Metal Mouth Message Board

I've seen people post about facial changes as a result of extractions/braces. I took a pic of myself and I noticed that my face looks asymmetrical. Like my nose is a little more flared on one side and my mouth sits crooked. I've previousely posted pixs of my teeth and shared how my upper arch is currently slanted to one side. I never noticed these changes when looking in the mirror but I can tell in pixs. I tried showing my husband but he said he couldn't see it. Has anyone else experienced this? Please tell me it gets better once ur teeth evened out!

Pic of my slanted bite. The right side of the pic, which is the left side of my face, slants downward.


I took a pix and cropped it. The right side of the pic, which is the left side of my face, is where I notice my nostil being more flared and my lips droop down. I think it's more noticeable when u see my whole face.

Not many people have completely symmetrical faces, maybe you are just focusing on it so much recently that you have begun to notice. To me, it looks just normal. My nose similarly leans very slightly to one side, but it has always been that way my whole life so it's not due to braces.

Have you compared it with old pictures of yourself? I can't tell you whether it will change when your teeth do, but I wouldn't get too worried about it. Everything will work out fine, I'm sure.

I second the previous post by berry.

Very few people are totally symmetrical. In fact, if you took a picture or your face and divided it in half, then mirrored it on the other side, you'd look pretty different when you use your right side vs your left side.

There are so many factors to consider including amount of muscle use, bone structure, aging, and natural growth.

While it is possible that the extractions may have changed your facial features slightly, go ahead and take a look at pictures of yourself pretreatment for comparison. Hope this puts your mind at ease!

Thanks for the responses berry and dr. Tam. I have compared recent pixs to old pixs and my nose and mouth do seem a bit more off but I'm relieved that it's not so noticable.

Braces make us all a little worry about any change. I too worry when this is all over will it be okay, will it all turn out the way it should . I think it goes along with having braces. Kids never worry about this when they have them just us adults. But really you do look fine...

Is it possible that your face may have changed simply because you have these extra "things" in your mouth? I can understand your concern, though. I noticed that my lips stick out more now (looks like I'm "puckering up") because I also have an overjet, so I often wonder what they'll look like when the teeth are in their proper place and the braces are out.

Personally, I think you look fine. But we're all most critical of ourselves, right? Kinda Nervous is right - as much as we think kids and teenagers are "into themselves", I think it's the adults who are much more critical of our appearance.