Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi, so I have a bit of a dilemma. I've had braces twice already, once for I think a year or so when I was about 9, and then again 3.5 years ago (I'm 20 now). When I was consulting orthodontists, several had suggested extraction as part of my treatment, but my mother was wary of that, so I ended up going with an orthodontist that didn't recommend extraction.

Now, however, my overbite has been fixed and my teeth are straight, but I feel like my mouth still protrudes, especially when my face is viewed from the side, giving my profile a rather rounded appearance. I've discussed this with other people who all say that they don't think it's that bad, but I'm pretty self-conscious about it. Can anyone give me their opinion/advice? I'd really appreciate it!

i think that it could be too much 4 your bones...
better is the enemy of good...i think i translated weirdly but you get the point
maybe an orthodontist could tell you this...i dont think that messing with your teeth so much could be ok...

Your teeth look great to me I'm obviously no expert but I'd say that you have quite full lips, which many people would pay a lot of money for! Of course the main thing is how you feel about it, maybe have a couple of consultations and see what they say then take it from there?

I think your protrusion isn't too bad but since I know all about protrusive teeth and how they can bother you, since I have that same issue... I can understand why you want to get braces to fix it. Since your teeth are already straight, I would consider ipr to pull your teeth back a little bit. It could make your chin stronger looking too if you retract your teeth... i think it would look good.

No, you look great as is!

Want2smile wrote:I'm obviously no expert but I'd say that you have quite full lips

I agree with Want2smile.

From your pictures, personally, I would say it's your lips and not your teeth. Because when I look at your photo from the side with your lips apart, I see no problem.
Your teeth look great! and like Wants2smile said, many people would love your full lips... mine are quite thin

Speaking of lips.. one thing to consider is that retracting will make your lips smaller. I have full lips and that's what happened with me. However, I am happy with this change b/c my lips were too big before, lol.. now they are still full but they don't make me feel self conscious anymore. So, it really just depends on what you're going for. Getting a retraction will decrease (but not eliminate) your lips, and will give you a stronger chin, and will retract your teeth/smile.

My advice...LEAVE THEM JUST THE WAY THEY ARE.
Even if you would choose to follow VA5's advice and do some IPR and then pull the teeth back a little bit, I really do not think it would make a noticeable difference in your profile.
Looking at your profile smiling picture, it looks to me that you have no protrusion, your teeth are not slanted at all.
I also agree with the other posts who said that it's the lips that give you the rounded profile...I would really love to have lips like that.

are you asking this to just show off?

Maybe what you really want is a facelift. I doubt the teeth are going to change much more.

Your teeth are beautiful and I don't think they protrude at all. I agree with the others who said that your lips are just full.

Thank you so much everyone for your opinions! It seems like most of you agree with my friends, that it's fine, but it's more impartial coming from you, whereas I worry that they're just trying to spare my feelings.

I think it's just me being my overly critical somewhat perfectionist self, although I might see an orthodontist just to see what their opinion is/what my options are. But you all have helped convince me that perhaps it's not quite as terrible as I originally made it out to be in my head

are you asking this to just show off?

I'm not really sure what you mean. If you're talking about getting braces a third time, then no, I mentioned that this would be the third time I had braces to provide background information, since that might influence some opinions. Personally, I don't really want to get braces ANOTHER time, thus spending about 1/3 of my life in braces (let's not even talk about the money involved) unless I am going to get some pretty tangible results. I am just a little self conscious about my profile and wanted to get some honest, impartial opinions.

You look fantastic!

i would't get braces agan if i where you
1. you teeth look fine
2. i don't think is healty for the teeth to get braces 3 times
3. metal teeth for another 16-20 months
4. money

VA5 wrote:I think your protrusion isn't too bad but since I know all about protrusive teeth and how they can bother you, since I have that same issue... I can understand why you want to get braces to fix it. Since your teeth are already straight, I would consider ipr to pull your teeth back a little bit. It could make your chin stronger looking too if you retract your teeth... i think it would look good.

Ipr will make her teeth smaller and they are cute the way they are.
besides, she will not get a significant result with the space achieved with just ipr.
what she needs is extractions.
It getting braces for the third time is too much, then I also think may be there should be something done on her chin. Full lips would be ok with differently shaped chin.