The patient first presented to our office in December, 2005.  Note how 'short' the upper two front teeth appear, and look specifically at the gum tissue.  As she's worn the edges of these two front teeth, the two centrals erupted down to compensate for the wear (otherwise, there'd be a huge gap between the lower and upper teeth).  Since the eruption happened slowly, the gum and bone also followed the teeth down.

The orthodontist was given instructions to intrude the two central teeth, and lower the adjacent lateral so the gums are more harmonious.  And yes, the patient is cautioned she will look uglier before she looks better!

Note the position of the gum tissue.  As the teeth were intruded, the gum and bone is also repositioned.

Note how short the front two teeth appear, yet the gums look much better.  The red line shows where the edges of the teeth were prior to being intruded by the orthodontist.

The patient as she appeared immediately after having her braces removed.

This is one week after the braces were removed and bonding was done to the chewing edges of the front two teeth, and the lateral was reshaped a bit to look like the other lateral.

Orthodontics performed by Dr Tushar Shah at Premier Orthodontics, Ottawa, IL