Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi there,

Have just read loads of posts about people noticing sunken cheeks, thinning and elongated face with braces in. This is freaking me out as due to get Alf appliance fitted next month and my sole aim. Was I thought it would widen my jaws arches and smile as I already have a long thin face.

Please can people who noticed this but now have braces removed report back if this has resolved/improved or if they are left with longer thinner face after? So nervous about making this situation worse.

Thanks a mill for any feedback

Hi, sorry you are having these worries. I have a thin face already too and don't want further thinning. Does your treatment plan specifically include 'jaw widening' and if so, how? All the questions I have asked my orthodontist have resulted in her saying 'well, we are not making your jaw wider' ... I am assuming that would involve surgery or treatment that specifically names that as an outcome. Braces may well give us the appearance of a wider, fuller smile (what I'm hoping for) but jaw widening seems like something else. Hope you get the clarification you need to make you feel more comfortable. I too have read the thin face after braces but it sometimes seems in relation to tooth extraction.

Hi tartanhabit,

Thanks for your response. Em yes the plan as he outlined is to use an Alf appliance and he said he is hoping to expand my upper arch from a very narrow 44 to 52 and that gaps would then appear between my teeth but that this is a good thing.

I don't mind my actual teeth really it's just the narrow smile and the asymmetry that is really bothering me for the last few years. Having a permanent snarl is not a good thing!!

Just got a bit panicky reading all the posts about unhappy results due to facial changes..kinda burst my little bubble that this was 100% the answer and feel really bad for those people getting such a bad outcome after going through the whole process.. I'd rather have the full picture and be able to ask the right q's of the ortho though and it's made me more confident to question his approach and voice my opinion during the treatment when I start.

I think this occurs due to a lack of calories with braces. Also extractions.

Hi folks! I'm 34 and had a ceramic brace fitted a few weeks ago after years of wanting one. I'm struggling way more than I thought I would. Not with pain or trouble eating etc as that subsided after a week or so, but with my self esteem. I feel so hideous in my braces and it's making me feel so low I just feel like tearing them off! My face looks really sunken which I don't understand as I thought braces would make it look chunkier if anything. I've not had any extractions so it's not that. I'm so worried that my face is changing for the worse and at the moment I'm really regretting getting them. I just wasn't prepared for feeling so down about it. If anyone can relate or has any words of wisdom I'd appreciate it! SammyB

SammyB wrote:Hi folks! I'm 34 and had a ceramic brace fitted a few weeks ago after years of wanting one. I'm struggling way more than I thought I would. Not with pain or trouble eating etc as that subsided after a week or so, but with my self esteem. I feel so hideous in my braces and it's making me feel so low I just feel like tearing them off! My face looks really sunken which I don't understand as I thought braces would make it look chunkier if anything. I've not had any extractions so it's not that. I'm so worried that my face is changing for the worse and at the moment I'm really regretting getting them. I just wasn't prepared for feeling so down about it. If anyone can relate or has any words of wisdom I'd appreciate it! SammyB

Hi Sammy,
You might want to start a new post so that people will respond directly to your issues. At any rate, keep in mind that major changes are not likely in just a few weeks -- but of course you are probably spending a lot more time looking in the mirror, and perhaps your perception is a bit skewed. You may be looking into the mirror without any sort of facial expression (well ok perhaps sadness) and that is going to make your face look thinner. The first few weeks with braces are the worst -- it's quite a shock to see oneself in braces for the first time (at least it was for me. I had seen the ads with the beautiful people in braces that were barely noticeable, then realized I was clearly not one of the beautiful people ) It does get better with time -- you'll be surprised at how little notice people pay to your braces. Hang in there.

Thanks for your response Dan.. It's nice to be able to chat with people who have been through the same thing. Of course you're spot on with everything you said. Hopefully in a month or so when I start to see improvements it'll seem worth it. Until then I'm gonna try to look in the mirror less and just get on with it! :0)

Hey SammyB, hang in there. Dan is right and it's totally normal to hate your braces in the early part of treatment. (And the middle part, and the late part...)

I personally believe that non-extraction facial changes are primarily due to atrophy of the masseter muscles in the lower cheeks. To varying degrees, we all chew less vigorously and less often during the period of adjustment to braces, and that can literally leave its mark. And any minor weight loss during the early weeks can exacerbate the appearance of this phenomenon. I also noticed worsened "resting b*tchface" right after my braces were installed, caused by my bite blocks and the way the upper brackets press against the corners of my mouth. Fortunately, all of these kinds of changes are completely reversible!

I hope that your choice of ceramic braces can be self-esteem positive for you. The folks here who have ceramic have marveled at how few people even notice their braces. In any case, the best morale booster is results, so I hope you get to see some visible progress in your smile soon.

Thank you itsFreyja!
Has your treatment finished? If so did you find your face returned to normal? Or did it ease a bit as treatment went on? I'm worried that it's only going to get worse as time goes on as I've only been in them for 5 weeks so far.. It's making me look ill and my features look really harsh and skeletal! :0(
The ceramic braces themselves are quite discreet and the look of them doesn't bother me too much.. It's just the impact on my face that I'm struggling with.
Your explanation does make sense.. Particularly since I've had no extractions. I do feel like my lower face is stretching to accomodate the braces and my jaw and cheeks bones are achy. I wouldn't have thought changes in my actual teeth would be significant enough yet to change face shape. Hopefully it'll get easier with time and I'll start to feel like my little old self again.
Thanks again

SammyB, I'm about 1/3 through my treatment and hopefully I've just passed the nadir of my facial appearance. I had to renew my driver's license a few weeks ago and the long face in my new photo is really conspicuous to me. Fortunately, no one else in the world scrutinizes our faces the way we do to ourselves!

I expect to see improvements to my facial appearance over the course of my remaining months of treatment. For one thing, I just got my bite blocks reduced last week and that has literally shortened my face by a couple millimeters. My ortho also instructed me to do "bite tights" and I've been chewing a lot of gum to try to rebuild my cheek muscles, and I hope that will start to be noticeable in the coming weeks. Finally, my upper teeth will be intruded later in my treatment (I have a gummy, horsey smile as well as a deep overbite) and that should shorten my face even beyond what I started with.

Hang in there. I doubt you have much room for things to get worse from this point. And I promise no one notices these things as much as you do!

I have been told that my face looks narrower/thinner recently. I think the change is subtle, but more noticeable among friends who don't see me often.

I didn't have any extractions, but before braces I had underdeveloped jaws and crowded teeth. I think my face settled into smoother angles as my jaws developed. I'm not sure how it'll look as I age, but I'm pretty thrilled to have a narrower face. I was looking at pictures from college, and my jaws/cheeks almost looked swollen. I think my more angular facial structure is more balanced and symmetrical now.

At least in my experience, a thinner face has been a good thing. I'm glad I didn't have any extractions because I probably would've had a much more "sunken" experience and less balanced facial profile.

Interesting

I absolutely hated my braces to start with and was so shy about it but you do grow in to them and just focus on why you got them and how great you will look when they are off!