Hello. I started orthodontic treatment 5 years ago when I was in high school, had braces for 3 years, and now it has been 2 years since I had my braces removed. Since I didn’t start orthodontic treatment after looking it up online, I had my treatment at a dental clinic near Bucheon Station where my mother took me. It wasn’t a famous dental clinic haha. I had extractions on both the upper and lower teeth, 4 teeth in total, and used resin brackets. I remember the cost was around 4.5 to 5 million won including cavity treatment fees, about 300,000 won.
I’ll just talk about how my appearance changed before and after orthodontic treatment!! Before treatment, my front teeth were large rabbit teeth and protruded, so I had the typical protruding front-teeth look! The two teeth right next to my front teeth were pushed far inward. Because my upper jaw was narrow, my upper teeth couldn’t line up neatly and seemed scattered. They formed something like a W shape.. hahaha. My lower teeth were relatively straight. Because my upper jaw was narrow and I also had protruding front teeth, the cheek fat under my cheekbones looked sunken, and when I smiled, some gums showed. On top of that, even my lower jaw was on the narrow side, so I looked like I had a recessed chin... When I slept, my mouth didn’t naturally close, and when I closed it, a chin dimpling like a walnut appeared haha. At this point, can you imagine what kind of facial structure I had? haha It was a face that urgently needed orthodontic treatment haha.
After orthodontic treatment, I went from an ape to a human. As the extraction spaces were filled by the teeth, my protruding lips also moved inward a lot. To the point that my lips almost covered my gums when I smiled! As my lower teeth also filled the extraction spaces, the chin dimpling disappeared when I closed my mouth, and even when sleeping, my mouth closed naturally. My chin was originally on the small side, but once both the upper and lower teeth moved inward together, it no longer looked like a recessed chin. People say orthodontic treatment makes your cheeks hollow, but I didn’t notice that in my appearance. The cheek fat that had been pushed forward along with the protruding upper jaw moved backward, making my facial line a bit more rounded. My cheekbones didn’t actually go in, but because my facial line became rounder, they look a bit less prominent! Since my teeth also became straight, I got a lot of aesthetic benefit. Now my mouth no longer has protruding front teeth at all.
As I wrote this, it seems like I only listed the good effects of orthodontic treatment... Please think of this as a post written because my skeletal structure was a case that could see a large effect from orthodontic treatment, and I wanted to recommend it to people like me who are considering orthodontic treatment now! Thank you