Metal Mouth Message Board

My previous posts about my issue with my smile: http://archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=35736
http://archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=35776
http://archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=35778

You know what is really weird? On the print out of the before and after pictures they gave me, they used the after picture that I wasn't smiling in! I'm like...okay... Did I really look that bad? Haha.

My teeth look nasty and yellow in the after picture because of the lighting. I do need to whiten them, though.

My issue is that my top front teeth don't show much when I smile. They seem to show less now after braces. My two front teeth look about the same size, though. Maybe it is because my lip doesn't seem to move up as much anymore?

When I was researching low lip lines, I found a book on Google books that said a low lip line could be corrected by a frenectomy/frenum repositioning. I hope that is true.

Hi -

I don't know about the frenectomy thing, but it seems like it would work. I've heard that other people have had them, but I'm not sure if it was because their front teeth didn't show much. I have problems with crooked/lopsided lips that are not symmetrical and they're really thin.

I know this is not answering your question, but I think you have a great smile (I've looked at the other pics) and was just wondering how long were your braces on?

Thanks!

My braces were on for about 3 years.

Oh my gosh, and I just realized that my midline is off now! What do I do? And I noticed when I bite down my left front teeth are forward more than the right ones. I can see more space between my top and bottom teeth on the left when I bite down.

You had a nice smile before and you have a nice smile after, it's just different. But the braces corrected the functional issues (overbite etc.) so your teeth will not wear down prematurely and that was the point in your case, right? I do agree you should look into the frenectomy or whatever because the lip seems to bother you so much. Teeth are not perfectly shaped and all the same size so that makes the midline off or makes bigger space some places. It's normal, it's natural. If they would too perfect, they might look like fake teeth and who wants that?

Congrats on making it thru braces from another one who had a 3-year treatment!

Thanks! But my midline was straight before the braces.

With all due respect to your three years in braces...your teeth looked fine before. I know, I know, it isn't PC to say so.

Did they lenghten (cut) the gum on your left lateral? It looks higher and more symmetrical. I had that done and I think she cut it too high.

Thanks. Do you think my teeth looked better before the braces?

And no, they didn't cut the gum.

Hi -

I agree with Steph in Sac. Your teeth looked great before and they look great now. I'm just surprised it took three years to change what seems like so little when other people have them on less time and have to correct a lot of problems. If I had had your initial teeth, I probably wouldn't have gotten braces, but I'm not sure what your problems were based on the picture. I do see that your midline is a tiny bit off now that your braces are off and it used to be straight, but since I got braces just recently, I haven't reached that stage of nitpickyness. However, if it bothers you a lot, I bet a lot of people on this forum would tell you to talk to your ortho again.

Thanks.

Haha, it took 3 years because originally I only had top braces on, but my ortho decided that he couldn't do it with only the top braces so I had to get bottom braces on. I didn't have that many problems with my teeth. I had a slight overbite and my top teeth were at different levels. Some were a lot longer than the others.

Ok. That makes more sense.

Yeah, we pretty much had to start over when I got the bottom braces put on.

I just got back from my ortho appointment. I told him about my concerns, and he said that my midline is off because of the way they had to move my teeth to make my bite good. Since my bones are already developed, they can't fix it. If I was like 7 years old, they could fix it with head gear or something like that, but I'm not. Haha. He also said it was only off by about .5 mm, so no one would notice it.

I guess I'm okay with my teeth now since he said that he did all he could for my teeth. I am still not okay with my smile, though. I hate my low lip line! I mentioned to him about how I found a book that said that a low lip line could be corrected by a frenectomy or frenum repositioning. He said that he didn't think it would help, but he probably doesn't know much about that.

Should I make an appointment with a periodontist? The book that had that information in it was called "Critical decisions in periodontology".

Yeah, I think you should go to a periodontist, especially since the low lip line thing was in that book. The ortho is probably not experienced enough to really know what will help your lip line, or maybe he just doesn't want to help you because he doesn't have the right knowledge, but doesn't want to admit it. It would be better to get it done (if they say it'll help) by someone who knows what he's doing. Or maybe a periodontist can help you by suggesting something else or a different doctor. You could even bring in the book to show you've done research and are determined to find something to fix your problem. If they think you don't really understand what you want, they might be discouraging.

Yeah, thanks.

It's so strange how some orthos are REALLY picky about midlines and others are not. My first ortho was REALLY picky about mine, I am almost sure I had my braces on longer because he was making sure mine was exactly spot on. I say this because my current ortho seems to be the same way, I didn't even notice that mine was a hair off and he was talking about fixing it again lol.

I wish there was something easy they could do about low/lower liplines, I mean they can do something about getting rid of gummy smiles, so you'd think doing the opposite would be something that could be done as well.