What we can learn from Faith Hill’s braces

Sporting an elementary accessory at Sunday night's 55th annual Grammy awards, Faith Hill walked the red carpet and flashed her new - braces. Yes, you read that correctly! The 45-year-old country singer flashed a smile full of metal, explaining "I had braces as a kid and I forgot to wear my retainer."

Surprisingly enough, this practice is way more run of the mill than one might think. Dr. Leonard Tau of the Pennsylvania Center for Dental Excellence, explains the need for a second round of dental gear and shares just how often his practice sees adults.

"I would say 50 to 60 percent of my patients are now coming back for orthodontics as an adult and it's largely due to improper care as a child," said Dr. Tau. "I see it all the time – parents pay a lot of money for braces for their kids and then later on in life, patients in their early 20s, and even those in their 50s and 60s, are coming back to fix teeth that have shifted."

Dr. Tau finds that most, if not all of his patients, had at one time or another worn braces as a child and then never wore their retainers – making adult orthodontics a new growing trend.

"Of my 300 cases, I would say about 10 to 15 percent of those are people in their 50s-60s," said Dr. Tau. "Many people used to get veneers, but that eliminates healthy teeth, so now they're coming back and getting braces or retainers to correct their smiles."

To save kids a return trip to the orthodontist years down the road, Dr. Tau has all his patients sign a retainer agreement before they leave his office so they know how important they are to ensuring straight teeth.