Crooked teeth illusion. How your teeth shape play a crucial role

We all want a beautiful, straight, white confident smile, but how do we actually achieve it? What draws our eyes to someone’s teeth, and what makes us see them as healthy? It’s easy to assume that whiteness or orthodontic treatment would do all the work for you, but there’s actually much more to it. The shape of our teeth varies naturally, because each tooth has a different role when it comes to chewing, but that variation can cause a few problems too!

You can’t fix dental problems and imperfections until you know what causes them, so here’s our guide to colour, position, and most importantly, teeth shape.

The 3 keys to a beautiful smile

Teeth Colour

The most obvious dental issue that everyone notices is the colour of the teeth. If they aren’t white, and they appear darker or more yellow, it’s an instant indication of teeth that have been neglected or stained.

Colour can be improved with teeth whitening treatments, polishing, and general improved dental hygiene. All three can make a huge difference to your smile, and everyone trying to get a nicer smile should start with these three essentials. If you’re already on your Straight Teeth Journey, you can upgrade your smile at any point with dentist prescribed teeth whitening.

Teeth Position

The other obvious thing people notice is the straightness of teeth, particularly if they’re noticeably crooked, rotated out of position, or out of alignment. Our eyes instantly recognise a straight and symmetrical smile as more beautiful.

Crooked teeth can be straightened with different orthodontic treatments including clear braces and invisible aligners. These help move the teeth into a more symmetrical arch shape so that they are all lined up in the same position.

Teeth Shape

Many people neglect to think about the shape of their teeth, instead focusing on alignment and colour, because they feel it’s the most obvious sign of a healthy and beautiful smile. Moving the teeth into a straight alignment isn’t the only thing to look at when you’re trying to get a beautiful smile, teeth shape plays a really crucial part.

The shape of the teeth can make the difference between a beautiful smile and a smile you’re ashamed of. Teeth Shape is that important and a much overlooked element. Teeth that are aligned in the right position can still look crooked if they are severely out of shape.

Let’s look at an example

We can see the lower incisor edges are uneven too. So let’s see the teeth during and after they’re straightened from a top down view.

Now we can see that the lower teeth in an arch looks much better from this view.

Lets have a look at the process from the front view.

You can see the teeth still look like they’re not very straight, but it can be deceptive. The issue is the teeth shapes. The teeth wore down at different rates so they are different lengths. No amount of braces will solve this, the only solution is cosmetic bonding.You can see the teeth haven’t been moved but the shapes have been improved making a much more even smile.

How can a tooth be out of shape? 

1. Natural development. In nature, a flower might not have petals of all the same size, thickness, shape or height. This variation is normal, and the same thing happens to our teeth as they develop. If your front two teeth are very thick and curved, but the side two teeth are thin and less curved, it can appear very uneven. This is easily solved with cosmetic contouring or bonding.
2. The teeth edges wore down at different rates and angles when the teeth were in their old position. In the previous position, the edges may have looked straight but the tooth would also be a lot shorter compared to its neighbours. When they are moved to the correct position, edges appears uneven despite the teeth being straight. This is due to the different levels of tooth wear on the teeth, and can make straight teeth look extremely crooked. Luckily this is easily solved with cosmetic recontouring/bonding.

The teeth which show the biggest shape variation are the lateral incisors – the two teeth next to your two front teeth. The most common variations are in width, length, the edges, and the thickness. A common variation is when the front two teeth are quite big and thick and the side two teeth are quite thin and small. This looks like the front teeth are sticking out when the real issue is that the side two teeth are too small. Because the issue that needs to be resolved is modifying the shape of the teeth, this means that no amount of braces, aligners or even brackets and wires will get you the smile that you really want. The solution is to first move the teeth into the right position and then improve the teeth shape.

So what’s the solution?

Scenario 1: Some teeth are too short /thin – they need to be longer/thicker. The solution here is Cosmetic Bonding, a non-invasive way to make teeth the right shape and size.

Scenario 2: Some teeth are too long/uneven and too thick – they need to be made a bit shorter or less thick. The solution here is to cosmetically reshape the edges.

Cosmetic bonding and cosmetic contouring aka The Mini-Smile Makeover.

At Straight Teeth Direct™ you’ll receive aligners from the lab which move your teeth into the best position possible, which you’ll be able to see in your smile preview, once you order your SmileBox™. If you want to get an even more gorgeous smile you could choose a Mini-Smile Makeover with cosmetic bonding and contouring, provided by one of our trusted partner dentists at their clinic. These finishing touches will make all the difference.

Cosmetic contouring
This is a quick and relatively simple process to reshape and tidy your smile. Cosmetic contouring smoothes minor chips, reshaping pointy teeth or redefining teeth that have worn flat.
Even though it’s only a subtle procedure, the smallest changes make a big impact. When combined with braces and/or tooth whitening it’s a great way to achieve a great smile.

Cosmetic bonding
First a bonding material is applied, the resin is shaped and smoothed to match your surrounding teeth, and is hardened under an ultraviolet light or laser treatment. As a final touch, once it has hardened, your dentist will further shape and trim it and then polish the surface. The procedure can be completed for one tooth in around 30 minutes.

Have you ever thought how your teeth shape could impact how straight your smile could look? Complete your free e-consultation to find out!