Facial changes with braces (not that happy)

[wigglewiggle]

The photos are living evidences…the temples are now sunken and so are the cheeks. Could it be a loss of soft tissue and what was your doctor's remark?

[Leeshlund]

I have proof as well a new dent were my jaw used to be lol it actually left a dent in my cheek so my ortho believes me but he already warned my about it!! No worries nothing a little filler can't fix

[kribbo]

Hi Orchid,

I'm in the same boat, I regret getting braces more than anything else I've ever done. I'm 32. I got 6 month smiles braces (big mistake, should've heeded the warnings on here) for very minor top crookedness and overcrowding on the bottom. Ended up with them on for 16 months with no real explanation or apology from my dentist. Hated every minute of it, felt down and self-conscious all the time. My lower cheeks sunk in, I developed jowls and lines around my mouth, eyebags and awful crows feet. My temples sunk in a little too.

They finally came off on Thursday. I've been left with a set of teeth that are longer and more flared than before. A bit straighter but I look Bugs Bunny-ish and much worse than pre-braces. So I've spent a lot of money, time, social avoidance and anxiety on something which has changed my face and teeth for the worse, I presume permanently unless I seek further orthodontic treatment, which is really the last thing I want to embark on. My lines/jowls/cheek volume loss are all still the same now the braces are gone.

I think I'll now spend the rest of my life trying not to smile and feeling pissed off about my sudden ageing. I used to look about 5-10 years longer but now I just look haggard. Literally nothing good has come of it and it's pretty devastating.

If you find any solutions or explanations then please post them here or PM me! Best of luck to you x

[Rubyg]

Hi kribbo,

Really sorry to hear about your experience and all the other unhappy posts too. I'm shocked at how many people are unhappy during the treatment and after. What expectations did your ortho set for you? Did you notice unsatisfactory changes soon into the treatment? Have you told your ortho how you feel? Surely they can see the unsatisfactory results too and can offer you some solution?

I am starting treatment next month but really doubting my decision now in case things get worse as they seem to have for so many people posting up here.

Is there anything you would recommend to ask/discuss with ortho or do differently? Already hate my appearance enough n so nervous that it'll get worse.

Any advice would be really appreciated.
Thanks

[orchid]

Hi Kribbo,
I'm very sorry to hear about your horrible experience. Changes in your face mess with you. I know. The only comfort I can offer is that, although the changes are still there, I feel less panic-y over them. I think I regained some volume (very little) once I could use my chewing muscles better. Now I'm just coping with it. I made a vow to myself to stop looking in mirrors constantly. That helped a lot.

It's so weird than there aren't more texts about this. Are orthos denying this? How can they not know about this?

I hope you'll settle into your new face as time passes. The changes are probably not as noticeable as we perceive them to be. I hope.

Best of luck.

[kribbo]

Thank you Orchid, it does help knowing that you're less panicky now, that's exactly how I've been. Finding it hard to sleep and think about nothing else at the moment, I don't feel like me anymore. I'm hoping time will heal, but my regret is massive, I feel so angry with myself for having ever done it as I really didn't need them and I know that now. Glad your cheeks have come back a little, hopefully they will continue to improve.

Rubyg, if you are seeing an experienced ortho and have had a few different opinions on a treatment plan then I think in all likelihood you'll be fine. I think the vast majority of people love their teeth after braces and the ones that don't are more vocal about it. I saw a dentist rather than an ortho, that was my mistake. Go for experience and qualifications. If you already hate your appearance as you say then go for it. Best of luck!

[kribbo]

Oh and rubyg, I'm discussing the outcome with my dentist on Friday. It sounds strange but the brackets were so bulky that I couldn't tell what my teeth would look like once they were off. Or how my mouth would close around them, which is the main problem. My appointments were always rushed without satisfactory answers, make sure you have a patient ortho who takes time to listen and answers you fully.

[asquared]

Hi orchid, don't know if you are checking this message board any more, but I found your post when google searching some of my similar problems. My face has changed in an almost identical way to yours in your pictures. It's actually making me feel slightly better to find someone else out there with the same problem. My face changed not with braces, but after I got my wisdom teeth out in my late 20's. My jaw shifted back & upwards, I developed TMJ disorder, and my cheekbones stick out like a skeleton. I can completely relate with your feeling that you don't look like yourself anymore. I had never been concerned about aging related changes, but this facial change is not part of the natural order of things & I can barely stand to look at myself in the mirror, not because I necessarily look hideous, but because I look almost like a stranger. I try to not think about it, but when I do I get pretty upset. Have you made any progress with your contacting orthodontists? I am looking into various professionals, but I am not sure if I should just give it up as a lost cause & learn to come to terms with my current face. I hope you have had some luck with this issue, or are at least feeling a little better about it.

[Butterfly39]

Hi I've been going through this exact same thing after having 2 premolars extracted from my top row, 1 tooth from my bottom row left of the middle, and fixed braces put on top and bottom in august 2014, I could see negative changes straight away and at first put it down to weight loss but it brought it home to me when I went to family gathering in october and people i havent seen for a while kept asking if I was ok in a concerned way and saying how much weight I lost, I've been depressed and regretful since having my first tooth out, I have been to my orthodontist about my concerns who put it all down to weight loss but I have consciously made an effort to put on weight since october and eat i really unhealthy high fat food compared to pre-braces, I have put on weight aroundd my waist and stomach but it oesn't touch my face, I've had 3 more opinions from my dentist,a hospital based orthodontist and his colleague, they all keep trying to reassure me but I know my own face and I feel like I've aged about 5 years since august, people used to think I looked 10 years younger, at 28 i was asked for proof of age when I tried to buy wine, but in the last few weeks I've been told I look 36 by 2 different colleagues and people always knock a few years off how you old you look to be polite, I've just turned 39. I've been hanging on to the hope that when the extraction gaps close I'll get my old face back a bit, I've seen this skeletal look people have mentioned on here around my eyes and cheeks too. I do regret the whole thing, friends and family keep trying to make me feel better saying its early days with the braces but your comments on here are making me wonder. I feel like all the orthodontists I've seen are very careful about what they say and probably think it's in my head but have they really not had this raised to them before? My one hope is that my orthodontist told me the process of straightening my teeth has given me an open bite of 6mm, which I never had previously braces and at my next appointment he'll start working on pulling my teeth back to the original position and closing the gaps and I've read overbite and open bites can age you. Is there anyone out there who can reassure me this gaunt aged look is temporary due to the open bite, has anyone gone through something similar at the start of the process but got their original healthy face back by the end? If I'd found these tales of negative effects earlier I never would have gone through with it, I never expected it to be so traumatic and to have such a negative effect on me emotionally. Some days I feel more positively, good makeup for work makes me feel a bit better at the moment thanks for reading

[Butterfly39]

Sorry I meant to write August 2015 I've had braces for almost 5 months

[ItsFreyja]

Hi Butterfly39, sorry you're struggling with this. You are not alone. There are many, many threads on this board from folks expressing similar concerns about braces and their face -- some extraction cases, others non-extraction. I too have the long-face thing going on, in part because I have molar buildups that literally open up my jaw a few millimeters longer than its resting position.

My theory, though, is that many of the facial changes we perceive are due to atrophy of the masseter muscles in the cheeks. Those muscles tend to shrink from disuse if we eat only soft foods due to sore teeth (guilty) or extractions, or if we chew less than we normally would because it's just annoying with braces (also guilty), and I definitely developed a bit of a gaunt look due to this, I think. So I have made it a point to try to build those muscles back up by chewing gum and eating as normally as possible, and I do think it's helped.

5 months is still pretty early in your braces treatment, so it will be normal for you to feel both better and worse about your appearance over the rest of your treatment. Keep communicating with your ortho, and take lots of progress pictures -- maybe you can show him exactly what changes you're concerned about?

[Butterfly39]

Hi thank you for replying, Is it OK to chew gum with braces I thought it would get tangled with the wires? it is harder to chew at the moment, only my back teeth meet together due to the temporary open bite and im guessing its not going to get any easier when he puts elastics on to move my teeth back, I will work on practice chewing excercises. My muscles should build back up themselves then when I finally get these off, fingers crossed! I also wonder if the constant stress in your mouth and on your teeth can age people and all the worrying about it! Only time will tell,
I do try to avoid analysing my face now aswell but its hard to avoid because I have to look to brush my teeth!

[BamaBraces]

My orthodontist was fine with gum as long as it's sugar free; which lucky for me is what I buy anyway. It doesn't get caught in the wires but I do find it occasionally sticks to a back bracket but it comes off super easy, but that is probably my fault because when I'm not chewing on it I tend to let the gum sit back there pressed against the bracket.

[buffon85]

facial changes happen with time also. if i posted a photo 5 years ago and one recent (with no weight loss) you would be shocked. i show my pictures to people and they insist i have lost weight. i have not. i liked better my looks back then but thats life

i cannot chew gum, it gets stuck, i have tie wires and i find it disturbing.

[Butterfly39]

Hi button85 I understand what you're saying about facial changes over 5 years, I know without braces I'd look different to 5 years ago but its how I've changed in the last 5 months that's upsetting. I have a photo of me from may this year and I look so round faced and healthy compared to now but I guess I need to accept it and just hope for the best at the end of it all, i have to carry on with it now because of the extractions unfortunately. The orthodontists have all disagreed with me that it's because of braces BTW, I even showed one a photo of me in September and the extra lines around my mouth compared to a photo on day one of my braces but he still treated me like I was imagining it, if I talk to my own orthodontist anymore about it after 2 other opinions that agreed with him he'lll probably think I'm mentally unstable and refuse to treat me but its in their self interest to deny its anything to do with braces as its criticising their livelihood, my orthodontist was quite snappy and defensive the first time I brought it up but has been nicer since