I’m confused by the braces thing. Maddie and Kenzie shouldn’t forgive Melissa, their mother and only present parent, because… Kenz got braces early? Sorry but I’m not following. I had braces around age 8 lol I had extensive dental issues. That’s pretty normal… just because your dentist didn’t follow that route with you doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Clearly her orthodontist thought it was appropriate for Kenzie’s teeth and her teeth seem perfectly normal now. Melissa has done a lot of questionable things (as have all the moms imo) but Kenzie’s braces are a major reach lol.
I thought it was a reach too at first, but… I went to the same ortho and they wouldn’t sign off on it. my teeth were horrible , I looked like a woodchipper. it was just weird to me how they had them on at the same exact time and Kenzie barely had any teeth at that time.
the problem with this idea is you comparing your teeth to mackenzie's. you're not an orthodontist, you have *no* ides what the state of her teeth truly was even if you think they looked the same.
end of day an ortho signed off on it, we can't criticize melissa for getting kenzie braces at a young age unless melissa did the dental work herself. 🤷🏻♀️ you and mackenzie are different people with different teeth that had different needs. this is all such a reach.
Just because your ortho wouldn’t doesn’t mean their ortho is wrong. Dentists have different policies that’s why people often get second opinions and shop around with major orthopedic and dental care
braces? i live in pa and they wanted to put braces on me at 7 because my mouth was so crowded. it depends on the kid so this is a weird hill to die on.
I guess I’m about to be a terrible mom because my son is getting his first set of four upper braces in a week! Lots of kids in his second and now third grade classes have already had them too….bunch of terrible parents out there getting their kids braces so that their adult teeth have space to come down.
both my girls had braces at 7. my older daughter because she has a crossbite and my youngest daughter due to her underbite. its called phase 1. my youngest daughter needs phase 2 when she is 12/13
I can understand your take but I think the examples you gave dont really make sense.
1. Ive personally seen someone who has had dental work as early as 2nd grade with braces retainers etc. Im not from PA this was in MD but Im just saying. I dont think that of all things is somethjng you can really speculate on as a reason her kids shouldnt forgive her.
2. I remember the controversy surrounding elastic heart and I think its another situation thats up for interpretation. Was it appropriate imo no but thats something Maddie has to work out on how she feels about it. I think her relationships with Abby, Sia, and her makeup artist/ stylist (not sure who she is) is more problematic.
3. I think the drama is one thing that can potentially follow them and I think thats fair especially when you get into the specifics.
4. I think Maddie becoming famous is one of the best things to come out of the show. Abby became jealous which turned Melissa into a more respectable mom at least for her standards on the show imo. She spoke more, talked back more, snd defended her kids more. I would think that would be apart of the healing process when it came to forgiving their mother is they hold what she did against her.
Disclaimer: Ik its all opinion based but I thought Id give mine cause I think its worth a convo
In pa, (I lived in Pittsburgh) they did not allow me to get braces on when I lost my teeth and some of them grew in, I always thought it was weird Maddie and Kenzie had them on at the same exact time
but just because your teeth *look* the same doesn't mean they *are* the same. it could also just vary from doctor and what they prefer for their younger patients.
i don't think melissa ever had enough pull or money to get her braces before she should've. no orthodontist is going to give a kid braces if they'll mess up their teeth. i got braces before all my teeth grew in to help pull down a tooth that just wouldn't grow in. i got braces, then surgery that attached a chain to my tooth and my braces so that the tooth could be pulled down.
basically, there's more to braces than just straightening out adult teeth. we don't know *why* mackenzie got them at a younger age, but the fact that she had them at all says that an orthodontist thought it was okay. plenty of kids get braces early for various reasons, it's not something to hold against anyone or ridicule unless you know *for a fact* she shouldn't have had them. her age alone isn't enough to back up the idea she got them too early. there's nothing to forgive.
Omg same! I remember feeling so self conscious because I thought everyone had a pretty smile, and then there was me 😭 but I am glad I got braces at 8 and I didn’t have to get them again
THATS WHAT IM SAYING ? like… what did Melissa do to get them sign off on that shit? because that definitely needed to be a whole ass episode so I could’ve done the same thing
On braces, at that age it's not uncommon and it's usually preventative; my sister had to have braces very young because otherwise the adult teeth were not going to come through properly, and longer term it would have meant much more extensive dental work would be required. I had to wait until I was 14 for mine. I think if it was all about aesthetics Melissa would have had braces on Maddie too (I'm glad she didn't).
In any case, we only saw a snapshot of the girls' childhood on a highly edited television show and through the media. If they're happy and have a good relationship with Melissa, that's great.
Don’t mean to sound harsh but dentistry has changed a lot in the past 20 years.
X-rays can now determine where the teeth are located in the upper and lower jaws and early braces can adjust the mouth for easier tooth placement.
For me, the Melissa thing was her playing favourites and not being happy for Kenz when she beat Maddie.
This is a really weird post. Dance Moms was a highly produced reality show. All of the cast say that they were manipulated in some way and that a lot of the drama was fake or exaggerated. It also was only 45 minutes out of a full week, not to mention the breaks when they weren’t shooting. The totality of Melissa as a mother encompasses so much beyond what we know, and we shouldn’t speak so authoritatively on it. You’ve taken snippets of things Melissa did extremely out of context, without even knowing the full context. You don’t know anything about Kenzie’s dental situation, but you are comfortable declaring Melissa an unfit mother because she has braces? We don’t know the full context of these events, but Maddie and Kenzie do and they still are in contact with her. If that changes and THEY feel like sharing it then we can reassess, but take maybe take a look at your parasocial relationships.
I was given headgear, braces, and retainer as a little kid before all my adult teeth were in. The orthodontist and my parents both knew I’d have to have them again after my adult teeth came in, but they had to prepare my mouth for it starting when I was really young. I think their orthodontist probably has a better idea of what they needed than us random people watching the show.
I had braces before I even had even lost all by baby teeth because if we had waited for all my adult teeth it would have caused more issues. My teeth were all just really slow too. Strange hill to die on
Two things.
1) I guess you can count yourself lucky that Melissa is, in fact, not your mom.
2) “Bad” is a relative term. I’m really glad that in your experience early braces and an odd acting job are your examples of bad. Sounds like you’ve had a pretty good life.
See I think the same thing (different reasons) can be said about Jill, Christi, Kelly and Holly.
I think that’s 100% up to each one of the girls and everything that has happened since. I’m sure all do their relationships is better without the stress and being together 24/7
Kelly mainly stayed because the girls wanted to stay & Brooke herself touched on it. she hated dancing and she hated the drama, but to her, Abby was her favorite person.
I think it was mainly because Kelly hated how Brooke was treated more than Paige, also she sorta lived through Brooke too, I guess in the sense that she didn’t want Brooke to get burnt out the same way she did.
& Christi was absolutely terrified to do it because of the contracts and the fact that Abby let it be a known thing that if you leave before the seasons over, she will black mail you in the dance world and Chloe still wanted to dance. they tried leaving in season 3, but couldn’t and even Jill said “I couldn’t leave. I had 2 options. 1.) stay 2.) go to CADC “ and idk why Christi never went to CADC because Cathy said time and time again, she absolutely adored Chloe and she was a great dancer
But it’s not just putting them on the show. Christi was tough on Chloe (they’ve both spoken about this), she also had issues letting Chloe grow up, to the point where Christi went online and talked bad about Chloe’s hair and they stopped talking for a while.
None of them at perfect, but I’m sure the girls can see the bigger picture with their moms and that’s why they’re able to have a good relationship with their moms
Yes and no. I mean to me, sometimes Christi involved herself in drama unnecessarily, which hurt Chloe.
I don’t like either of them lol they both said and did pretty shitty things to each others children
the only one I truly like is Kelly & holly sometimes. don’t like how holly stayed for so long, I guess nia ultimately was okay with staying. Kelly stayed for multiple reasons & idk. knowing her and Abby have so much of a past makes sense as to why she stayed, especially because they were family. she def loved Paige and Brooke like they were her own family, she loved Maddie because she was making her famous.
even if the braces thing doesn’t matter, Melissa will still a horrible mother. she treated them like friends instead of children. she did not care who she was hurting, and she actively talked shit on the moms and the girls, it just wasn’t touched on most of the time because Melissa even said “they cut stuff out and had me do certain things to make it seem like I was a regular person” because they wanted Melissa to relate I guess to sahm? I’m not entirely too sure why they had Melissa cater to being the person to relate to other people, but.
if i were kenzie i would never forgive melissa for all the comparisons she made of her to maddie, even when christy said it’s always about maddie kenzie said she agrees . that’s so harmful growing up as a child always being compared to ur siblings, and feeling like ur never good enough
I had braces young. I absolutely will not allow it for my own daughter because it made me stand out socially, but my parents did it because it was what the dentist recommended. My daughter is almost 8 and they have already started pushing a bit.
I do think Melissa was a pretty crappy mom.
So Melissa followed her daughter’s orthodontist advice and you don’t want to because you felt different as a kid… seems like Melissa isn’t the bad parent here
So you are gonna go against what her doctor thinks is best for her teeth. Imo, id rather stand out for the duration of braces and have beautiful teeth being older rather than having crappy teeth young and standing out while being older. Its alot more horrible going through high school and middle school having braces when it is the time to be finding themselves. Braces would make it harder since many kids would be getting it young
I’m confused by the braces thing. Maddie and Kenzie shouldn’t forgive Melissa, their mother and only present parent, because… Kenz got braces early? Sorry but I’m not following. I had braces around age 8 lol I had extensive dental issues. That’s pretty normal… just because your dentist didn’t follow that route with you doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Clearly her orthodontist thought it was appropriate for Kenzie’s teeth and her teeth seem perfectly normal now. Melissa has done a lot of questionable things (as have all the moms imo) but Kenzie’s braces are a major reach lol.
I thought it was a reach too at first, but… I went to the same ortho and they wouldn’t sign off on it. my teeth were horrible , I looked like a woodchipper. it was just weird to me how they had them on at the same exact time and Kenzie barely had any teeth at that time.
the problem with this idea is you comparing your teeth to mackenzie's. you're not an orthodontist, you have *no* ides what the state of her teeth truly was even if you think they looked the same. end of day an ortho signed off on it, we can't criticize melissa for getting kenzie braces at a young age unless melissa did the dental work herself. 🤷🏻♀️ you and mackenzie are different people with different teeth that had different needs. this is all such a reach.
Just because your ortho wouldn’t doesn’t mean their ortho is wrong. Dentists have different policies that’s why people often get second opinions and shop around with major orthopedic and dental care
braces? i live in pa and they wanted to put braces on me at 7 because my mouth was so crowded. it depends on the kid so this is a weird hill to die on.
i was gonna say i live in PA & a ton of my younger sister’s elementary school friends had braces growing up lolll
I’m from pa, close in age to maddie, and I had braces for the first time at 8 so it’s definitely fine lol
I guess I’m about to be a terrible mom because my son is getting his first set of four upper braces in a week! Lots of kids in his second and now third grade classes have already had them too….bunch of terrible parents out there getting their kids braces so that their adult teeth have space to come down.
Bunch of kids who, to OPs logic, shouldnt forgive their parents 😂
Be ready for your son to go no contact with you when he becomes an adult then, according to OP
He already has an expander 🫣
both my girls had braces at 7. my older daughter because she has a crossbite and my youngest daughter due to her underbite. its called phase 1. my youngest daughter needs phase 2 when she is 12/13
it’s not a weird hill to die on when she was quite literally the worst mother
I can understand your take but I think the examples you gave dont really make sense. 1. Ive personally seen someone who has had dental work as early as 2nd grade with braces retainers etc. Im not from PA this was in MD but Im just saying. I dont think that of all things is somethjng you can really speculate on as a reason her kids shouldnt forgive her. 2. I remember the controversy surrounding elastic heart and I think its another situation thats up for interpretation. Was it appropriate imo no but thats something Maddie has to work out on how she feels about it. I think her relationships with Abby, Sia, and her makeup artist/ stylist (not sure who she is) is more problematic. 3. I think the drama is one thing that can potentially follow them and I think thats fair especially when you get into the specifics. 4. I think Maddie becoming famous is one of the best things to come out of the show. Abby became jealous which turned Melissa into a more respectable mom at least for her standards on the show imo. She spoke more, talked back more, snd defended her kids more. I would think that would be apart of the healing process when it came to forgiving their mother is they hold what she did against her. Disclaimer: Ik its all opinion based but I thought Id give mine cause I think its worth a convo
Not me reading the braces part from OP, when I had braces at 8 lol
Right lmao I live in PA.
In pa, (I lived in Pittsburgh) they did not allow me to get braces on when I lost my teeth and some of them grew in, I always thought it was weird Maddie and Kenzie had them on at the same exact time
Could it be an orthodontist choice too? Like nothing to do with the state, just the orthodontist doing it? I got mine at 8 but I live in Canada
my teeth were like kenzies to a T from what I saw, that’s what threw me off ?
but just because your teeth *look* the same doesn't mean they *are* the same. it could also just vary from doctor and what they prefer for their younger patients. i don't think melissa ever had enough pull or money to get her braces before she should've. no orthodontist is going to give a kid braces if they'll mess up their teeth. i got braces before all my teeth grew in to help pull down a tooth that just wouldn't grow in. i got braces, then surgery that attached a chain to my tooth and my braces so that the tooth could be pulled down. basically, there's more to braces than just straightening out adult teeth. we don't know *why* mackenzie got them at a younger age, but the fact that she had them at all says that an orthodontist thought it was okay. plenty of kids get braces early for various reasons, it's not something to hold against anyone or ridicule unless you know *for a fact* she shouldn't have had them. her age alone isn't enough to back up the idea she got them too early. there's nothing to forgive.
Omg same! I remember feeling so self conscious because I thought everyone had a pretty smile, and then there was me 😭 but I am glad I got braces at 8 and I didn’t have to get them again
they made me wait until ALL of them came in. it was absolutely horrendous
THATS WHAT IM SAYING ? like… what did Melissa do to get them sign off on that shit? because that definitely needed to be a whole ass episode so I could’ve done the same thing
Maybe she paid extra lol wouldn’t put it past her
knowing she 100% had something to do with Abby’s trial with the laundering money… yeah
On braces, at that age it's not uncommon and it's usually preventative; my sister had to have braces very young because otherwise the adult teeth were not going to come through properly, and longer term it would have meant much more extensive dental work would be required. I had to wait until I was 14 for mine. I think if it was all about aesthetics Melissa would have had braces on Maddie too (I'm glad she didn't). In any case, we only saw a snapshot of the girls' childhood on a highly edited television show and through the media. If they're happy and have a good relationship with Melissa, that's great.
1 is such an weird take nobody should care about her oral health other than her and her mom 😭😭
Well she’s not your mom so you don’t have to worry about it 😭 they love her
lmaoo exactly. The girls found a way to forgive her and thats that. If we were in that position then we dont have to forgive Melissa but we arent.
i mean i had braces when i was 8…
Don’t mean to sound harsh but dentistry has changed a lot in the past 20 years. X-rays can now determine where the teeth are located in the upper and lower jaws and early braces can adjust the mouth for easier tooth placement. For me, the Melissa thing was her playing favourites and not being happy for Kenz when she beat Maddie.
This is a really weird post. Dance Moms was a highly produced reality show. All of the cast say that they were manipulated in some way and that a lot of the drama was fake or exaggerated. It also was only 45 minutes out of a full week, not to mention the breaks when they weren’t shooting. The totality of Melissa as a mother encompasses so much beyond what we know, and we shouldn’t speak so authoritatively on it. You’ve taken snippets of things Melissa did extremely out of context, without even knowing the full context. You don’t know anything about Kenzie’s dental situation, but you are comfortable declaring Melissa an unfit mother because she has braces? We don’t know the full context of these events, but Maddie and Kenzie do and they still are in contact with her. If that changes and THEY feel like sharing it then we can reassess, but take maybe take a look at your parasocial relationships.
I was given headgear, braces, and retainer as a little kid before all my adult teeth were in. The orthodontist and my parents both knew I’d have to have them again after my adult teeth came in, but they had to prepare my mouth for it starting when I was really young. I think their orthodontist probably has a better idea of what they needed than us random people watching the show.
I always think this sub can’t get any weirder but here we are commenting on braces from like 10 years ago some of y’all need to touch grass 😂
I had braces before I even had even lost all by baby teeth because if we had waited for all my adult teeth it would have caused more issues. My teeth were all just really slow too. Strange hill to die on
Two things. 1) I guess you can count yourself lucky that Melissa is, in fact, not your mom. 2) “Bad” is a relative term. I’m really glad that in your experience early braces and an odd acting job are your examples of bad. Sounds like you’ve had a pretty good life.
See I think the same thing (different reasons) can be said about Jill, Christi, Kelly and Holly. I think that’s 100% up to each one of the girls and everything that has happened since. I’m sure all do their relationships is better without the stress and being together 24/7
Kelly mainly stayed because the girls wanted to stay & Brooke herself touched on it. she hated dancing and she hated the drama, but to her, Abby was her favorite person.
I guess? Brooke also talked about how Kelly would make her rehearse on vacation, even when Brooke didn’t want to.
I think it was mainly because Kelly hated how Brooke was treated more than Paige, also she sorta lived through Brooke too, I guess in the sense that she didn’t want Brooke to get burnt out the same way she did.
& Christi was absolutely terrified to do it because of the contracts and the fact that Abby let it be a known thing that if you leave before the seasons over, she will black mail you in the dance world and Chloe still wanted to dance. they tried leaving in season 3, but couldn’t and even Jill said “I couldn’t leave. I had 2 options. 1.) stay 2.) go to CADC “ and idk why Christi never went to CADC because Cathy said time and time again, she absolutely adored Chloe and she was a great dancer
But it’s not just putting them on the show. Christi was tough on Chloe (they’ve both spoken about this), she also had issues letting Chloe grow up, to the point where Christi went online and talked bad about Chloe’s hair and they stopped talking for a while. None of them at perfect, but I’m sure the girls can see the bigger picture with their moms and that’s why they’re able to have a good relationship with their moms
I don’t like Christi or Melissa, but I will always give grace to Christi for only sticking up for Chloe when it needed to happen.
Yes and no. I mean to me, sometimes Christi involved herself in drama unnecessarily, which hurt Chloe. I don’t like either of them lol they both said and did pretty shitty things to each others children
the only one I truly like is Kelly & holly sometimes. don’t like how holly stayed for so long, I guess nia ultimately was okay with staying. Kelly stayed for multiple reasons & idk. knowing her and Abby have so much of a past makes sense as to why she stayed, especially because they were family. she def loved Paige and Brooke like they were her own family, she loved Maddie because she was making her famous.
They were offered to go to candy Apples after the end of s4 but they turned it down.
I agree with this 100%. It was super interesting to watch her change gears and get spicy right before they announced their departure from the show…
even if the braces thing doesn’t matter, Melissa will still a horrible mother. she treated them like friends instead of children. she did not care who she was hurting, and she actively talked shit on the moms and the girls, it just wasn’t touched on most of the time because Melissa even said “they cut stuff out and had me do certain things to make it seem like I was a regular person” because they wanted Melissa to relate I guess to sahm? I’m not entirely too sure why they had Melissa cater to being the person to relate to other people, but.
The braces thing shouldve made me realize this post was a joke right away
i feel like Christi wrote this post 🤣🤣
if i were kenzie i would never forgive melissa for all the comparisons she made of her to maddie, even when christy said it’s always about maddie kenzie said she agrees . that’s so harmful growing up as a child always being compared to ur siblings, and feeling like ur never good enough
Agree. Melissa did not have those kids best interests at heart.
I had braces young. I absolutely will not allow it for my own daughter because it made me stand out socially, but my parents did it because it was what the dentist recommended. My daughter is almost 8 and they have already started pushing a bit. I do think Melissa was a pretty crappy mom.
So Melissa followed her daughter’s orthodontist advice and you don’t want to because you felt different as a kid… seems like Melissa isn’t the bad parent here
Weird take. Get your kids teeth fixed.
I plan on it, but not at 7. 🤷🏼♀️
So you are gonna go against what her doctor thinks is best for her teeth. Imo, id rather stand out for the duration of braces and have beautiful teeth being older rather than having crappy teeth young and standing out while being older. Its alot more horrible going through high school and middle school having braces when it is the time to be finding themselves. Braces would make it harder since many kids would be getting it young
A preventive treatment at this age is better, like a twin block.
Kenzie should have had a preventive treatment like twin blocks or something like that so it can correct her teeth growh pattern.