Before & After Case Studies

Bailey D.

Sometimes canine teeth have a mind of their own! Often canines become impacted and don’t show up in the mouth at all but rather stay hidden under the bone and gums. When this happens, surgery is required to go find the canines, attach to them and orthodontically move them into their correct positions. Thankfully, Bailey’s canines at least showed up to the party!… They missed the target by a bit, but with a little help from the magic of orthodontics we were able to put them where they belong.

Sydney N.

What a great smile! It was not a secret that Sydney had a big overbite. She announced that her overbite was “huge” the first time I met her! I don’t know if I would put her overbite in the huge category, but it was significant. Although sometimes overbites require extraction of teeth, Sydney had NO teeth extracted. We treated Sydney while she was growing and as a result we were able to adapt growth while moving teeth to get rid of her overbite. And, although her dad wanted us to use old fashioned head gear (I think just to keep the boys away), we had much better, and more discrete methods! Sorry dad!

Hattie H.

Everyone loves Hattie. She had a big personality and now has the big smile to match! It was so fun to see how much Hattie’s teeth and smile changed between each visit.

Carol S.

Carol was literally chewing up her palate! Her lower front teeth had over-erupted so far that they hit her gums and nothing else when she would bite. Not only did she not like the appearance, she was tired of always having sores behind her front teeth. The challenge in this case was to bring her lower front teeth down to the same level as the neighboring teeth without those neighboring teeth erupting and thereby changing her bite.

Megan H.

Here is a fine example of what thumb-sucking can do to teeth! Megan had sucked her thumb throughout childhood and even into her adult life. As you can see, only her very back molars contacted each other when she bit down. This type of open-bite situation almost always requires jaw surgery to correct. For Megan, jaw surgery wasn’t a realistic option so we approached her treatment differently. 

Rick S.

This is my neighbor, Rick. He came to me because he hated not only the way his teeth looked but felt they were getting worse. On top of that, biting into an apple or a sandwich with his front teeth was nearly impossible! We determined the best treatment would be jaw surgery to correct his jaw relationship as well as his underbite. 

Matt C.

Having teeth extracted is scary! But, sometimes it is completely necessary. We often see cases similar to Matt with severe crowding. I tell people all the time, with braces I can always straighten all of the teeth, but sometimes that leads to unfortunate consequences. For instance, had we just put braces on his teeth and aligned all of them, Matt’s teeth would have been drastically flared. 

Jessica D.

Jessica came in and told us that she just hated to smile (and her mom confirmed). Now, Jessica has a contagious smile that she displays without hesitation!

Kali K.

Kali didn’t like her overbite and the how short her front teeth appeared. She also was able to bite into her palate with her lower teeth… obviously not a comfortable situation! Often overbites are also associated with a deep bite. Kali was treated with braces in conjunction with a Herbst appliance. We also performed a little esthetic sculpting of the gums with our soft tissue laser. Without any injections and very little discomfort we raised the gums to where they belonged for a beautiful outcome.