Braces can be worth celebrating when you get them glued on. Maintenance though they’ll require, you know that these little miracles are designed to help you align your smile. But whatever the initial excitement, after a couple of months you start dreaming of the moment where you’ll have them taken off—as much to see your straightened smile, as to do away with the uncomfortable metal contraption you’ve just committed to.
The moment when you get your braces off is a major milestone, and for good reason. When the time comes, you prepare for a newfound sense of confidence in your smile, and for the prospect of eating absolutely whatever you want without worrying about picking it out of braces later. Just think about the last time you chowed down on raw nuts without finding pieces the next morning. And you can fearlessly welcome back chewing gum, too! This is your day.
Celebrating the removal of braces is totally reasonable, both ahead of time and after the fact. You can imagine the smiles that will ensue as soon as your braces are removed, but we do have some other, more deliberate celebration ideas for you to consider:
- Throw a party
It’s time to show off the results of months (or years) of wearing braces. The last time your friends saw you smiling without the wires, your teeth were…well, less straight—and now, you can smile, laugh and make merry over a few cold ones with friends or family.
The party can be a “just because” event, or you can come out and say it’s in celebration for your braces removal. In the latter, you can even buy a special guestbook and ask your friends to write down comments about you with and without braces—stories, memories, observations. Whatever!
- The “new you” deserves lots of selfies
Removing your braces is a Hallmark change in your appearance, so why not present your new braces-free smile to your social media friends and followers? Take a selfie, or go all-out and schedule a shoot ahead of time with a professional photographer.
- Buy ALL THE CHEWING GUM!
OK—we still recommend you stick to sugar-free chewing choices, but this is still a celebration to be had. The freedom to stockpile some fresh or fruity flavors and make up for months or years of lost bubble-blowing is something that we can all enjoy, no matter our age. Start with favorite flavors, or go crazy with new flavors that have come into vogue since your departure from braces-free chewing.
- Take a moment to journal the day-to-day of wearing braces
You might think we’re crazy—the memory is so fresh in your mind, and you’re so thrilled to be done with them, why would you want to list the nuisance of the contraption that caused you so much pain, adjustment after adjustment?
Braces have been compared more than once to a larger metaphor of life. Of all the things we do…it’s the worthwhile stuff that’s usually a little painful along the way. Take a moment to jot down some of the things that defined your experience with braces, because in the future you might benefit from the memory of what a battle worth fighting feels like in the heat of it all.
And, much though you’d like to (and probably will) forget the minutia of the day-to-day of braces, it can be interesting to look back on these details later—most patients say that their braces defined much of their image for the time that they had them.
- Treat yourself with just about anything else that inspires your newfound smile
Take a short trip out of town, go to the spa, or go out to eat something that you wouldn’t have otherwise. Whatever floats your boat—you’ve earned it.
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