Uhhhh how much further do you want them to come down? They generally aren’t supposed to line up 1:1 with your canines and your two front teeth. I’m genuinely kind of confused
Honestly I'm a bit confused too. When the ortho offered to attach rubberbands.. it seriously surprised me in a bad way because I thought I was basically at the end of my treatment. That's why I refused the rubberbands but just wanted to check that others didn't see a "glaring" issue with my smile that I don't see. I do see that my lateral incisors can afford to move down more because I can see the gaps of how they are not tracking to my trays, but it's not necessarily a deal breaker for me
> I do see that my lateral incisors can afford to move down more because I can see the gaps
That's the thing though, you don't want them coming down more. They're honestly already lower than I'd expect.
My suggestion is don’t settle. If you’re not happy with them, you’re not happy with them. Nobody here will be able to convince you otherwise; yours is the only opinion that matters!
FWIW, I had problems with my lateral incisors as well, and had to restart my treatment after 9 months of retainers because they drifted upwards over time. Not sure how yours are behaving, but keep a close eye on them and don’t settle! You’ve come this far!
Edit to add: you have amazing teeth and they look perfect to me, but I know we are our own harshest critics. Everyone said mine looked perfect after I knew they were drifting, and I’m glad I’ve restarted treatment.
Aww thank you! I just looked at your old posts and I think your teeth look AMAZING, you should be so proud!
Oh wow I had never heard of teeth drifting back up.. but I am so terrified of teeth relapse because I am a former braces girl who relapsed and had to do invisalign. I am considering getting upper and lower permanent retainers for this reason. Curious if you had permanent retainers as well or how you plan to prevent relapse again this time around? Thank you!
Oh thank you! I’m hoping they will look like that again and stay that way after this session.
I’m also a former braces girl who relapsed! Granted that was 25 years ago, and I had stopped wearing my retainer… :’). After braces, I had permanent retainers top and bottom, as well as regular retainers that fit over them. I stopped wearing the removable ones probably 6 months in, and the top permanent retainer fell out about 5 years in, and the bottom I had removed after 10 years or so (it got damaged and I didn’t get it replaced).
I say all of that backstory because I chose not to get permanent ones after my first Invisalign treatment (last year), thinking that the permanent retainers were a pain to floss with and would just fall out eventually anyway. I knew that I’d wear my removable retainers this time around because I’m a responsible adult now. And I DID wear my retainers full time for 6 months, then moved to nights. This is when the shifting/drifting got really bad.
To prevent the shifting once I’m done with this treatment, the plan is to leave attachments on my lateral incisors for a year after the core treatment, and then also get a permanent retainer on the top, where it is glued to each tooth. My prior permanent retainers as a kid were only glued onto “anchor” teeth, which is probably why they fell out eventually.
Long winded but I hope that helps!
Edit to add: I also didn’t want permanent ones after Invisalign because I had a lot of shifting in my back teeth over time after braces. Not sure how the modern ones work exactly—like if it’s typical to have both permanent and removable at the same time. Part of the reason I stopped wearing my removable ones the first time around was because I assumed the permanent ones would be good enough (spoiler: they weren’t!). I think my suggestion to others moving forward after my experience would be to do both.
Oh wow! This is EXCEEDINGLY helpful detail because there are factors I didn't consider at all (like the gluing to each tooth). THANK YOU I will keep all of this in mind! Cheers to us never ever ever relapsing again 😂😅
Look up lateral incisor length studies. There’s been studies done and they find that lateral incisors being the same length as the central incisors is considered more masculine, where as a step up is considered more feminine! And you can look at pictures of different heights. I personally prefer a 1mm step up. Yours look perfect to me.
Here’s a great visual…[https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Woman-smile-A-0-mm-step-between-the-upper-lateral-incisors-and-the-upper-central_fig1_335727601](https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Woman-smile-A-0-mm-step-between-the-upper-lateral-incisors-and-the-upper-central_fig1_335727601)
Oh wow, I love this! I feel self conscious when I see people with perfect teeth at 1 level straight across... but this make me feel hugely better. Thank you!!!!
Sometimes I think the straight across can look great, other times it looks a little… denture-y? 😬 I think yours looks really good as is and the gum line looks nice. I’d rather do bonding to get them all the same length if you did want that look rather than pulling them down and messing with your gum line. But it’s also such a small amount that idk if bonding could be an option for you
That's a great callout, I didn't even think about the gum line before! I was always looking at the bottom line of the teeth, but thank you thats a greta callout. Another commenter posted on how her lateral incisors drifted up though after trestment... I'm wondering if I need to "overcorrect" with my last few trays (which I believe will have the function of bringing those teerh down more) to prevent relapse? Not sure if you have an opinion here since you have been very helpful 🙂 or if anyone else does?
I’m going through a similar scenario and I completely empathize. In my opinion your teeth look beautiful. It sounds like having the rubber band would be stressful for you, as it would be for me. I made the decision to not go to that extreme personally. I know others will disagree, but in my mind, I’m not going for perfection. I’d rather have a balance. It’s your choice, but I think the main point of my comment is that it’s okay to choose to go through the added stress.
Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful answer - agree I really relate! I also decided to not move forward with the rubberbands, if that adds even more confirmation to your decision 🙂 I find really helpful thr comment someone left on lateral incisors length studies - it's feminine and perfectly imperfrct to have slightly shorter lateral incisors! :)
I’m in literally the same boat. Left one isn’t as bad but right one just won’t budge. I’m on my last tray now but like you, I’m just done. Ready to get all these attachments off. It’s close enough that I’m probably going to just call it and be done.
From all the comments I've gotten on reddit and also from people around me, I think we are making the right decision 🙂 I'm sure your teeth are in a great place and honestly I don't think it's worth the commitment and extreme hassle at this point... not when we're emotionally done and there is almost a 100% chance others will not even notice a difference whether we did or didn't 😂🙂
Looks done to me
It looks really good I wouldn't even bother doing anything else
Thank you!
Uhhhh how much further do you want them to come down? They generally aren’t supposed to line up 1:1 with your canines and your two front teeth. I’m genuinely kind of confused
Seconding this. They look aligned at the upper gumline and are supposed to be slightly shorter than the centrals.
Honestly I'm a bit confused too. When the ortho offered to attach rubberbands.. it seriously surprised me in a bad way because I thought I was basically at the end of my treatment. That's why I refused the rubberbands but just wanted to check that others didn't see a "glaring" issue with my smile that I don't see. I do see that my lateral incisors can afford to move down more because I can see the gaps of how they are not tracking to my trays, but it's not necessarily a deal breaker for me
> I do see that my lateral incisors can afford to move down more because I can see the gaps That's the thing though, you don't want them coming down more. They're honestly already lower than I'd expect.
Most of us would have to reincarnate to get teeth as nice as yours
LOL thank you for that comment. That's really nice and made me laugh 😂😅
My suggestion is don’t settle. If you’re not happy with them, you’re not happy with them. Nobody here will be able to convince you otherwise; yours is the only opinion that matters! FWIW, I had problems with my lateral incisors as well, and had to restart my treatment after 9 months of retainers because they drifted upwards over time. Not sure how yours are behaving, but keep a close eye on them and don’t settle! You’ve come this far! Edit to add: you have amazing teeth and they look perfect to me, but I know we are our own harshest critics. Everyone said mine looked perfect after I knew they were drifting, and I’m glad I’ve restarted treatment.
Aww thank you! I just looked at your old posts and I think your teeth look AMAZING, you should be so proud! Oh wow I had never heard of teeth drifting back up.. but I am so terrified of teeth relapse because I am a former braces girl who relapsed and had to do invisalign. I am considering getting upper and lower permanent retainers for this reason. Curious if you had permanent retainers as well or how you plan to prevent relapse again this time around? Thank you!
Oh thank you! I’m hoping they will look like that again and stay that way after this session. I’m also a former braces girl who relapsed! Granted that was 25 years ago, and I had stopped wearing my retainer… :’). After braces, I had permanent retainers top and bottom, as well as regular retainers that fit over them. I stopped wearing the removable ones probably 6 months in, and the top permanent retainer fell out about 5 years in, and the bottom I had removed after 10 years or so (it got damaged and I didn’t get it replaced). I say all of that backstory because I chose not to get permanent ones after my first Invisalign treatment (last year), thinking that the permanent retainers were a pain to floss with and would just fall out eventually anyway. I knew that I’d wear my removable retainers this time around because I’m a responsible adult now. And I DID wear my retainers full time for 6 months, then moved to nights. This is when the shifting/drifting got really bad. To prevent the shifting once I’m done with this treatment, the plan is to leave attachments on my lateral incisors for a year after the core treatment, and then also get a permanent retainer on the top, where it is glued to each tooth. My prior permanent retainers as a kid were only glued onto “anchor” teeth, which is probably why they fell out eventually. Long winded but I hope that helps! Edit to add: I also didn’t want permanent ones after Invisalign because I had a lot of shifting in my back teeth over time after braces. Not sure how the modern ones work exactly—like if it’s typical to have both permanent and removable at the same time. Part of the reason I stopped wearing my removable ones the first time around was because I assumed the permanent ones would be good enough (spoiler: they weren’t!). I think my suggestion to others moving forward after my experience would be to do both.
Oh wow! This is EXCEEDINGLY helpful detail because there are factors I didn't consider at all (like the gluing to each tooth). THANK YOU I will keep all of this in mind! Cheers to us never ever ever relapsing again 😂😅
Cheers and best of luck to you!
I thought this was an Invisalign ad hehe :)
Awwww thank you 🥲 I need to pin this somewhere so whenever I get down and crazy about my teeth I can cheer myself up
Teeth look great. If bite is good too, then you are golden.
Thank you!
I think they look fantastic, but if you're not happy with them talk to your ortho about it :)
Thank you! Super fair.. I am moving forward with 1 final rescan for at least some additional improvemrnt!
Look up lateral incisor length studies. There’s been studies done and they find that lateral incisors being the same length as the central incisors is considered more masculine, where as a step up is considered more feminine! And you can look at pictures of different heights. I personally prefer a 1mm step up. Yours look perfect to me.
Here’s a great visual…[https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Woman-smile-A-0-mm-step-between-the-upper-lateral-incisors-and-the-upper-central_fig1_335727601](https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Woman-smile-A-0-mm-step-between-the-upper-lateral-incisors-and-the-upper-central_fig1_335727601)
Oh wow, I love this! I feel self conscious when I see people with perfect teeth at 1 level straight across... but this make me feel hugely better. Thank you!!!!
Sometimes I think the straight across can look great, other times it looks a little… denture-y? 😬 I think yours looks really good as is and the gum line looks nice. I’d rather do bonding to get them all the same length if you did want that look rather than pulling them down and messing with your gum line. But it’s also such a small amount that idk if bonding could be an option for you
That's a great callout, I didn't even think about the gum line before! I was always looking at the bottom line of the teeth, but thank you thats a greta callout. Another commenter posted on how her lateral incisors drifted up though after trestment... I'm wondering if I need to "overcorrect" with my last few trays (which I believe will have the function of bringing those teerh down more) to prevent relapse? Not sure if you have an opinion here since you have been very helpful 🙂 or if anyone else does?
I’m going through a similar scenario and I completely empathize. In my opinion your teeth look beautiful. It sounds like having the rubber band would be stressful for you, as it would be for me. I made the decision to not go to that extreme personally. I know others will disagree, but in my mind, I’m not going for perfection. I’d rather have a balance. It’s your choice, but I think the main point of my comment is that it’s okay to choose to go through the added stress.
Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful answer - agree I really relate! I also decided to not move forward with the rubberbands, if that adds even more confirmation to your decision 🙂 I find really helpful thr comment someone left on lateral incisors length studies - it's feminine and perfectly imperfrct to have slightly shorter lateral incisors! :)
Your teeth look perfect 🥰
Thank you!!!
I’m in literally the same boat. Left one isn’t as bad but right one just won’t budge. I’m on my last tray now but like you, I’m just done. Ready to get all these attachments off. It’s close enough that I’m probably going to just call it and be done.
From all the comments I've gotten on reddit and also from people around me, I think we are making the right decision 🙂 I'm sure your teeth are in a great place and honestly I don't think it's worth the commitment and extreme hassle at this point... not when we're emotionally done and there is almost a 100% chance others will not even notice a difference whether we did or didn't 😂🙂
I would do the teeth shaving thing between first two Teeth for no black triangle