Metal Mouth Message Board

After 33 months.......I'm done!! Are they "perfect"? Nope. I didn't do SARPE so I will forever have a small upper arch and smile, but honestly that really doesn't bother me and I couldn't be happier. Here are some photos. To my surprise, my ortho gave me the original molds of my teeth, so I've included some photos of those. Yikes! I had some crazy screwed up teeth, huh?

Your smile looks so great and looking at the molds .. wow, you came a long way! You must be way super pleased!

CONGRATULATIONS!

Congrats! What a terrific outcome!

Friday 13th definitely hasn't been unlucky for you....wow, what a great result!! You must be chuffed - many congratulations!

Great teeth! I hope I get my molds too haha.

My six year old just looked over at your pics and said "Those teeth are all beautiful." then looked and my teeth and said "Yeah, you're teeth are not ready yet."
I agree, your teeth look great.

Congrats TumbleDryLow. Your smile is beautiful, the change is amazing. I am sure you are very happy with the results.

Yea! Congratulations! Your teeth now vs your molds then are amazing! I can't imagine how chewing was very comfortable pre-braces. Even without the surgery, I think your teeth look great!

Wow- congratulations on such great looking teeth. Let's us know if you ever stop smiling now.

macgirl4ever wrote: I can't imagine how chewing was very comfortable pre-braces. Even without the surgery, I think your teeth look great!

+1 Did you have trouble chewing before braces? It looks painful with the wonky teeth!

wearetheborg wrote:

macgirl4ever wrote: I can't imagine how chewing was very comfortable pre-braces. Even without the surgery, I think your teeth look great!

+1 Did you have trouble chewing before braces? It looks painful with the wonky teeth!

Actually, no. It's amazing what you get used to. Those were the teeth I had to work with, so I made it work. I looked into orthodontics and got braces not because I was having trouble eating, but for the obvious cosmetic reasons. It was only after going to orthodontic consultations that I found out how many issues I really had.

Thanks for the great comments. Having this board for inspiration and support over the last three years has been a god-send.

TumbleDryLow wrote:Are they "perfect"? Nope.

So, why arent they perfect? They look perfect to me!!

TumbleDry -

Congrats on being debraced and obtaining such a nice smile. Also thanks for all the postings you have done on this message board.

wearetheborg wrote:

TumbleDryLow wrote:Are they "perfect"? Nope.

So, why arent they perfect? They look perfect to me!!

Don't get me wrong...I'm not complaining. I think my teeth turned out wonderfully hence me putting the word perfect in quotation marks. (Yes my orthodontist performed miracles. She got a glowing thank you letter and an offer to be a glowing reference anytime she needed one.) What I mean by perfect is that my upper arch is still only 28 mm while the average is about 38 mm. Achieving perfection would have meant been doing SARPE to widen my upper arch. Since I opted not to do that, I don't have as full or wide of a smile as I could have...but as I said earlier, that really doesn't bother me. I'm just thankful for straight teeth!

A wider smile isnt necessarily better IMHO
You made the correct choice, and your teeth/smile ARE perfect. A wider smile would be different, I would call it better.


Did you have whitening done at any point during your life?