MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
OK, let's face it. Braces get a bad rap in pop culture.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE SIMPSONS")
HANK AZARIA: (As Dr. Wolfe) I'm also afraid little Lisa is going to need braces.
YEARDLEY SMITH: (As Lisa Simpson) Oh, no. I'll be socially unpopular - more so.
MARTIN: Lisa Simpson had to choose between ugly teeth or ugly braces.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE SIMPSONS")
NANCY CARTWRIGHT: (As Bart Simpson) Cool. She'll be a freak.
JULIE KAVNER: (As Marge Simpson) Bart.
MARTIN: But over the summer, the American Association of Orthodontists declared that braces have never been cooler. The group's president-elect Dr. Mike Durbin says patients are embracing braces.
MIKE DURBIN: Had a patient. She came in. She had the whole 18 months of treatment plotted out in terms of what colors she was going to get depending on the time of the year or what holiday was coming up - saying, I want people to know that I have these braces on.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Now, to learn more, I spoke with a real expert.
Do you know who this is, by the way? I want to make sure that you know who you're talking to.
EMIKO HAYASHI TERRAZOS: Yes. My grandpa.
MARTÍNEZ: That's right. That's my 11-year-old granddaughter Emiko Hayashi Terrazos (ph).
Why did you want to get metal braces?
EMIKO: 'Cause, like, all over the internet, other people have braces. And we all, like, just thought it was, like, cool. So that's why we all wanted it really badly.
MARTÍNEZ: What about it was cool?
EMIKO: Like, every time my braces get fixed, we could choose any color we really want.
MARTÍNEZ: You know how they have invisible braces or clear braces? Why didn't you want to get those instead of the metal braces?
EMIKO: 'Cause I wanted the braces to be seen more.
MARTÍNEZ: Dr. Durbin says braces have come a long way.
DURBIN: They were much larger on your tooth than they are now, and they went around every tooth, whereas now small brackets are just glued or bonded to the front of the tooth. So less noticeable but, at the same time, allow you to have the colors and even different shapes. We didn't have that back when I had braces.
MARTÍNEZ: Emiko, what did they say when you showed up to school on the first day with your brand-new braces?
EMIKO: They all thought that it was, like, cool, and it looks, like, nice. That's what they said.
MARTÍNEZ: But all good things must come to an end, and Emiko's braces eventually had to come off.
Do you miss the metal braces?
EMIKO: Yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: You do. Why do you miss them?
EMIKO: I just still think they're cool.
MARTIN: Well, I think she's always been cool. She's always been cool.
MARTÍNEZ: I spent four years in braces, Michel, not feeling cool one second of those four years. They were awful.
MARTIN: You've always been cool, too.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
MARTIN: Yeah. Embrace it. Embrace it. Embrace it. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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