By her count, 10 out of the 41 students in her Grade 12 class have embraced the trend.Īn array of the hardware used to make fake braces. Sophorn had the braces installed by a local dentist, as did seven friends. “After I found them on Facebook, I talked about it with my friend who’s interested in new trends and we decided to buy ,” she says. High-school student Kim Sophorn first encountered fashion braces on Sovannarin’s Facebook page. He imports the materials from a Thai supplier, then refers customers to local dentists for moulds and fittings.ĭepending on the options – brackets on each tooth or a single coloured wire Mickey Mouse-shaped bands or regular – a set of materials can cost between $20 and $90. The tools of the trade are familiar to anyone who’s spent time in an orthodontist’s office: archwire, brackets, bands, adhesive and even the wax that wearers mould over the pointy metal edges to prevent irritation.īut despite his role as Cambodia’s preeminent fake-braces dealer, Sovannarin holds no dentistry degree or formal training. Some of his selfies appear on the page, too, though his smile is unadorned: the fake-braces magnate admits he’s “too lazy” to wear them himself. One picture shows a Cambodian passport atop stacks of dollars, riel and Thai baht, accompanied by a message containing Sovannarin’s phone number and Line ID. The timeline on his Facebook shop is flooded with photos of equipment, payment receipts and close-ups of smiles studded with brightly coloured bands. He’s hired a second employee to help him fill orders, and soon hopes to ditch the delivery-only model in favour of a storefront. Sovannarin says demand for the product far outpaces supply, with his page receiving up to 3,000 messages each week. “I wanted to bring this trend to Cambodia, and it’s so successful now.” “I saw this was a new trend that was very popular in Thailand,” he says. Earlier this month, he estimated that he has supplied kits to 1,000 customers. Sovannarin began selling fake braces online in May. The growing popularity of fashion braces in the Kingdom is largely thanks to the efforts of 20-year-old entrepreneur Suos Sovannarin, whose popular Facebook-based delivery service holds a near-monopoly on the market here. The fad arrived in Cambodia this year, and has spread rapidly via social media.īut as fake braces become a coveted accessory for some young Cambodians, experts caution that the faux facial hardware, which often involves unlicensed dentists and unregulated orthodontic materials, could pose serious health risks. While teens in most countries view orthodontic treatment as one of puberty’s unavoidable tribulations, like chronic acne or growth spurts, dental hardware is enjoying surprising popularity as a fashion craze in Southeast Asia.įake braces, also known as fashion braces, caught on as early as 2006 in Thailand Indonesia and Malaysia followed. But unlike most of her orthodontic-sporting peers, the Phnom Penh high-schooler’s braces serve no medical purpose. Like many 18-year-olds around the world, Kim Sophorn’s teeth are decked out with braces: rows of metal brackets adorned with bright turquoise bands.
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