“Fashion braces” are on the rise among young people as a hot new accessory

Fashion and beauty

Of Brooke Kato

Middle schoolers used to fight tooth and nail to get their braces out – metal fixtures synonymous with the raucous awkwardness of adolescence.

Now, despite the Invisalign innovation that inspired heavy metal, the once-dreaded dental work is a sought-after adornment.

“I get about 15 to 20 direct messages from people a day asking me where they can get them,” Chelsey Ochulo, 18, who posts tutorials on TikTok, told the Wall Street Journal.

After all, geek is chic — the specs, especially Bayonetta’s thin-rimmed glasses, are the hottest red carpet accessory of late. Now, braces-wearing celebrities like musician Coi Leray are inspiring fashionistas to adopt the faux metal into their accessory arsenal.

Called “fashion braces,” the fake braces are sold online at vendors like Etsy and Amazon or through individual companies like V’Adorned, a site run by 23-year-old Favor Egwu. In her city of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, people wear braces to “show off” wealth because dental work is a rare luxury, she told the Journal.

Egwu also sells teeth grills and gems — another popular dental accessory — but started offering trendy braces last year, which she says are popular with customers who want a non-traditional addition to pearly whites.

Meanwhile, Georgia-based Kayo Odom sells trendy braces for $55 on her Etsy store 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 the ages of 18 and 30, who often either can’t afford braces or want them for a short period of time,” and many are repeat patrons . North Carolina resident Nina Samuels bought the fake braces after seeing a college classmate wearing them.

“I know it’s probably weird for a 31-year-old to buy (trendy) braces,” Samuels told the Journal, “but I’ve always been a colorful pariah.”

But having a braces face comes at a price.

While real orthodontic work costs a penny, putting trendy braces on your pearly whites can pose a serious health risk.

Such products are not manufactured, sold or affixed by licensed professionals, and according to a Colgate blog post, they can contain dangerous heavy metals, lead to cavities and mouth sores, or even cause choking if the appliance comes loose .

In fact, fake braces have been banned in some countries, such as Thailand. Amid the fashion trend in the 2010s, according to the Journal, two teenagers died from infections caused by dentures.

New York orthodontist Dr. Sable Staller told the Journal he “wouldn’t recommend it to anyone,” adding that once the braces are healed, the teeth will want to move naturally.

“Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should,” said Staller, who attributes the popularity of braces to a greater Gen Z shift to highlight imperfections by showing pockmarks.

“Thanks to social media and access to information online, many people are realizing that many ’embarrassing’ things are not so embarrassing after all,” she said.