Did YOUR Teeth Get Worse Before Better?

[serendipity]

I've only had my braces for a couple of days but I have read a number of posts saying people's teeth got worse before they got better - did this happen with everyone or do some people's teeth just slowly get better over the course of the treatment?
~Serendipity

[shinyam]

My teeth were so bad to begin with that any change would have been an improvment. I saw a lot of improvment in the beginning, but not much for a whole year.

I think it depends on the case. Those who have very minor problems will probably see their teeth look worse in the beginning.

[butterfly]

I am only a few days into the treatment and I also see gaps where a perfect line used to be (but apparently it wasn't that perfect). 2 days ago I thought I am paranoid because flossing felt different (suddenly no resistance) but today there are obvious gaps! I don't know if it is from rotating teeth, midline problems or from just widening my mouth (my teeth are tilted inwards).

[tokidoki]

When I got my expander, I got an awesome Madonna style gap in the front. It moved from the first two to the second two and my bite got really weird.

The front gap went away really fast though once the expander was stabilized. My bite seems to be getting better every day (I had a really crooked bite and TMJ). Too bad I don't have a clearer view with all the metal and ligatures in the way : /

[Geri]

A lower tooth of mine appears to be getting more out of place (rotated) than it was. I am not worried though because of what I have read here about things getting worse before they get better.

[Chris]

It all depends on what you call "worse". I think my teeth are straightening out but my overall bite is the pits so far.

[fins]

Chris- if you don't mind me asking, what are you correcting? My bite is really off right now but in a matter of weeks it could change again. I've had some really challenging bites since I started treatment and this current one is one of the worst.

[Eleni]

I think that ortho treatment is a bit like a domino effect - in that if one is moving, they all have to move!

You can say THAT again.

Let's see... early on in treatment, about the 2 month mark, I developed a huge gap between my front two teeth. That was fun!(sarcasm) It closed pretty quickly and was due to the fact that all my teeth were being shifted over.

Now, in order to bring one tooth forward, two adjacent teeth have shifted back and up into the gum. It gives me a lopsided smile, but I think its endearing (sarcasm once again). Once the tooth is in place, those two teeth will be fixed.

So yes, because of Cause and Effect, things will zig before they zag. But, it depends on what you are treating and how your ortho goes about it.

In the end, it should be your teeth in the final outcome - i.e. right before the braces are removed - that should worry you. Everything else is "In Progress".

[ganeshacake]

I totally agree with things get worst before getting better, at least is what's happening to me I'm a little concerned, I had a first molar extraction because I need to move everything to the left side ( I don't have a correct middleline) my ortho put a string between the left front teeth and the canine, to start to slide things to the left, but now my front teeths are moving to the right, so it's really baaad.... Its been 6 week since I had the braces on. may be Im a little anxious... but reading posts here is a lot of help...

[hannah164]

My teeth after getting bottom braces are much worse than when they started! After just two days with them I'm gettting a gap between two teeth because of a very strong powerchain betweeen teeth near it.

I also had a deep bite but with the bottom brackets only my front two teeth touch my bottom ones. None of my back teeth touch at all.It also seems like my lower teeth are tilted inwards making it look like an underbite.
Hopefully my ortho will start to correct that soon!

-Hannah




Top braces: 4/28/04
Bottom braces: 11/16/05

[Chris]

Chris- if you don't mind me asking, what are you correcting? My bite is really off right now but in a matter of weeks it could change again. I've had some really challenging bites since I started treatment and this current one is one of the worst.

My front teeth all sunk inward, some teeth rotated a bit. I have a deep bite. I wanted to get a better bite. Get those molars touching more. When they start opening up the bite by bringing the front teeth forward it makes the bite worse at first from what I experienced. I am waiting for the elastic stage to bring the molars together. Well, right now I'm missing two bottom molars (awaiting implants in the post-braces phase).

[butterfly]

I'm almost three weeks in and my mouth doesn't close normally anymore. Either I close it in front, then the back teeth won't meet, or I close in the back, and the front teeth will be a few millimeters (!) apart.... I bite my tongue at night because I have teeth in spots where there weren't any before. It's fractions of millimiters but it's enough to confuse my mouth.

[swan]

My molars and premolars were tilted inward. They felt like they were fitting together fine before, but now that they are on their way to being straightened they don't fit together. So it feels worse now.

[nvcarissa]

Omigosh, when my braces first went on I seriously did not know where my bite was going to be from day to day. Chewing is an adventure when you aren't sure exactly where your teeth are.

My teeth have shifted, straightened, gapped...you name it. At one point one of my front incisors looked like a snaggle-tooth. It was suddenly longer than all the other teeth around it. Ick. Ortho smoothed it at the next adjustmentment, thank goodness.