Metal Mouth Message Board

HI everyone, wondered if anyone can help me? PLEASE!
I am getting a fixed ceramic brace soon and i am already worrying that the end result will not be worth it!
My teeth are quite small, my two teeth either side of my main 2 upper middle teeth (not sure what called sorry) are really small, especially one of them. I am already wondering what this will look like and what they can do, i have mentioned it to my normal dentist (not my ortho) he said that once they are turned to better postion they will look bigger.
However i disagree they are really small and wondered if there is anything that can be done for these 2 little teeth? Ive heard of bonding, sounds better than a veneer to me, but might not be enough to make bigger!
I know this all sounds silly but already worried about it!
Thanks in advance!

Well, from a guys point of view I never pay attention to whether the teeth are appropriate sized.. and I've noticed that people with smaller teeth like that tend to get really cute dimples when they smile, so I'd say just dont worry about it. YOu'll look great when its all over.

Hi SuzyQ,

You've already got a compliment above so, worry no more!!

Seriously though, have a chat with your ortho and voice your concerns. If they have already agreed to you having ceramic braces then they can't think that your teeth would look silly afterwards. I had veneers many years ago that increased the size of my 2 front teeth (because I broke them). Apart from the cost, the procedure was fine.

You may be worrying unecessarily, but have a chat to your ortho to put your mind at rest.

Good Luck with your treatment,

Julie

It sounds like you have "peg laterals"... the lateral incisors are common teeth to be peg shaped. Orthos can leave them, pull them and close the gaps, pull them and put in implants, leave them and bond them, leave them and veneer them. You have lots of options!

Hi Suzy,

Tooth size varies form individual to individual and we are typically much harder on ourselves. It sounds like you are talking about the lateral incisor (2nd tooth from the midline assuming you don't have any congenitally missing or extra teeth). There is a not so common type called a "peg lateral". It is simply a fully developed yet very small tooth when the rest of your teeth are proportionate in size. There is nothing dentally wrong with them, but they often times provide an aesthetic problem to the patient.

Bonding is an option, where a tooth colored filling material is "glued" to the tooth and shaped to give a better aesthetic result. A veneer is a ceramic facing that would allow for a longer term aesthetic solution that is more resistant to wear and tear. The tooth would be lightly prepared with a drill and then a lab would make the veneer and it would be cemented. Or, it sounds like you may just have a lot of rotation on the tooth giving the visual appearance of it being very small. If you look at the tooth from the bottom, does it line up with the adjacent tooth? You want the arch to look like a "U" and have the edge be one fluid line.

Assuming it is a peg lateral, then you will want to talk to your dentist and your ortho before treatment begins. That way the ortho can provide adequate space for an aesthetic restoration (crown, veneer, bonding, etc).

Good Luck,
Rory

Thanks for your replies everyone, i just typed in peg laterals into google and got loads of pics, that is definatley what mine look like, especially one of them!
I dont think they are twisted that much i just have a V shaped palate rather than U so maybe thats the reason why they look so tiny! (ive got palate expander at the moment!)
Anyone else got peg laterals? (Im so glad they have a name!) Anyone think veneers or bonding are better? I presume that they put veneer or bonding on when take fixed brace off?
Sorry so many questions i am just very anxious!

Thanks so much!

SuzyQ, I was surprised at how much larger my teeth look now that they are rotated correctly and there are no spaces between them. I didn't even know they were rotated. Try not to get too discouraged you might be pleasantly surprised.

Hello SuzyQ!

I have a peg lateral. For the first 6 months of my treatment, my Ortho did not bracket the tooth. There was some discussion as to whether or not we would keep the tooth, remove the tooth, etc. as I am missing the lateral on the other side. In the end, it was decided that we would keep the tooth. I have ceramic brackets on my upper jaw. At first the Ortho didn't think he had a ceramic bracket small enough to fit the tooth and asked if I minded a metal bracket on the tooth. I didn't care, however, in the end, they were able to put a ceramic bracket on the tooth.

When all is said and done, I will be getting that tooth veneered as well as the tooth on the other side, so they look like they match. If it helps any, once my teeth were straightened and the little tooth brought down a little... it didn't look so bad. My Ortho is going to leave some space around the tooth for the veneer.

Good luck with your treatment. You should write down all your questions so when you go to see the Ortho you don't forget anything.

Hi SuzyQ,

I have a peg lateral. My ortho informed me at the beginning of treatment that I might need some bonding/veneers done because of my undersized tooth.

I am now near the end of my treatment, and my ortho has said that my peg lateral has fit into my bite fairly well on its own, but I might want to get a little bonding done to fill in some tiny gaps.

Here is a picture (my peg lateral is circled in red):



The tooth on the other side of my two front teeth is also undersized, although I don't think it is a complete peg lateral.

Good luck!

I have the same problem. I was told I could have the dentist build it up, but I decided to just leave it. My teeth are looking so much better now anyway.

My laterals are undersized, too, but I decided not to do bonding/veneers, mostly because I play some sports, and don't want to worry about the thought of all that expensive porcelain getting messed up. Also, I became very attached to the idea of having "all-natural" teeth.

Lo and behold, when my braces came off last month, the lats didn't seem so small after all (partly because of the Huge Naked Teeth phenomenon that happens when your brackets come off, and partly because they were no longer partially tucked behind my front teeth).

So who knows -- when you get your braces off, you may be pleasantly surprised....