Am I Being Too Picky?
Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 4:01 am
Hello everyone,
I got my braces off a month ago, but am not entirely happy with the results. Yes, my teeth look a lot better than before, but I didn't get the "perfect" smile that I was hoping for, so I'm quite disappointed. I know not everyone can have perfectly aligned teeth for one reason or another, but I thought it would be possible in my case.
Here's what my teeth look like now. Please excuse the excess saliva (I just took my retainers out for the pic), the yellowness (I haven't done the Whitestrips yet), and the glop of resin on my upper front right tooth (which my ortho put on to position the tooth with the help of the Essix retainers). Anyway, I don't think they look that bad from a regular distance like this.
However, a closeup shot at a downward angle shows just how out of alignment my upper front two teeth are. You can see that the right side sticks out further (thus the resin on it). Furthermore, I think there's too much of a gap between my two front teeth near the bottoms, and the teeth are actually angled away from each other, with the right one pointing off to the right and the left one pointing off to the left. It's not that evident in the picture because I couldn't get the right angle, but it's there.
So my question here is, am I being too picky in wanting these problems to be fixed? When my ortho was talking about a removal date, I brought up the alignment issue several times, but as I'm in a foreign country (in Asia) and don't speak his language that well, I'm not sure he fully understood my concerns. Also, I think in this country a good bite is more important than actual appearance, so he doesn't get why I'm so upset about a few millimeters or whatever.
I guess I'm just worried that the chance of relapse is greater since my teeth aren't perfect to begin with.
I've been trying to tell myself that the imperfections aren't a big deal, that I can live with them, they're not really noticeable, etc, and on some days I'm ok with my teeth. But on others, I get really anxious and upset about everything, particularly since I spent $6,000+ to have this work done.
What do you think? Would you leave well enough alone, or would you ask for corrective work to be done?
I got my braces off a month ago, but am not entirely happy with the results. Yes, my teeth look a lot better than before, but I didn't get the "perfect" smile that I was hoping for, so I'm quite disappointed. I know not everyone can have perfectly aligned teeth for one reason or another, but I thought it would be possible in my case.
Here's what my teeth look like now. Please excuse the excess saliva (I just took my retainers out for the pic), the yellowness (I haven't done the Whitestrips yet), and the glop of resin on my upper front right tooth (which my ortho put on to position the tooth with the help of the Essix retainers). Anyway, I don't think they look that bad from a regular distance like this.
However, a closeup shot at a downward angle shows just how out of alignment my upper front two teeth are. You can see that the right side sticks out further (thus the resin on it). Furthermore, I think there's too much of a gap between my two front teeth near the bottoms, and the teeth are actually angled away from each other, with the right one pointing off to the right and the left one pointing off to the left. It's not that evident in the picture because I couldn't get the right angle, but it's there.
So my question here is, am I being too picky in wanting these problems to be fixed? When my ortho was talking about a removal date, I brought up the alignment issue several times, but as I'm in a foreign country (in Asia) and don't speak his language that well, I'm not sure he fully understood my concerns. Also, I think in this country a good bite is more important than actual appearance, so he doesn't get why I'm so upset about a few millimeters or whatever.
I guess I'm just worried that the chance of relapse is greater since my teeth aren't perfect to begin with.
I've been trying to tell myself that the imperfections aren't a big deal, that I can live with them, they're not really noticeable, etc, and on some days I'm ok with my teeth. But on others, I get really anxious and upset about everything, particularly since I spent $6,000+ to have this work done.
What do you think? Would you leave well enough alone, or would you ask for corrective work to be done?