Smiles, where she markets them as a way to get “the nostalgic look of braces without the hassle.” Customer reviews rave about her DIY kits, saying they “love them” and received “so many compliments at school.”
Odom told the Journal that her customer base is “mostly women between 18 or 30 years old who often either can’t afford braces or who want them for a short period of time,” and many are repeat patrons. North Carolina resident Nina Samuels, for one, purchased the fake braces after seeing a college classmate sporting them.
“I know it’s probably weird for a 31-year-old to purchase [fashion] braces,” Samuels told the Journal, “but I’ve always been a colorful outcast.”
But having a brace face comes with a price.
While true orthodontic work costs a pretty penny, affixing fashion braces to your pearly whites can pose a serious health risk.
Such products are not made, sold or glued on by licensed professionals, and, according to a blog post from Colgate, they could contain dangerous heavy metals, result in tooth decay and mouth sores or even cause choking should the appliance come loose.
In fact, fake braces have been banned in certain countries, such as Thailand. Amid the fashion braces trend in the 2010s, per the Journal, two teens died due to infections from faux braces.
NYC orthodontist Dr. Sable Staller told the Journal she “wouldn’t recommend this to anyone,” adding that once the faux braces are cured to your chompers, the teeth will want to move naturally.
“Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should,” said Staller, who attributes the popularity of the dental appliances to a larger Gen Z shift to show off imperfections, pointing to pimple patches.
“Thanks to social media and access to information online, many people are realizing that a lot of ‘embarrassing’ things aren’t so embarrassing after all,” she said.
