Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi.

Would somebody please post some pictures to show me an example of how your smile was 'broadened' with braces alone? (TPA and other appliances are fine, I'm referring to non-surgical examples).

I would really like to see a few actual cases of this.

Thanks and Cheers

Glen

I think this is happening for me, and I just have braces. If I can find the charger for my camera I will be sure to post some pictures for you.

that is what they are doing to mine right now, but the ortho said it takes 6 mts so i will show pics, when things get moving

I bump this topic because I'm want to see actual cases too.

Here are some pictures showing how my arch has widened...I have expanders and braces, but I didn't have surgery. I have had braces and expanders for 6 1/2 months.

Here is my progress on the bottom (progress has been slow, since I was having issues with my expander and had to have it removed for awhile):





And here is my progress on the top (which has been more noticable):





I have been told by some orthos that this isn't really 'expansion', since my palate is not actually widening, my teeth are just being tipped outwards. However I am definitely noticing a difference. It is kind of hard to tell from these photos--but you can sort of see how my smile has broadened (i.e. you can see more teeth in the second photo):





We will see how things progress from here!

Hi Jaws.

I think I understand now - what a great improvement you've experienced.

Thanks and Cheers

Glen

you can see here in my photo's how just wires alone have "uncrowded" alot of my teeth, by Christmas, all should be inline. The last photo in the series was taken 2 weeks ago.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y262/g ... pare_3.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y262/g ... pare_1.jpg

Jaws--I would really be interested in finding out from you how old you are (approximately, if necessary), and what your ortho says about any possibility of your gums receding or any future problems 20-30 years from now. I keep asking my ortho about it and he told me that it would be ok for 20-30 years, then I would start experiencing problems. I don't know if it is because he has old school or what. I am 33 and would LOVE not to have to have SARPE.

do you have a cross bite, and if so, about how much?

thanks,

Jodster,

I am 26 years old, and my ortho hasn't mentioned anything about my gums receding or future problems. However, it is important to note that my palate wasn't extremely narrow to begin with. I went to two different orthos before starting my braces journey, and one ortho recommended extractions, while the second ortho (who I eventually went with) said that he would not need to extract.

So, my current ortho did not extract any teeth. However, I have also begun to realize that the method he is using (with the upper and lower expanders) is not very well-known (neither of the orthos on this site have heard of it, and there isn't much info on it on the internet). I think that some orthos question whether this type of treatment is actually possible (i.e. expanding bone and tissue in adults, especially using these types of expanders, which I have been told are not even 'true' expanders').

So it's really hard for me to tell whether I am going to have problems in the future. Obviously my ortho doesn't think so, since he is singing the praises of this new 'revolutionary' procedure, but I guess only time will tell. It's a bit of a gamble, but I am so pleased with my progress so far that I can't complain!

My advice would be to get a bunch of opinions from different orthos before you start anything--you would be surprised at how much their opinions can differ!

Oh, and no, I do not have a crossbite.

Good luck!

I'm 54 years old, and have had braces for 10 months now. I wish I had some pictures to show you, before and after. Let's just say that my upper teeth on one side were slanting in towards my tongue and not meeting my lower teeth correctly, which was causing a bite, and wearing problem. This is the problem my expander is fixing. It has pushed the teeth out so that they are over my lower teeth. The only problem now is that in expanding the arch it has increased my overbite. Hopefully they will be able to adjust this with elastics. The power chains have helped also. I've got a while to go yet, so I'm not worried yet about that.

This is the result I will hopefully achieve.

I would like to know if this is possible as I am 20 but my teeth were so much straighter only a couple of years ago. I know our teeth move throughout our lives (hence the importance of wearing your retainer) but I don't know when your jaw stops growing?

Georgina