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Notes -
Does your position on the acceptability of braces/orthodontics for children differ from that for any of the following: eyelid surgery, nose job, lip filler, v-line jaw surgery? If so, why? (For purposes of this question assume that there are not medical indications for any of the above. I.e., consider only purely cosmetic cases, ignoring those in which braces may significantly improve chewing or where nose jobs may improve airflow, etc.
If we're only talking about braces: Significantly lower risk, less invasive, in theory much easier to reverse - you could just pull teeth out of alignment again if you wanted to, to the locations they where before if you made imprints/photos. In my mind, braces are much closer to resistance training (or daily wearing a weighted vest and ankle weights) than they are to surgery.
And besides the obvious non-cosmetic benefits of aligned teeth (which we're going to ignore as instructed), there's also the mostly-cosmetic benefit of tooth prosthetics and veneers fitting much better/easier onto an aligned set of teeth, allowing them to be thinner, cheaper and being seated more securely on the jaws. Just in case they're needed in old age...
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It does. It seems orthodontics are less invasive than those options, though I acknowledge that it might just be familiarity bias.
My dentist says they make it easier to brush, floss etc, but not sure how much I believe her.
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