Those with braces, do you care what color the bands are?

[Anonymous]

A couple weeks ago DD and I were at the ortho for the regular wire adjustment and band replacement. A girl about 13 was next to us and was finished. She left and came back 10 mins later because her Mom was upset she'd picked pink bands because Grandparents Day was coming up in her school. The tech was very gracious and changed them out to clear, but I was thinking that was one of the more ridiculous things I'd heard. Do people really care what color the rubber band is that goes around your bracket? If so, why? I mean you already have a lot of stuff in your mouth with braces. Sometimes I think I'm a little cavalier about stuff but it has seriously never crossed my mind to care. Just curios.

[Anonymous]

Nope, don't care. Consider this to be one of those battles I choose not to have.

[Anonymous]

No way! The kid is stuck with braces, let them have some fun with them!

[Anonymous]

Who knows what would have happened to the grandparents if they had seen their granddaughter with pink rubber bands on her braces? Why take that risk?

Just kidding. People are weird. The next time my DCs tell me that I care too much about something they consider unimportant, I'll tell them this story.

[Anonymous]

Of course not. I let them pick whatever color they want.

[Anonymous]

I don't care... but I also won't condemn the other mom without knowing her situation. At first I thought, "What a control freak!" But then I thought, "Well, what if she's from a very conservative culture and her grandparents are flying over from another country so she's stressed out about everything being perfect?" or "What if they're having family portraits done and mom usually lets her get whatever color she wants, but this time she explicitly told her no colors - and the DD disobeyed?"

So... of course I'm going to say "No way, I pick my battles," but then I can also think of some times that might be a battle I would pick.

[Anonymous]

My kids got to choose their own colors.

[Anonymous]

This can't be worth it.

Fyi, never choose clear because it stains from food. Gray is the closest to invisible. That said, kid can make any choice. Some things just don't matter.

[Anonymous]

Don't care at all but last time DS was having his bands changed, the mom of the girl in the next chair told the tech "put clear bands on the top (so they wouldn't be seen). The girl was the same age as my son - 13. I figure at that age they should make their own decisions on such a small thing!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No way! The kid is stuck with braces, let them have some fun with them!

+1 I'm in this camp. Let them have a tiny amount of control. I have two boys in braces and they have sampled a variety of band colors. My favorite has been light blue. My least favorite is green which looks like something is stuck in their teeth. Red looks kind of bloody. However, my boys are free to choose any color they'd like, even pink. Obviously, I don't know what that mother's problem was but my guess is that she's a control freak. We all know someone who would do that.

[Anonymous]

What does Grandparents Day have to do with the band colors on braces?

[Anonymous]

I let my kid pick whatever colors she wanted regardless of what was going on in our lives.

[Anonymous]

I don't care what color my kid gets. They're not my braces.

[Anonymous]

It's a non-issue for my braces-wearing teen because she said she doesn't want the colors and hasn't ever asked for them. My daughter thinks the colors just draw more attention to the braces and said she'd rather not do that.

I would think the mom in the original post might have been upset because maybe there were plans to have photos made for some grandparents' day celebration or something like that. We don't know what reason she might have had for not wanting those colored bands on her kid at that particular time. For all that OP knows. the kid might simply have been told before the appointment that this time, she should ask for clear or gray bands for some specific reason, while every other time she's been allowed to get whatever she wanted. Since we don't know, why give it much thought?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No way! The kid is stuck with braces, let them have some fun with them!

Exactly! My 10 y.o. was really upset about having to get braces - until she realized the fun colors she could get. Now she loves them!!