Brace-ing Reality

I don't have straight teeth. I have a massive overbite, and both my top and bottom teeth are misaligned.

I've always struggled with my "teeth" since middle school and honestly, it's still one of those lingering thoughts I have. Thought being should I get braces?

From early middle school to high school, I've always been ashamed of my teeth and thought they were ugly. I begged my parents to let me get braces, but my parents refused. My mother claims that it gives me personality and uniqueness. (If you know me in person, you know that I am oozing uniqueness from my pores; I do not need anymore than I have now.) But back to my story I was embarrassed of my smile. Even Shrek had a better smile. I never laughed without covering my mouth and I tried my best not to smile. You can look at all my pictures during my teen years and you will hardly find a teethy grin from me.

As I progressed into college, I found strategic ways to cover my crooked teeth. I knew what angles to position my face, and became aware of how my lips moved when I spoke. I was comfortable with this and some of the time, you wouldn't even notice my crooked teeth if I were to put effort into it. This would work in person and in pictures but not in video. Therefore, I just told people I was video shy and tried to avoid videos as much as possible. Even though I was able to somewhat mask it, I knew that I still wanted braces eventually and that once I would be able to afford it myself I would get some.

After College, I went to a bunch of consultations. Standard braces would be around $4,000 and I would have to wear them for 2 years. I was now 23 and working in the real world. I didn't know if I wanted to make that commitment - braces until I turn 25. Were straight teeth really worth $4,000?

Even though I suffered low self-esteem during middle school and high school, I had another factor that was a median in my decision. It was a boy. A boy I thought was really hot. We will call him Mr. hot boy. I will get to the boy in a few more sentences, but I have to give you some context first.
In the past, I had gotten different comments about my teeth. Some more rude than others, but about 80% of them tell me that I should go ahead and get braces. Straight teeth is the norm in the US; it's even considered a 'must' - such as getting your wisdom teeth removed.

Anytime someone gave me advice or comments on my teeth, I get incredibly embarrassed about it. However, I didn't get these comments very often as I had mentioned before, I am now a master at hiding my crooked smile. So when I met Mr. Hot boy for the first few times, as anyone would - I tried to mask my 'uniqueness' as much as possible. I eventually scored a date with him. (Yay me!) During our first few hangouts, without me referencing my teeth at all, he says to me sincerely, "I think your teeth are really cute. Do you know the singer Jewel? Your teeth kind of look like hers."

That is the moment I ran into my room and cried the night away. I'm kidding. To be honest, I was shocked. I didn't know how to react to that. Didn't Mr. Hot Boy know that everyone bashed Jewel about her messed up teeth? I really liked Mr. Hot Boy from our few times together and this was a big game changer.
It was something I didn't like about me - that he liked! Not "put up with" or "tolerated". This was one of the things he found cute! When I asked him whether or not I should get braces, (months down the road b/c we were together now) he said the choice is up to me.
So I should be happy right? Not quite. Mr. Hot Boy only postponed my decision on braces and boosted my withering self-image to normal. I always have the idea to get my teeth straighten in the back of my mind, and it only mustered up recently.