WITH THE POPULARITY of the Kylie Jenner lip challenge and the like, it’s not hard to believe that teens would start to do something as ludicrous as fashioning their own braces.
A new trend which involves making braces out of floss has been silently sweeping over the internet and it looks bizarre and painful.
Eh, wtf is that?
The method seems to originate back to some tutorials, posted back in Autumn 2012. It shows a young girl demonstrating a way to make braces using floss.
It looks painful as HELL.
The method basically involves tying your teeth together as hard as you can and leaving it there. Doesn’t sound ideal. The easy and cheap tags have been selling it for teens though.
How did it all begin?
The trend has been getting a lot of media attention lately, but it’s by no means new.
Teens have been posting the videos as far back as three years ago, but it’s only taking off as a ‘trend’ now.
BUT WHY?
It’s easy to sit back and judge, but take yourself back to when you were a teen. If you had crooked teeth and no braces, you were most likely self conscious. If you had braces, you were still insecure. Now imagine you didn’t even have the choice to get braces due to financial constraints, you might just be tempted and impressionable enough to try this out.
Does it even work?
In one specific video, YouTuber JamilaCouture claims the elastics closed up a gap in her two front teeth after using the method that cost just under five euro.
She used the elastics for 44 days and claimed the dentist had said her teeth looked really healthy after she went for a check up.
Ok so what’s the problem?
Dentists have been warning teens that there are BIG health consequences with DIY braces, stating that they can cause tooth decay, root damage, and even tooth loss.
Two teens in Thailand even died from the trend after they developed infections.
Experts told Refinery29:
It seems very attractive that you could possibly move your own teeth, but when you move a tooth, the color of the tooth might change because you are damaging the blood supply.
You’re also going to have problems with your gums.
When the gums are subject to pressure, the blood supply is cut, which changes the shape of the gums and can cause severe inflammation and infection.
The American Association of Orthodontists also warned that damage done using this method could cost way more to repair than simply getting braces.
They explain:
Most of the time, there are no problems, but if the rubber band slides into the soft tissues, it is difficult if not impossible to retrieve it, and it continues along the distal surface of the roots, destroying the periodontal attachment and producing inflammation.
In conclusion, don’t do it.
