Metal Mouth Message Board

you look much better the second you have your braces off?

I have been wearing braces for a little more than one year, i still think my appearance at this moment is different, and in fact, worse than before.
I'm beginning to worry whether its the extra metal sticking on my teeth that alter the shape of my mouth and chin a bit... (in photos, etc.) or is it that the treatment has made me look worse as a whole...

anyone here feels the same? do you feel that u look much worse when you'r wearing braces?

I truly think that people look completely different with their braces off. It may not seem like a few pieces of small metal make a huge difference, but they do!! I think people look especially attractive because their whole countenance is glowing, shining with happiness.

i think it makes a huge difference, especially confidence wise!

To be completely honest, for a while I was really worried about what they were doing to my teeth. They were just straightening and rotating one tooth a bit, but put the braces on top and bottom teeth and I had rubber bands going all over the place and gaps were opening up in places and all sorts of mayhem! I think I fretted over and worried about the darn things every single day - okay let's be honest they were stressing me the heck out. But the Orthos do a lot of wacky stuff to get your teeth moving in the right direction - closing a little gap between two teeth might mean shifting allllll the teeth over or doing something else fruity that takes a long time and you think, "Oh crap, please don't leave my teeth like this!" =) But in the end you start seeing them all shifting into place. (Doesn't make the journey any less stressful - I mean, they ARE your teeth!) If, when you are nearing the end of your treatment, there is ANYthing you still don't feel comfortable with, just be firm in explaining what it is you still feel needs to be moved or fixed, and they will listen. After all, they are your teeth and you paid good money to make this committment to those braces! The ortho wants you to be happy and enjoy your smile!

(Oh, and yeah - I think the braces being on made my face look different - my chin even seemed different and I thought they had changed my profile via shifting teeth around which gave me a heart attack - but it was just the brackets being on and the new way I was smiling/talking/etc since I managed to hardly ever show my teeth while I had the braces on. When they came off, I looked better imo - I had almost forgotten I actually had teeth under those things )

Thanks for replying, these have made me feel better

biteowl, i dont really feel too worried about them moving my teeth. but it just seems that i can never go back to the person I look before ortho treatment. maybe i'll hv the same experience as u did.. looking better after braces have been put off. in fact what u said at last is exactly how i feel. it doesnt seem to possible but i think the braces being on does my make chin a little different

In my opinion it makes a huge difference. The second I got my braces off I finally looked my age (I'm only 18 and before I had always looked about 14) It really does make a huge difference, I have before and after pics, there really is no comparison

xoxo Eve

Do you know hotornot.com? I posted the same photo twice, once with braces on, the other one without them (digitally removed them in photoshop). It was the exact same photo. The non braces one hit 3 points more. So you DO look better!

On the other hand I aged about 10 years whith them being removed

I managed to digitally remove mine. Looks much much better. I still have the edited photo somewhere. I'll post it if I find it.

I have photoshop 7.0, how are you digitally removing your braces?

ahh you posted a similiar post before me...when do you get yours off?

Tasha0313 wrote:I have photoshop 7.0, how are you digitally removing your braces?

I can't do it anymore. Before I had powerchains the braces were thin enough to use my method successfully. Basically I used the Clone Stamp tool to copy the texture of the naked areas of my teeth over where the brace is. Then touch it up a bit with blurring and...
Voila!

Deband me now!

Sim

Yeah, I had a friend tell me:

"You didn't look bad with braces, you just look MUCH better without them"

and

"Your entire face looks completely different"

(She's only known me in braces)

Biteowl, your story matches up with how i feel now... happy to know you love your results and that the face change was an illusion!

hi 19braceface, you got your braces off already?

Gah! Orangetammy, I really don't want to sound weird here, but you have the most beautiful lips EVER! I know that sounds so creepy but seriously, I had to say something