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Can braces widen your smile?

Can braces widen your smile

Braces can do more than straighten crowded or crooked teeth. Using the latest techniques, our specialists can improve your bite and expand your arch to achieve a broad and beautiful smile.

Treatments for a narrow smile

If your teeth crowd together, it can sometimes create the illusion of a narrow smile. You might show fewer teeth than you’d like when you smile or notice gaps between your teeth and cheeks (known as buccal corridors).

Using braces, we can align your teeth and widen your arch for a beautiful result. Sometimes moving teeth just a few millimetres can have a huge impact on your smile and overall appearance.

We can straighten your teeth using a choice of different braces. You can opt for traditional fixed braces with clear or metal brackets, clear, removable Invisalign aligners or even hidden lingual braces.

Widening your smile with Invisalign

Invisalign aligners

Invisalign is our most popular invisible brace – it’s very discreet, not to mention convenient. You’ll wear a series of clear, removable aligners, which will be custom-made to align your teeth and widen your smile.

You’ll need to wear your aligners for at least 20 hours every day, but you’ll have the freedom to remove them for eating, drinking and brushing.

It will take a few days to adjust to wearing aligners, but they’ll soon become part of your daily routine.

Before we start your treatment, we’ll take 3D scans of your teeth, which we’ll use to plan your smile makeover and show you your projected result. You can view your new smile from every angle, so you’ll be able to see just how your aligners will expand your arch.

Each aligner will move your teeth closer to your goal. At the end of your transformation, we’ll fit retainers to hold your teeth in their new position. You’ll need to wear your retainers indefinitely to avoid orthodontic relapse in the future.

When braces aren’t an option

It’s not always the position of your teeth that creates a narrow smile. Sometimes, it’s caused by the size and shape of your palette. This could be hereditary or influenced by habits like thumb sucking. Your palette can also change shape as you age as bone density decreases.

When you’re younger and still growing, it’s possible to widen your palette using a palatal expander. Unfortunately, if you are an adult, your bones will be fully grown and fused together, so a palatal expander alone won’t help.

Instead, you could consider an implant-supported palatal expander or a surgically assisted palatal expander.

An implant-supported palatal expander uses four mini-implants, which are embedded into your upper jawbone to widen your palette.

A surgically assisted palatal expander uses a palatal expander in combination with an operation to reopen the fused bone.

Discuss your options with an expert

If you’d like to learn more about all your smile-widening options and discuss them with an expert, contact us to arrange a free no-obligation consultation in central London.

We’ll examine your teeth and jaws and talk you through all the ways we can improve your smile.

You’ll receive a personalised quote, including every step of your treatment and the different ways you can pay for your braces.

If you decide to explore surgical options, we can help to refer you for a surgical consultation with a maxillofacial surgeon.

You can book your first appointment online or contact us if you have any questions.

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