Everyone wants to make an excellent first impression, and one of your most noticeable features is your smile. But suppose you’re in the category of people who don’t possess a wide, confident smile due to the arrangement of your teeth. In that case, you might be wondering how to solve this problem. Braces might be the way to go.
Braces can help people of all ages to widen their smiles, since narrow smiles are the result of improper teeth alignment. The continuous pressure exerted by braces on your teeth moves them into an improved position, giving you a broader and more confident smile.
Attaining a wider smile promises to be a rewarding experience that will change how you feel and look. But how exactly do braces help achieve this? Let’s take a look.
What Does Widening Your Smile Mean?
Widening your smile is a process that involves changing the shape of your mouth. Some of the things involved might include moving the teeth and enlarging the smile.
You can classify a slight smile as one that shows six teeth or less when you smile. If you are after a broader and more confident smile, there are some ways you can widen your smile. One of them is using braces or the increasingly popular alternative, Invisalign. Another way is applying fast veneers.
Fast veneers offer the wearers a broader smile and probably the illusion of a fuller mouth. When you use fast veneers, it’s also possible to change the shape and color of your teeth. So fast veneers widen your smile and allow for a complete teeth makeover.
Braces and Invisalign are some of the trusted orthodontic procedures you use for smile widening. The braces or Invisalign gently apply pressure on your teeth and slowly widen your smile. To make the smile widening process even better, you can add a teeth whitening process. The majority of teeth widening procedures involve the use of braces.
Some other methods of smile widening are oral surgery or palate expanders to change the shape of the jaw.
Are Braces a Good Way to Widen a Smile?
Correcting a narrow smile by using braces is an excellent way of achieving your goal of a great, wide smile. A narrow mouth arch is a significant reason for a smaller smile as it leads to an overcrowded mouth or misaligned teeth. Both things could lead to poor bite, and a poor bite will lead to further problems like teeth cracking or breaking.
Specialized braces without elastic bands holding the archwire in place work exceptionally well in widening narrow arches. A particular specialized type of braces that does this job well is the Damon Smile braces.
Damon Smile braces use an innovative slide mechanism that holds the archwire in place. This slide mechanism allows the teeth to move while the archwire applies constant pressure on the teeth. The sliders also enable the arch to widen, improving the position of the teeth and giving you that wide smile you’ve always craved.
Another great thing about Damon Smiles braces is that their custom mechanism makes it faster to achieve smile widening than regular braces. In most orthodontist procedures, speed equals pain. Damon Smiles is a notable exception. Not only do these braces do the job quicker, but they also offer improved comfort.
How Can Braces Affect Your Facial Structure?
Braces are supposed to improve various dental malformations in your mouth, right? Do they also have anything to do with the structure of your face? Yes, they do.
For example, after using braces on a mouth with a narrow arch, it adjusts the jaw. The pressure exerted on the teeth by the brace changes the shape of the jaw, which leads to a change in the general facial structure.
Let’s further examine how braces affect the facial structure while correcting an overjet, open bite, and underbite.
Overjet
An overjet happens when the upper teeth jut out too much over the lower ones. An overjet can result in a weak chin and hollow cheeks. When you use braces to correct an overjet, they make the mouth arches match, creating a more nuanced jawline and a stronger chin.
By moving the upper teeth backward, you alter the structure of your face, giving it a more balanced jawline.
Open Bite
An open bite is a severe form of overbite. In this case, the front teeth don’t meet at all. The lips have to stretch so they can cover the front teeth. Open bite is a severe condition. It causes speech problems and issues with eating, and it gives the face a long shape.
Correcting an open bite with braces improves your facial structure, merges your front teeth, gives you a better and broader smile, and eases eating discomforts.
Underbite
An underbite affects the lower jaw. It sticks out over the upper one and makes the jaw more protruded in the facial profile.
After correcting an underbite with braces, the lower part of your face merges with the upper part. This matching of both jaws gives the face a softer and more pleasant look. Jaw reduction surgery may be needed to correct this severe bite.
Before and After Effects of Using Braces
How can braces change your appearance, oral health, and confidence? Let’s look at the before and after of treatment with braces.
Before Braces
Before you visit an orthodontist for braces, you may face some difficulties on a daily basis. The most noticeable is often a lack of confidence due to a misaligned smile. There are also dental problems like crooked teeth, overcrowded teeth, and various malocclusions.
Crooked and overcrowded teeth are also difficult to clean. Which means there’s a possibility of tooth decay or gum disease.
After Braces
After you’ve had braces applied and they start doing their job, here are some things that you will notice:
- Proper alignment of the upper and lower jaws
- Evenly spaced teeth and a broader smile
- Better oral health
- Improved self-confidence
- Better overall health and ease in eating
How Long Do Braces Take to Widen Your Smile?
This depends on the type of braces you’re using. Damon Braces require at least 12 months before they can guarantee that the roots of the teeth are in the places they are meant to be. Other braces solutions may offer a shorter time frame, but their results aren’t as successful and long-lasting.
Most of the time, people who use Damon Braces require between fourteen and eighteen months for proper smile widening. Damon Braces work faster than traditional braces. Their customized sliding mechanism works better than the elastic bands in conventional braces.
