A Wider Smile

Did you ever notice that sometimes when people smile you only see their front teeth.  Why is that?  Often these people during development and tooth eruption form in a way where the front teeth became dominant and the back teeth get tucked back behind them.  The dental term for this is Arch Form.  Their “arch form” is “V” shaped instead of “U” shaped.  This results in a more vertical appearance to the smile.  In a big smile the sides of the mouth seem empty and dark compared to the front. The teeth on the side just do not fill the smile or support the lips.   In order to improve the appearance of someone with this type of smile the teeth that are tucked back along the side need to be brought out to expand the smile in a horizontal way.  This will fill in the sides of the smile and support the lip.  This type of smile improvement can be accomplished in different ways.  It can be accomplished with veneers giving the illusion of a broader smile or it can be accomplished with orthodontic treatment such as Invisalign to move the teeth to a better, more visible position.  Either way the result is a wider, more uniform, natural smile.

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