Metal Mouth Message Board

What are you going to do? Veneers? Reshaping? Leave as is?

Every silver lining has a cloud. Straighter teeth means the imperfections are more noticeable.

Besides veneers, you may opt for composite on the front teeth to lengthen your shorter ones - that would mean no loss of tooth structure as is the case with veneers. That said, composite needs to be refreshed every 2-3 years but it can be done by a qualified dentist.

My canines aren't the same... (and the equivalent teeth on the bottom... are there bottom canines?) Anyhow, one side of my mouth, the top and bottom are pointed (vampire-ish) but the other side, they are flat on top and more even with my other teeth (but they are worn down somehow). I've been thinking alot about what will be done with them... some people do have pointed teeth but some people's teeth are flat all the way across the bottom. i like the flat look but it doesn't seem right to grind down my other two teeth to even them up... do they just grind them down??

What's weird is I never noticed these assymetrical differences before I got braces!

I've yet to see what will happen with my upper incisors. One of them juts out a bit and looks bulkier than the opposing one, a rugby injury 15 years ago meant I broke it and they built it up.

The other incisor is slightly behind the central tooth, and even though I cant see it entirely it does look slimmer than the formerly broken one which they built up.

Thanks for your great replies, I can see this is a quandary for others in this position. Also thanks for not pointing out my misspelling of asymmetrical--rough day yesterday...

scott: my situation sounds almost identical except I haven't had anything done to these teeth previously. one was broken off at an angle and the other one just has a weird shape. I assume the other tooth matched before it was broken, I was very young so I don't remember. drat those "monkey bars" in first grade...

beckyboo: my misaligned and crowded teeth sort of "hid" this as well, now that the teeth are turned it is more obvious. I'm with you and don't want anything ground down, afraid it would make my teeth look even older. veneers are also permanent though since they grind the surface of the teeth to attach them and I have seen some really fake looking ones, so I'm afraid to go that route--also expensive, but just the idea of it bugs me for strictly cosmetic reasons, but I'm trying to keep an open mind because I have to make a good decision about this problem.

pearlies: composite sounds interesting, it wasn't mentioned in my case so I'm not sure why

If your teeth are uneven due to chipping a tooth in the past, veneers would be a good idea.

I'm in the same boat. I have one central incisor ever so slightly shorter than the other and once teeth are all lined up, it'll be very noticeable I think. At least to me. I'm also afraid of looking like I have fake teeth with veneers. I've seen too many bad ones I guess.

I would rather leave them as is than get veneers. I have had messed up teeth for so long it doesn't bother me even though I am paying the big bucks for ortho. The benefits in my bite and how different my face looks and the straight teeth are all so great I'm not averse to some quirky anomalies at this point...I guess.

I got my braces off yesterday and my two front teeth were a bit off. One was slightly longer than the other. My ortho "manicured" those teeth and also a couple of the bottom ones. It took only minutes but made a huge difference.

I also thought my lateral incisors were pointy (before braces) but once the brackets were off, the teeth are straight and they look great! That was my biggest concern, my somewhat pointy lat incisors, turns out they were just turned inward. The brackets didn't show the straightness because they were covered.

I am truly amazed at the difference and I bet you guys will be too when your braces are off!

As soon as I figure out how to post photos I will...what's a photbucket?

That is super-encouraging, thanks snowglobe and congratulations! I have the same thing going on with teeth that are turned looking pointy and weird. It's amazing what just a bit of a shift of the angle accomplishes as far as appearance and perception. It's like models, how they turn to the side to look skinnier, but in reverse.

Again congrats and thanks!

Ooh yeah, snowglobe PLEASE post pics! Wanna see!!

I had to have my lower teeth contoured due to asymmetrical extractions and the asymmetrically positioned canines looked weird. My dentist said that some minor contouring isn't harmful and it did magic aesthetically as after three years in braces my lower teeth still looked ugly though a million times better than they were originally.
They don't look perfect now but definitely improved with contouring.
I have minor imperfections on my uppers, but I don't think I shall have any contouring done once the brace comes off. I prefer a more natural look.
When I searched on internet I didn't find info about contouring being bad for the teeth.......

Thanks all for the replies. Regarding reshaping, it takes so much trust, especially with the two top front teeth. So I wish monkey bars had never been invented.