Friday, February 09, 2007

Before: Smile and Laugh

Boy, did I show some gum when I smiled. These photos were from about a year ago, when I spent Christmas in Vancouver (December 2005). Two months later, I got braces.

My main objective was the lower jaw set-back. I didn't even think there was anything wrong with my upper jaw. Funny how if it's something you grew up with you learn to accept it. My gummy smile did not bother me at all. When both my ortho and my OS brought it up that they could minimize my gummy smile, they caught me off-guard. Huh? So what if I showed some gum when I laughed (a "dynamic smile" was what they called it, now I see their point)? Long story short, Dr. Li cut off a horizontal slice across my upper jaw, 6 mm, to be exact, to make it shorter. He also brought it forward 1 or 2 mm to work better with my lower jaw. I'm so fascinated with the whole thing! Can't you tell? ;)

1 comment:

Graham said...

Hi Kristin... I'm a class III case myself. Great blog you've got here! I'm going to link you in to mine so I can follow along with you. Congrats on getting through surgery, you're looking great so far!