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Status Brace

Fake or non-functional bejeweled braces bought by teenage girls from a street market in one of the poorer districts of Bangkok.

Whilst we didn't get an opportunity to ask any gem-grinning consumers about this product my assumption is that purchase motivation is driven by a mixture of decoration, experimentation, and status - showing off that one's parents can afford to pay for this kind of dental care. 39 Baht (0.9 Euro)
buys you a brace for upper or lower rows.

From a humidly sweaty night trying to understand the flow of a Bangkok street market.

Writing from Bangkok | March 19, 2007 | Permalink