Not that it’s for our skinny-jean-wearing, pre-distressed-denim-buying selves to judge, but wearing fake braces as a fashion statement—a practice championed by Thai, Indonesian and Chinese teens—seems fairly goofy.
If you’re just now getting to this party, here’s the underlying logic: In Thailand, Indonesia and China, braces are still expensive enough to be placed outside the budgets of most families. Therefore, if you have braces, you must be rich, and since being rich is totally cool, Thai teens have taken to donning fake braces as a fashion statement. Sure, those braces might be killing them, but there’s a price you pay for beauty.
As reported by Business Insider, and the ever-reliable Vice, fake braces have been linked to the deaths of two Thai teens, both of whom succumbed to lead poisoning from their faux-orthodontia.
Some teens pay more than USD100 for false braces and, as the YouTube clip below helps illustrate, some go so far as to install their own headgear.
Last year, the Thai government banned the importation and sale of fashion braces, but the practice has since gone underground, which we’re sure has done nothing but make it safer and more legit.
