Canted Smile - help please?!

[Cdp95]

Hi everyone, hope you all had a nice Christmas

At my last ortho appointment I brought up the fact that my teeth are canted. He said there isn't much you can do about it plus it's barely noticeable anyway, only if it was something 'you could see across a room' should I begin to worry (his words exactly).

I'm not happy with it at all, and only tonight, i had a quick look back over old brace photos from around august-october time do i realise that I *think* my cant wasn't so noticeable. Am I right?

August





Now





In September the ortho put me on bands on one side to try and shift the midline, from here on is where I think my cant became more obvious, could bands do this?

I know my cant is always there as it's to do with my jaw but is there anything that can be done that isn't surgery? I don't think my ortho would dream of surgery as an option! A fellow forum member mentioned TADS but he hasn't mentioned these once, plus the thought of them scares me a lot!

Any help? I wish i trusted my ortho, but I just don't! I feel that if i don't point problems out, they will just go unnoticed.

[BracesB4Thirty]

To be honest I can barely notice it

[Anna5]

Hello!

I can see the cant and it has indeed become a bit more noticeable. But I agree with your ortho that it is not obvious. I am sure people around you won't notice it in every day life and when you have a good look at other people's teeth/ jaws, many people do have some assymmetry (I have too). But if it bothers you, then defnitely ask your ortho about what he can do about it or ask a second opinion. If there isn't anything they can do (apart from surgery) I would say leave it be..... Your teeth are beautiful!

Greetings from Anna

[Cdp95]

Thanks both of you I'll have another chat with my ortho next time and maybe even go for a second opinion before I have them off (whenever that may be!)

[sirwired]

I don't think it's noticeable at all from the pics you have provided. The real test is having somebody take a pic while doing a natural closed-bite smile.

[vegathestar]

Omg I have the same exact problem! Anyone who got their canted smile corrected please keep me posted!

[Anna5]

My smile was also very canted and still is (although it is less canted now than in the beginning).
My ortho fixed it as much as possible with elastics.

[Cdp95]

vegathestar, unfortunately it turned out that my smile was canted due to my actual jaw being canted itself. As with Anna95, my ortho did as much as possible to straighten it up with elastics, which he did pretty well. To give you some peace of mind though, once my braces came off the cant was much less obvious, I guess all the metal on your teeth makes it easier to 'analyse' the position of them if that makes sense. Once you have your pearly whites with no metal on them you focus much less on all of that! Good luck

[Anna5]

The same with me, Cpd95, my upper jaw is also canted and I think my ortho tries to dentally compensate this with the elastics. It works well, but I am a bit worried about retention. What did your ortho say about this?
I am happy to hear that the cant is less obvious when braces come off. I think your teeth turned out great, Cpd95, and your cant is not obvious at all anymore, if not gone!

[Cdp95]

Anna95 I'm not 100% positive really because near the end I came to terms with the fact that my teeth wouldn't be perfect so I stopped analysing them so much! I have to say, my bite/teeth looked and felt much better after wearing 'box' elastics for a few months. I'm not sure of the technical term for them. Thank you it's definitely still there but I don't think as dramatically or obvious as it once was

[Anna5]

That is very good that you stopped analysing your teeth too much and worrying about all the details (I do the same, so I completely understand!).
My teeth also will never become perfect, that would have meant surgery in my case. But I think we should be happy with what we have, with all the iimprovement.
And I can honestly say that I can not see your cant anymore, I am sure it is still there if you tell me, but I am sure nobody expect yourself will ever notice.
I hope you find peace and happiness with your teeth, don't keep that very small cant you from smiling as much as you want!

[Bconnellyguitar]

Don't notice anything, except you look wonderful.

[pearlies]

I feel you and I have an issue too...doing the elastics and hoping for the best. Sometimes wonder about TADs myself.

This is all rather good advice though. We are daily scrutinizing our mouths and something about having the wires not being horizontal to the floor...makes a cant look all that more pronounced. In reality though, most people don't even recognize I'm even wearing braces or ever had an issue with my smile to begin with...bizarre huh?

Thanks for raising this issue btw!

[Cdp95]

Exactly, all we do is scrutinise our mouths when we have braces. I remember before having them never even thinking I had horrible teeth because no one ever pointed them out! Infact when I asked people near the end of my treatment if they remembered what they were like before, pretty much everyone responded with 'I swear they weren't that bad to begin with?'

If I can give any advice it'd be to just chill and not to over analyse too much (which is rich coming from me) but I think you'll be surprised with the outcome, just remember, it'll be better than how they were before either way!

Here's my finished product http://www.archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtop ... 13&t=46766