While that girl may appears to have actually needed braces, they are still basically the ritalin of my generation. Something like 2/3 of my 7th grade class had them, and now as adults the same 2/3 all have issues with cavities and their jaw mechanics. You may need root canals in your 20s but at least no one will ever see you smile with your front teeth two millimeters out of alignment!

Your friends with dental problems as children also had dental problems as adults... I don't think that's as ironic as you're making it out to be.

but yeah we do put a lot of resources and pain into something that's largely cosmetic for most people

It could be coincidence, but I think you can at least propose that being unable to brush properly for two years and having torque placed on your jaw to realign it lead to problems with cavities and your jaw down the road. If it's something that gives you problems with chewing or whatever, it might be worth it, but otherwise it seems like we're causing a lot of bullshit for little gain.

We were mean to the kids who had fucked up teeth without braces too. You really can't win when your 11 years old.

Of course, of course... I didn't mean to imply the therapy would be needed solely due to the braces. Years of being ridiculed for having fucked up teeth was definitely considered. As was the trauma suffered when she realized that even with straight teeth she was still going to be rejected by the cool kids. And then there was that uncle with intimacy issues, but now we're getting away from the teeth, which is our focus here today.

This is that time lapse. In the beginning she's happy and innocent, at the end she tries out 4 different smiles to see which one seems the least fake.

I never saw "will it blend" as the empowering anti-dental-care series that it is until now.