Having braces is never fun, but depending on when you encounter these wires of agony can also impact your experience. There are the perfect specimens of nature who don't need them at all, those lucky kids who are done with them by high school, the unlucky kids who graduate high school with them still on, and then there's me who still has them for college. I just want straight teeth.

I thought I'd be the only one, but I've met three other students with braces, which is nice because I feel a little less alone. (There are more kids with braces at my school than students from my home state.)

I was worried going into it that they might affect me socially or something, but it's barely any different than before. I still brush my teeth with the vigor needed to clean out the wire grid that is my mouth. I still abstain from nuts and caramel and snickers and jelly beans and every other great type of candy. (This Halloween season I've had to turn down a lot of candy.) People still ask me when I get them off. (I still don't know.) Every once in a while someone is kind enough to let me know I got a little somethin-somethin stuck in a bracket. Nobody treats me differently because I have braces, and the interactions I have that involve them are the same as they were before college. The only difference between having them now than having them 6 months ago is that I'm just more insecure about them.

I tend to smile less in photos. I haven't kept up with the latest lip makeup trends, because why would I want to draw attention to my mouth? I look in the mirror sometimes and am surprised by how awkward they actually look.

I know people at all ages face insecurities with their orthodontic endeavors, but I strongly feel it gets worse the older you are. When I get them off, it won't open new doors or empower me or lead me to bloom into a beautiful young women. I'll just look a bit more like the average college kid. (At least that's what the mirror tells me sometimes.)

Now if you're a college kid with braces, and you don't feel as insecure as I do, all the power to you. There's no good reason to worry about something so normal and (hopefully in my case) temporary. I can tell myself that over and over, as often as I have to brush my teeth. However, I don't know if I'll get over it. Maybe with time I can; maybe over my freshman year I'll figure it out.

But then again, maybe the brace face will be gone by second semester.