Metal Mouth Message Board

So, I'm 28 and decided to get braces this year. I've always been self conscious about my smile and never show my teeth in photos. The reason is that I have a slightly gummy smile and what I thought were small teeth.

I met a girl who had Damon Clear braces and was inspired to look into braces because I had no idea that you could get clear brackets. After doing more research I learned more about the Damon System and all of the benefits, including smile widening, and I also learned that you can actually intrude teeth to reduce a "gummy smile". At first I thought I was going to need to get a gingivectomy in order to reduce my gummy smile, but after I went to see the orthodontist I learned that I actually don't have as small teeth as I thought I did. My teeth only *looked* small because they were angled inward so much that when you look at them they look much smaller than they are. Not only did I learn that my teeth aren't as small as I thought, I also learned that I had a deep bite (overbite) that when corrected, would also intrude my teeth such that my gum line is higher.

The orthodontist explained that when your teeth don't have an opposing force from the lower teeth, the gum line and teeth continue to grow down until it thinks there is a stopping place. Since I have an overbite, my four front teeth and gum line are lower than they would have been if I didn't have one. The braces will not only widen my smile but also correct the overbite while bringing up my gum line on the anterior teeth.

I will say that I'm really the only one who notices my "gummy" smile. After I got braces everyone was like "why did you need them? your teeth are fine!" Even if no one else notices that much of a difference, I will make a big difference for me so I'm glad I'm going through this process!

I should also mention that I got Damon Clear on both the upper and lower arch. i'm really glad that I got them on the lower arch because believe it or not, they do show! Especially because there are bumpers on the back molars to prevent my upper teeth from hitting the lower brackets. It was only like $350 extra to get the clear on the lower arch which I thought was totally worth it given that these will be on from 18-24 months.

Congrats and welcome! Keep us posted on your progress. I have seen a couple of cases of good gummy-smile reduction with braces only here on Archwired, and am hoping for some of the same myself! Good luck!

Welcome to the club! I'm almost 2 months into my damon clear braces treatment as well so I think we're on similar timelines

Thanks! I'm starting to get a little freaked out... I saw a bunch of posts on this board about face shape changing for the worse. Hopefully I don't notice the same thing with myself.

LittleSern wrote:Thanks! I'm starting to get a little freaked out... I saw a bunch of posts on this board about face shape changing for the worse. Hopefully I don't notice the same thing with myself.

I have been told in most cases provided your orthodontist knows what he/she is doing any facial changes are generally for the positive

For me I asked for case studies from my ortho of people she treated in the past... that helped seal my confidence

LittleSern wrote:So, I'm 28 and decided to get braces this year. I've always been self conscious about my smile and never show my teeth in photos. The reason is that I have a slightly gummy smile and what I thought were small teeth.

I met a girl who had Damon Clear braces and was inspired to look into braces because I had no idea that you could get clear brackets. After doing more research I learned more about the Damon System and all of the benefits, including smile widening, and I also learned that you can actually intrude teeth to reduce a "gummy smile". At first I thought I was going to need to get a gingivectomy in order to reduce my gummy smile, but after I went to see the orthodontist I learned that I actually don't have as small teeth as I thought I did. My teeth only *looked* small because they were angled inward so much that when you look at them they look much smaller than they are. Not only did I learn that my teeth aren't as small as I thought, I also learned that I had a deep bite (overbite) that when corrected, would also intrude my teeth such that my gum line is higher.

The orthodontist explained that when your teeth don't have an opposing force from the lower teeth, the gum line and teeth continue to grow down until it thinks there is a stopping place. Since I have an overbite, my four front teeth and gum line are lower than they would have been if I didn't have one. The braces will not only widen my smile but also correct the overbite while bringing up my gum line on the anterior teeth.

I will say that I'm really the only one who notices my "gummy" smile. After I got braces everyone was like "why did you need them? your teeth are fine!" Even if no one else notices that much of a difference, I will make a big difference for me so I'm glad I'm going through this process!

Congrats on getting started! I started about a month after you did with Damon 3MX metal braces and was provided an estimated treatment time of around 18 months give or take a few. I can relate to your comment about everyone asking why you need braces when they think your teeth and smile are fine. My teeth are fairly straight but I have a deep overbite like you and that bite issue is the main reason I got braces. Anyway, good luck with your journey and I look forward to seeing your posts on your progress! Also, don't worry about facial changes as aspiromusings pointed out. As long as you picked a good ortho, and from your description it sounds like you did, he/she knows what they are doing. But if you want to assure yourself that it will not happen, ask them about other similar cases they have treated and the outcome.

So I am a little more than 2 months into my treatment. The braces were placed on 3/20 and then I had my first wire change on 5/15/15. The process has been pretty painless so far. Apparently the 3rd wire, which I'll have put on June 26th, will be the "workhorse" and do most of the moving. There is an issue on my orthodontist's website where I can't see my progress pictures so once that is resolved I'll post the latest.

I'm going to post my photos from before my braces were ever put on. If you were wondering, yes, that's a baby tooth in there. I was not only born without wisdom teeth, but also one of my bottom molars has no adult tooth underneath it and it's still there. I don't have a bracket placed on that one.

Issues noted:

- Overbite/deep bite
- My front teeth are angled inward 20 degrees more than they should, making my teeth look even smaller than they already are.
- Gummy smile - according to my orthodontist this is both skeletal *and* dental. He can reduce my gummy smile by addressing the deep bite and rotating the teeth back outward, as well as intruding the front teeth.[/list]

Got my before and afters...

left is date of insertion
right is at 8 week appt, first wire change

LittleSern wrote:Got my before and afters...

left is date of insertion
right is at 8 week appt, first wire change

Looking good, you must be feeling excited =)

wow, look at that change already! nice job! my front teeth were angled in also and I thought they had gotten shorter over the years, but once they were brought out and up, oh my, what a huge difference. I have big teeth and didn't even know it! ok, well, not big, but they don't look too short to me like they used to. I'm so happy with the change! I have 2-3 mos to go (been 19 mos so far)

Looks great, Lorianne! I'm excited to see my front teeth look larger

I have my 3rd wire change coming up this Friday. I'm excited about what this one will do because my ortho said that the 3rd wire is the "workhorse".

Interestingly, the 2nd wire didn't cause any discomfort and I don't really see much of a difference between when it was put on and now, but my family has been commenting more lately on how my teeth look better so I guess it was doing something. I'm going to ask my ortho what changes he expects to see with the 3rd wire.

We started around the same time. I will be checking your progress once I am allowed to create my thread with pics

I have my next appt in about 2 hours and thought I'd post some progress pics! I think my gums are already showing a little less. I'm a little concerned because my gums seem a little more puffy than they did before, but I wonder if that's just due to the movement going on. I'll ask my orthodontist about it when I see him today.


From top to bottom, here is the day the braces were put on, then about a month later, and then today:




And then here's before braces, and then today: