How do braces work?

Moment of Um

American Public Media

Kids & Family, Education For Kids

4.4 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 6 June 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

They come in cool colors, catch popcorn kernels and sometimes even have spacers - it’s braces! Ever wondered how braces magically straighten teeth? We asked Dr. ArNelle Wright - a real life dentist! - to help us break down the science of these tiny metal wonders.

Bracing for a tough question? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help uncover the tooth.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi friends. If you love Brains on Universe, you'll love the latest season of Million
0:04.9	Bizzillion Marketplace's award-winning kids podcast about money.
0:08.9	Hosts Ryan and Bridget answer the funny, tricky, and just really good questions from
0:13.1	kid listeners to help dollars make more sense.
0:16.2	Million Bizzillion is presented in partnership with Greenlight, the debit card and money app for
0:20.3	kids and teens. With Greenlight, kids debit card and money app for kids and teens.
0:21.7	With Greenlight, kids and teens learn to earn, save, spend wisely, and invest.
0:26.4	Learn all about Greenlight at greenlight.com slash million.
0:30.1	And tune into Million bazillion wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
0:34.7	From the brains behind brains on, this is the Moment of Um comes to you from APM Studios. I'm Anna Weggle.
0:55.0	Um.
1:10.2	Hi. It's so good to talk to you. Oh, why is my voice so dazzling and bright? Oh, that's because it's pouring through my very, very perfect straight teeth. Can you tell that at 40 years old, I
1:12.6	diligently wear my retainer at least once a year? Yes, it's true. I had braces for about
1:19.3	six months when I was 13 years old, and there were two things that I desperately wanted at that
1:24.2	age, braces and glasses, because both seemed so cool. I used to fake having bad vision
1:31.3	because I was so excited about the thought of getting to wear awesome glasses. But my parents
1:37.1	saw through that one, probably because they both had glasses. They didn't see through my crooked
1:42.2	teeth, though. There was no fooling that I had two front teeth that faced each other.
1:47.0	Can you picture it?
1:48.1	Really unique.
1:49.2	But I remember sitting down in the orthodontist chair, closing my eyes.
1:53.3	And a few minutes later, I had braces.
	...

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