Adult braces...oh the horror!

I went to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned yesterday. While I came away with a good report, (no cavaties! yea!) apparantly that is not good enough. "You have nice teeth," my dentist said, "if we could juuuuuuust pull that top tooth down.....and those bottom ones are all over the place....I'd love to get an orthodontists hands on that!"

Oh dear. Talk about a self-esteem boost.

And while I would love for my teeth to look like this, adult braces are just, well....kind of embarrassing.

I mean it's one thing for a child to have braces. It's accepted, it's normal. But say you are attending a presentation for work. Perhaps you are sitting in a conference room full of people, perhaps the presentation is on, oh I don't know, employee benefits. So the insurance representative in his fancy suit walks up front to make his presentation, and you notice a flash of metal. You're going to take a second look, right? So for the rest of the presentation you just sit there and try not to stare at his brace face, and in the process totally forget to listen to what he is saying. Anyway, all this to say that I find adult braces to be somewhat...distracting.

Why does everything need to be perfect anyway? While I am completely aware that I have a snaggle tooth, (pictured below) I like to think it gives me character. Besides the fact that a drinking straw fits perfectly in that little space between the snaggle and my bottom teeth.

And sometimes I think it's kind of cute when people have a few wayward teeth. Gives their mouth a little bit of personality. Perhaps a little bit endearing, even. I don't know...should I continue to embrace the snaggle? Or would enduring the embarrassment of adult braces for a couple of years be worth it in the end? Let me know what ya'll think!