Archwire to widen smile?

[Kingge21]

Hi

Will a brace widen your smile on it's own i.e without spacers? I have gaps at the side of my mouth (like tunnels) where teeth should be, I've got a fan-shaped bite at the moment - narrow at the front and getting wider at the back.

I didn't discuss this with my orthodontist but I'm guessing the archwire takes care of it? We only talked about it correcting my crossbite and crooked front teeth.

Thanks

Georgina

[DrBill]

Depending on the angle of your teeth, archwires can certainly broaden the smile and reduce those "tunnels" (called buccal corridors if you want to get technical with your orthodontist!). Key word is "reduce" - depending on jaw size, tooth angulation, etc they can't always be completely eliminated - but most patients can show a nice improvement.

[mrsbraceface]

My ortho told me the archwire will widen my smile some. He took some new pics about 4 months into braces and I can already see a difference with it being a little wider. I'm sure it depends on your particular case though.

Good luck!

[Kingge21]

Thanks for all your replies so far.

I've got the metal ones on the bottom now but can't wait to get the uppers on so I can (hopefully) start seeing a difference.

My teeth/smile isn't very narrow - not quite a V - but my mouth is pretty big.