First of all, I'll set the picture for you -- I'm an attractive, blond, 15 yr old 
girl (Actually 15 and 2 weeks). I live on the Gold Coast in Australia. I'm enrolled 
in a modelling agency here. I had braces, facebow (with only a neck strap), and 2 
rubber bands put on about 3 months before my 15th birthday.

This is my story:

I was sitting out by the pool having a smoke, without my facebow on, waiting for my 
16 yr old, non-smoking boyfriend, Mark. He was coming over after being in America 
for 6 months. I had told him that I got braces, but he hadn't seen them yet. I heard 
the doorbell ring from outside, and my mother showed him through. I saw him come out 
the back door. My heart began to race. I didn't know what he'd think. He walked up 
to me. He was grinning, and the first thing he said was "Show me." I drew on my 
smoke, then gave him a huge cheesy smile as smoke drifted from my mouth. I expected 
the worse. I asked him "What do you think?" He stared at them for a while, then he 
looked into my eyes. What he said shocked me. He said "They're beautiful." Plain and 
simple. I smiled in relief. Next he asked if he could touch them. I didn't 
understand why, but I saw no harm in it, so I said okay. I did the cheesy smile 
again. He put his right hand up, and lightly ran his index finger along them, and 
the rubber bands. I found it quite bizarre, yet somehow romantic. Similar to 
caressing someone's hair. Just replace the hair with braces.

Well the first part had gone better than I expected. So now the next part - the 
facebow. I said to him "I have something else to show you. It's inside." I lit up 
another smoke and we went into my room. We both sat on my bed. I pulled the facebow 
out of my top drawer. I put it on and faced him. To my surprise, he didn't laugh or 
even grin. He just ran his finger along it, similar to what he'd done with my 
braces. It was looking promising. "Can you smoke with it on?" he asked. "Sort of" I 
said, drawing on my smoke, showing him that I could, although awkwardly. "I love 
it" he said (He loves seeing me smoke). "Can you kiss with it on?" he asked next. 
I said that I don't know, so just to be different, we tried it. It too felt a 
little awkward, and weird, but we could. "I love it even more" he said. I smiled, 
and we kissed again.

This all happened about 2 months ago. Until this incident, I was embarressed to let 
anyone at all see my braces. Even when I laughed, I used to cover my braces with my 
lips, as many people do. Now I am always giving full-tooth smiles, and have no fear 
of showing them off. That is exactly what I do - Show off my braces (I got my 
picture in a local newspaper for a fashion parade I was in. It has a close-up of my 
face, showing off my metallic smile). As for my facebow, I only ever wore it when I 
was at home, and no-one was over. Which was a lot less than I was supposed to 
(10 hrs a day). Now I am almost always wearing it. So much so, that I sometimes wear 
it for more hours than I'm supposed to (I can't wear it when modelling). I actually 
like wearing it now, although it makes it quite awkward to smoke, but I manage. Mark 
often offers to put on my rubber bands and facebow for me. It may sound a little 
stupid, but it's actually quite intimate. 

All-in-all, I think of my braces and facebow as just a form of jewellery, that I 
have the privellege of being able to wear. I'm considering having them left on after 
my treatment is actually finished.

I think that the moral of the story is: Don't be embarressed of getting braces, 
because they really are beautiful! Take it from a 15 yr. old model who has them.