Newbie! 40 yrs braced for second time and face looks gaunt

[traceisace]

Hi everyone I am new to the board I am very happy I found this while searching about face changing with braces on google. My story quick I had braces when I was 32 for 2yrs to correct a small overbite (actually the overbite looked worse due to my weak chin) but after treatment my teeth looked perfect! I was very naughty and never wore my retainer and now 40 years old I noticed my top teeth had started to move forward again so I decided to get re-braced. Well all was okay in July this year when they were done but now skip a few months to December, my face looks really bad :-( I have really high cheekbones but the area underneath all the way to my mouth is so gaunt I look like a skeleton. I am not imagining this either as my mum keeps asking me if I have lost weight as my face is gaunt but in actual fact I have been putting on weight to see if this will help my face but it isnt. :-( It isnt my imagination and I am so worried that things wont return to normal that I am about to march into my orthos office after he is back from christmas break and have them taken off. This is depressing me to no end. I guess my question is , is this normal and will my face fill back out again once the braces are off? This didnt happen the first time around. :-( :-(

[traceisace]

anyone? :-(

[Tobilei]

I don't have an answer for you I'm sorry, but if you're as concerned as you are, I think you should discuss your worries with your ortho. Perhaps as your teeth have moved your bite has narrowed a little but it will change again in the future when your teeth have moved to where they're going to stay? I'm sure he or she can alleviate some of your fears for you if you talk to them about it.

[traceisace]

thankyou :-) yes I am going to talk to talk with him but unfortunately he is on christmas holidays right now but I have an appt later in january so I will report back what he said. I was reading past posts on this site and it does seem like a lot of people are having the same issues with hollow face after braces get put on. But thankfully the majority said their face filled back out when they came off.

[Ciara]

I mentioned this to my ortho before I got braces (I'd lost some weight due to getting my wisdom teeth removed, and my face looked very thin - the rest of me, well, not so thin!). She said that there are a number of reasons for this: for some people their profile changes because of the "bulk" of the braces, others are inclined to suck their cheeks in, specially if they have a smaller face and find it hard to keep their mouth closed over the braces, other people do lose weight on braces and as we age, we have less collagen so our face can look gaunt, specially if "stretched" over braces, shifting teeth can also cause this but once in their proper position the problem should go away. She said the majority of people don't have this issue once their braces are removed.
If you are very concerned, talk to your ortho after the Christmas/New Year break.

Ciara

[Tobilei]

Let us know what he says!

[traceisace]

thanks so much Ciara I feel a bit better now. And yes I will definitely let you know what he says when he comes back!! It still looks so very bad but I am trying not to focus on my face so much but its hard I feel so self-conscience :-(

[traceisace]

Hi everyone sorry it took me so long to get back but there was the floods where I live etc. Well during that time I went back to the ortho and told him how unhappy I was as my face had changed particularly the lower half of my face. He really wouldn't commit to it fully being the *braces* making it that way he said it could be a number of factors. When I asked him what other factors he meant, he had no answer!!! Anyhow he said he can't guarantee that when they come off my face will go back to how it was. I said Im willing to take that chance I want them off asap. So he booked me in the next day to get them off. Well I can't tell you how happy I was to get them off early. I am happy with how far they moved back in that small amt of time and its been two weeks now since their removal and I can say my face is still not 100% back to how it was prior to braces but it is a lot better. I am slowly gaining confidence again. I also have to wear my retainers overnight but that isn't a problem. Good luck to everyone with braces I hope my story doesn't scare you. I do think age has a lot to do with it too.

[PursueToTheEnd]

Interesting. My face is gaunt even more than a year without braces.

[OldBikerBag]

I have noticed my cheekbones are slightly more prominent.


I like it. I hope it stays that way when the braces come off this summer.

[Anastasia8]

Yeah, I like it too, very modelesque.

[waltzpeony]

Hi traceisace, did your face grow back to what it was initially after removal of braces? I'm seeing the same problem - gaunt look. Thanks!