Noel Kelly Norris decided to try orthodontics after her son, Drew, got his second set. (Photo by Sarah Der)
Alex Thomson feels like he lucked out to be straightening his teeth during the pandemic. As a business analyst for Capital One, he’s been working from home, so there’s no audience around to be grossed out when he removes the plastic aligners before each meal, and he doesn’t have to go to an office bathroom to brush afterward.
“It’s much easier to have orthodontic treatment while working from home and on Zoom,” Thomson says. “When I first got it in January 2020, I was self-conscious and thought people could hear my lisp, but they really can’t. I’ve been doing video calls instead of meeting in person, so it’s easier to blend in. I think no one can really tell.”
Thomson, 32, never had braces as a teen because they weren’t warranted then, but he decided to get them in adulthood to improve his appearance. His wife, Liz, had clear braces when they were dating about nine years ago, and his sister, Nicole Laudon, a dental hygienist, had been dropping hints that he should do something about his once crooked, crowded teeth with a crossbite on the side.
“It’s more of a vanity thing,” says Thomson, who is nearly done with his treatment. “And the pandemic has turned out to be the best time for this.”
Over the past decade, it’s been increasingly common to see adults with orthodontia, and the unique COVID-19 pandemic lifestyle has made straightening teeth easier for many.
Dr. Larry Scarborough says there's been an uptick in adults seeking orthodontic treatment. (Photo by Jay Paul)
Dr. Larry Scarborough, owner and operator of James River Orthodontics, has seen an increase in adults seeking orthodontic treatment over the past decade, and those numbers have risen in recent years. The pandemic also played a part as people stayed home to comply with safety restrictions.
“People have more time and resources to take care of themselves since they weren’t spending their money traveling or eating out,” Scarborough says.
Dr. Sheldon Bates, Thomson’s orthodontist, says he’s treated more adults in the past year, a phenomenon that he attributes to what he calls the “Zoom Effect.”
“Everyone is working remotely,” he says. “We see pictures of ourselves talking on the computer screen. We are seeing ourselves more than ever over the course of a day. And people are saying, ‘Gosh, every time I log on to Zoom, I can’t stop looking at my teeth.’ Being home or being behind a mask made getting orthodontia a lot easier.”
There are other factors peculiar to the pandemic that have contributed to so many more adults pursuing orthodontic treatment, including the availability of extra cash from stimulus funds or savings from not going out or not traveling this year that people have spent on self-improvement.
Bates shut his three Bates Orthodontics locations from March 16 to May 1, 2020, but this year, he says, he has seen almost a 40% increase in adult patients compared with 2020.
Adults Overtaking Teens
Dr. Richard M. Marcus (Photo by Sarah Der)
It’s a trend noted by Dr. Richard M. Marcus, an orthodontist with Virginia Family Dentistry. Patient statistics at the practice’s multiple locations confirm that. At one office, adults made up 70% of the patient load, far outnumbering minors.
At Virginia Family Dentistry’s Three Chopt Road location, adults make up 60% of the patients seeking straighter teeth. The change has been decades in the making but is especially apparent now. “People are investing in themselves,” Marcus says. “People are at home working on Zoom. They see themselves and are asking, ‘Do I look like that? I don’t like my teeth and the way they look.’ ”
One of Marcus’ patients, Noel Kelly Norris, is getting her teeth straightened at the same time as her 15-year-old son is on his second set of braces. Norris, 53, says she put off straightening her teeth for years. While in high school, she became aware that her teeth didn't look like everybody else's. She felt that a tooth pushed behind others prevented her from having a pretty smile. “When I went off to college and then after, it still was something that bothered me,” she says.
After she got divorced about seven years ago, with one son already through braces, she felt it was her time to start straightening her own teeth. She liked Dr. Marcus, whom her kids were seeing at Virginia Family Dentistry, and she had insurance coverage to pay for half the cost of orthodontics. She felt the out-of-pocket cost of $2,500 was reasonable and began treatment.
“I'm in a lot of meetings, and I do presentations with leadership of hospitals and large group practices,” she says. “I just wanted to feel better about my smile and not be so self-conscious of my teeth when I was doing presentations and speaking, and I just felt like it added to having a great smile. I feel more confident for sure, knowing that my teeth are almost perfect. It definitely was a confidence booster.”
Going through orthodontic treatment at the same time as her son has brought them closer together in a somewhat funny way where they can both commiserate about the discomfort. “I know I can relate,” she says. “I can understand why he needs to not eat certain things or what he is going through when he says, ‘My jaw hurts.’ I think it probably makes me a little bit more understanding of what he's been going through.”
Invisalign products have proved popular with adults. (Photo by Jay Paul)
Straight Talk
Dr. Steven Lindauer, chair of the Virginia Commonwealth University Department of Orthodontics, says studies show that adults who straighten their teeth do so to improve their self-esteem and looks, and that the dental work will improve others’ perceptions of them. Men are the fastest-growing sector choosing orthodontics, Lindauer says, and 40% of the patients who come into the VCU practice to get their teeth straightened are adults. Lindauer attributes that percentage to VCU’s location near businesses downtown and the clinic’s lower cost of treatment.
Lindauer, who is also editor of the journal The Angle Orthodontist, attributes the growth in adults seeking orthodontics to the creation of Invisalign and other removable liners in 1999, along with other changes in orthodontic treatment that don’t make an adult look like an awkward teenager with a mouth full of metal. “Personally, from the orthodontist’s standpoint, I like the control and prefer braces, but there’s not much time difference between the two methods,” Lindauer says.
He added that for any age, it’s crucial for orthodontics to be professionally monitored if you want successful results. He urged people to be cautious if they are considering a do-it-yourself treatment that some companies offer by mail where teeth are simply scanned.
Adults who pursue orthodontic treatment need to be aware that the service is considered elective by many insurance providers, and costs vary. At VCU’s orthodontic clinic, the service is $5,000; in private practices, orthodontics can cost $6,000 to $9,000, and insurance may only cover $1,500 to $2,500 of that expense.
Lindauer says the key reasons adults pursue orthodontic treatment are self-improvement, satisfaction or ambition. He cites decades-old studies demonstrating that people with straighter teeth are thought to rank higher in social hierarchies. A more recent study of people who worked at employment agencies showed that they judged people with straighter teeth as having made better impressions.
“The essence of orthodontics practices is to improve lives,” Lindauer says. “Adults are happier when they get their appliance off their teeth because the treatment is over, but also because it also looks better when it’s done.”
