I have to wear braces for 3.5 years, headgear for 2 and a tongue crib for 7 months. The only time I was embarrassed was wearing the tongue crib because I couldn't talk properly.

Not anymore. 

Who cares? People are so narcissistic and self absorbed they won't notice it if a gorilla on a harley davidson came through their living room.  Before the era of people permanently looking at little screens in their hands, it was embarrassing, because people would stare.  Nowadays, no one notices, no one stares. 

A pal and I actually did this experiment.  We had her in headgear and we went to a very upmarket part of town in a fancy coffee-shop.  No one looked, no one blinked, no one cared.  My pal was even "this is disappointing, I wanted to have some shock value!" and there was none, just cold indifference.

It's all about your attitude - if you're grimacing or trying to hide them, it shows you think you have something to be embarrassed about.

I think it depends on the person more than anything else. Some people are just naturally more shy or more easily embarrassed, while others are just impervious to embarrassment. I embarrass fairly easily, and would probably be embarrassed to have braces (and I was, back in junior high school).

My wife is just the opposite. She has fake braces, and is completely unembarrassed to wear them in public. She'll smile and laugh, strike up conversations with random people in bars and at ball games, grin while ordering drinks (I think she likes getting carded more when she wears her braces), etc. She's also mentioned that she'll not be at all embarrassed when she gets her real braces, and I totally believe her based on how she acts with the fakes.

Headgear is a different story for her, though. She'll happily wear it around the house and make videos wearing it, but she won't wear it in public. I guess it's just a bridge too far for her.

I think they are, that's what turns me on about them.

My wife has experienced both...the braces themselves tend to be okay, but when she has worn headgear out of the house she can tell when people want to look/stare but try not to. It doesn't bother her, but you can tell many people want to ask about the braces/headgear but don't know what to say. She's not easily embarrassed though, so it may be different for others.

If I saw a girl wearing headgear in public I would instantly ask her out...

Unexpectedly, yes.

I just got braces on Friday.  I went with full metal and was looking forward to showing them off.  Before my bracketing appointment I wasn't worried about self-consciousness at all.  Over the weekend, I went out on Saturday night, ran errands, and went to church on Sunday, so lots of strangers have seen my braces.  I'm finding it embarrassing to smile and talk normally without trying to hide the braces.  The most embarrassing moment was, ironically, with another adult braces wearer.  I feel like everyone is staring at my braces, but I know its probably all in my head.  At church, though, I was sitting next to a couple in their thirties.  At one point, we were greeting each other.  When I shook the woman's hand, we both smiled, which revealed her full set of ceramic braces.  She definitely noticed my braces, because her eyes widened, she looked directly at my mouth, then nodded her head at me and smiled bigger to make sure I noticed her braces.  On one hand, it was nice, kind of like meeting another member of a secret club.  On the other hand, her braces were so clear and discreet that I was struck, really for the first time, by how obvious and clunky my braces look.

The ortho put on large bite blocks on my back molars that force my jaws apart and cause a noticeable lisp.  No doubt my speech will improve, but right now, people have asked me to repeat myself and my phone's voice commands are confused.  When I tell the phone to "text," which comes out "tesht," the phone runs a google search for "test" instead of bringing up text messages.  Go figure, as much as I've been self-conscious about the appearance of the braces, the inability to speak clearly hasn't been embarrassing at all.  I'm just lisping and spitting my way through it with no shame.  I guess the big metal braces make it obvious to people why I'm having a problem talking, so nobody has mentioned anything.

Embarrassment has zero appeal to me.
Wearing braces with confidence appeals to me.

I like how braces look on adults. I like how I look in braces. Not just in a kinky way. By wearing braces I have no interest in implying that that I have dental issues or I'm an adolescent.  To me it's the braces themselves not their cultural significance or a narrative they invoke.

Somehow, as a kid braces just got baked into my head as what an attractive mouth should have. For the sake of public health I can see why braces should not be jewelry. Still, I can't see my mouth as attractive without them. It's strange.

Anyone else feel this way?
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Update:
I've been thinking about the message braces send. I'm a very shy guy and I hate being in the spotlight. Part of me wishes I could wear braces and be normal. Another part of me wants to wear braces to send a message, and knows that people should start thinking about why people wear braces and why people want straight teeth.

As for public health, if people wear lingual retainers indefinitely why not libel braces? They'd be easier to keep clean.
Orthodontic appliances are objects of medicine and come with deferent expectations of risk than an object of sport. If I crash my bike and knock out a tooth someone might by me a beer at the bar.  If I wreck a tooth with fake braces I'm the crazy guy in an entertaining news item. If I wreck my tooth in pursuit of the 'hollywood smile', well I'm normal. extraction of healthy teeth is normal in esthetic treatments.

I dont think they're embarrassing! I get mine this week though so ill find out soon

As an adult is a choice, you know what is it, why you do that.
As a teenager, is more difficult. You had to have those horrible device, to be beautiful mouth later !

The first day to school with headgear, is probably the worse nightmare ever !!, for me very embarrassing !

sure, a very common fixed brace is not

6 months in and no embarrassment. But I love them so I am biased against embarrassment. I have even gone with colors. How do yours look Erin? Colors?

I am still getting used to my new braces but i havent been embarrassed by them yet. Trying to have fun with it!

How did it go getting them? What colors did you pick? Are you going to share updates?

Very nice. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

my wife had braces - ceramic and not metal, and she had no issues really.  She was self conscious about having them as an adult and pretty embarrassed whenever she talked for the first few months.  But, after talking to others who have braces - the practice had 25% adult patients, she soon stopped caring what people thought.   I'm getting braces soon and deciding between metal and ceramic.  If end up with metal, I suspect I'll be like my wife and embarrassed at least at first.

I am looking forward to braces, but still a bit nervous.  I've thought about getting them for a few years and it is just now working out schedule and financially wise to get them

I was self conscious the first week or so, but you quickly realize that most people don’t them give a second thought - unless they too have braces, but then it’s just a conversation topic for a few minutes.

In retrospect I wish I had gone with metal. I love the look on others, but just couldn’t pull the trigger when it came to my own brackets.

At first I was embarrassed because I was 21 and just getting braces for the first time. I was very self conscious and braces didn't help that, at first. Once I got comfortable with the braces I realized that there wasn't anything to be embarrassed about and people really didn't say anything or bring it up. It was the best decision I've made!

So all in all people really won't focus on ones braces due to the fact that in passing by they can simply be hidden and if someone does focus on ones braces, which can cause the embarrassment factor, it's because it's more of an up close sighting. So with JUST braces on seems to be a slim to none embarrassment for the wearer, then would you consider your braces/Orthodontia embarrassing if you were walking in public with Reversible Headgear held tightly against your face or a Combination Headgear êngulfing your head with obnoxiously bright colored head straps?:

It's partly embarrasing because no-one is having the appliance that you are wearing, so you feel like an outsider.

Not at all! Be proud of them.

Times are changing. At one point braces were very uncommon with children and almost never seen with adults, than braces got more common with children and some adults started getting braces. Now in some countries it seems to be that most children get braces at some point and even in adults it is not very uncommon. People get embarrassed if they stand out from the group, so since more adults are getting them and in some countries most people will know at least one adult who wears braces. People tend to respect adults wearing braces and envy them for having the courage to fix their crooked teeth.

I had Damon clear braces for about 18 months as a middle-aged man. I was embarrassed about them for about the first 6 months even though they were fairly discreet. After that, I stopped caring.

I think nowdays due to them being more normalised its only when it either affects speech or is some kind of headgear. I wouldnt say braces are embarrassing but a potential lisp would be.