Worried that teeth will still look bad after treatment, pics

[ddriver1]

I live in the UK and I qualify for free orthodontic treatment but having worn my braces for a few months I have a feeling my teeth won't look much better when treatment concludes.

I have a crossbite and I was given three options to begin with, to consider jaw surgery (which my dentist said was most likely unnecessary if I was after purely aesthetic results), to extract teeth and correct my overbite, and finally to wear braces on my upper row of teeth to bring two teeth forward and then have my teeth filed. The dentist seemed to keep recommend the third option, so I decided to go along with that route of treatment, since he told me it would be far quicker than the other two treatments.

While I'd like the treatment to be as quick as possible, I still want my teeth to look considerably better at the end. I recently got a new digital camera and when I saw my teeth in high quality I was shocked - my teeth look far worse in photos/videos than they do in front of the mirror.


Anyway getting to the point, what concerns me most is the way my bottom row of teeth slant downwards from one side to the other. Does anybody know whether this will improve after my treatment which involves bringing two teeth at the front forward and then filing down teeth + getting veneers? I worry that without jaw surgery my teeth will still look bad by most standards.
2)

[ChristyD]

Hi ddriver1, I'm no expert at all, but I would say your teeth will look great after the braces and filing. I can't really tell what you mean about your bottom teeth slanting downwards, but I wouldn't worry about having a bad result until you get close to the results point in treatment. Good luck

[Donna]

Not an expert here either, but I'm curious as to why you didn't get your bottoms braced? I can't tell that your teeth slant downward but I'm sure that braces would help even everything out. It would also get rid of the gaps.

Good luck!

PS. I know what you mean about teeth looking worse in pictures/videos. I didn't realize my teeth were so bad until I saw myself on video a few years ago. Yikes!

[Kitagirl]

You've only had the braces for a little while...I got my tops first and it took several months before they put on my bottoms because they had to kinda get my top teeth out of the way first.

I think your teeth will look just fine when they are done! Braces can be a long process.

The only thing I can see that you might get done is something to fill in the undersized teeth on the top? Because you have a couple very small ones that I suppose might leave an uneven look but then he said he's filing for you too so....

I'm learning that I need to just trust my ortho and wait. My teeth are really going through an ugly duckling stage right now but I know they know what they are doing!

[TumbleDryLow]

I would ask your ortho about bracing your bottom row as well. I think it would be beneficial. And you need to step away from the mirror and shelve the camera. Orthodontics takes a loooooong time to complete. Expecting to see great results in only a few months is completely unreasonable. I really believe that once everything is said and done you will love your smile. I've been braced 28 months and only now do I look in the mirror and go, "WOW! Holy crap, my teeth look damn good!"

So, patience.....

[drrick]

I would love to see your lower teeth bracketed as well. I think your overall result will be better.

I also think considering the very large amount of space around your (small) lateral incisors may be tough to manage if the plan is only to bond/veneer those 2 teeth after treatment (hard to see from frontal pics though) More likely some material added to the distal (away frommidline side) of your centrals ans well as adding width to the laterals. Maybe even adding some material to the mesial (toward the middle) of the canine. This will give a good balance to the size of all the teeth in your smile so a couple of teeth will not stand out as larger in proportion to the others.