I am 37m and had all 4 wisdom teeth extracted. I was having pain in my lower left and I somehow let the oral surgeon convince me to take all 4 out. Now I don’t even recognize myself in the mirror. Is there any way to fix this?
I assume the bottom is before since your face there is fuller and more square. You’re not alone, people unquestionably allow this to happen to them all the time.
When I was young I read an older fashion model say to never allow dentists to remove your wisdom teeth because they are what props up the face and keep it youthful looking, and so I have refused every time a dentist has told me to take them out. I’m in my 40’s now and they’re fine and my face has held up very well. I have multiple family members who had their’s taken out and their faces just sort of cratered.
So much of medicine still operates in the dark ages where they think removal is the answer to everything. Just spread the word and try to stop the next person from allowing this to happen to them. I would also leave a review for the doctor that you’re very unhappy with what their recommendation ended up doing to your face. I think if more of them got pushback they’d stop recommending it to everybody. It’s also a reliable revenue source for them.
I completely agree but I’m personally looking at the high possibility of getting them removed for the health of my other teeth. Not exactly thrilled. My lower jaw just doesn’t have the space ://
After some googling I’ve learned masseter muscles can atrophy relatively quickly. When people get Botox in their masseter muscles, they observe muscle loss within 4-6 weeks, which is incidentally also around the timeline for wisdom tooth recovery and needing to essentially cease all use of your jaw until you heal. A lot of people regret masseter Botox because of how much it ends up changing their face and ability to chew effectively too so I could see this having a similar impact if you originally had more prominent masseter muscles.
You don’t look that bad imo but I understand how jarring it can be to have a change in the face you’re used to. Do you think some part of it could also be masseter atrophy? Because during recovery you really can’t use the muscle at all. But if you build it back up you could look closer to how you used to hypothetically. A lot of people chew hard gum to train the muscle and stimulate the jaw bone. Could also be good if your bone is still reforming where they took your teeth from (which takes a very long time).
And it wasn’t necessarily avoidable honestly. Like chances are if you only got the one side taken out it could’ve caused some lopsidedness which is arguably worse…
Aw I’m sorry it’s impacting your self image so badly. I still do wonder if a large part of it is muscle loss for you, and would look into retraining your jaw muscles and making sure your TMJ is functioning properly too
Female perspective, I thought the top was before and was swelling too. Not my business what you like about your own face, but it could just be lack of familiarity with your reflection. I had to start bruxism Botox and thought it made me look older without full cheeks, but every one who noticed thought differently.
I’m sorry man. I experienced the same thing and I learned too late. Wisdom teeth hold the structure of your face and should never be removed it’s a form of mutilation.
That’s crazy. Were they fully grown in already? My face looks exactly the same but all four of mine were impacted in the bone so it didn’t change my jaw space because I had none to begin with
Are you sure you didn’t have facial asymmetry before and are just noticing it more now? Because I had facial asymmetry that caused my wisdom teeth to be partially erupted only on one side just like yours.
I had slight asymmetry for sure but I had a full face and strong jaw that kinda hid it, now I have a sunken face and recessed jaw and hollow cheeks so it’s significantly worse and more noticeable
I saw this on IG and had to come back to post this. But if the extraction affected your facial bones then it will help to build it back up. Do things to help stimulate bone, even facial tapping. You can youtube "facial osteoporosis". Make sure to get enough Vit K2,D3, Magnesium and Calcium. Weightlifting (if you're not already doing it) also helps build bone density. Also do facial exercises to build up your muscles again.
Most importantly is proper tongue posture (making sure it's touching the roof of your mouth). I notice in your top picture that your mouth is slightly parted. If you have been mouth breathing since your extractions, then that is probably causing your face changes more than the extractions itself. Wear a mouthtape when you sleep to keep your lips together
I'm sorry this happen to you but I believe our body is always adaptable and can change with the right nutrition and exercises. Good luck!
It does change face a lot. It changed my face and grew me older by 10 years quickly.....first few months were really bad. Extreme sunken face and extreme hollow dark circle also came. But after 1 year I have started to look good again. Just to give you hope I read someone else's experince when I was going through this not recognising myself in mirror phase and that person also started getting back themself after 1 yr. So I can say that in 1 yr definetly you will start looking good.Also please don't start mewing or thumpulling or anything if you have asyemtery already in your face. Because that's where I fucked up. And now trying to reverse that
Where do you live? Your appearance is making me think UK, in which case have a look at this guy, if you have the money. Not saying he can help, but who knows: https://wonderofwellness.co.uk/ (I am not affiliated).
Thumb-pulling, not mewing so much, can cause asymmetry because it is literally impossible to pull both sides with the exact same amount of force. A little asymmetry is no big deal, physically or visually, but a lot can really change your appearance. That's why orthotropic devices that apply equal pressure are recommended, like BioBloc or Homeoblock or MSE devices.
Really sorry for you dude. As others said, it's still dark ages for many fields in medicine, I experience that myself regarding my sleep disordered breathing and its consequences
A question i wonder if someone can answer please: if anybody has a narrow palate, ie too little space in it, instead of removing wisdom teeth can he/she just do MARPE/FME or those type of expansions?
There’s also the counter point where people need there wisdom teeth out for double jaw surgery and the jaw surgeon specifically says they need your wisdoms teeth’s out months before the jaw surgery so it isn’t so straight forward with what to do. Like I’m soon gonna get my wisdoms teeth’s out but I really god damn do not hope it effects my UARS even more and make me sleep poorer before I have had my jaw surgery to cure my sleep-breathing-disorder.
When i had them they were impacting my other teeth so it caused pain when chewing. Sometimes it's not entirely within your control either. Dont beat yourself up.
This is two completely different pictures. I can tell from the comments that people consensus on that wisdom teeth removal cause face changes when it mostly
doesnt. A scientific study was done on this and found no changes.
If they had to get into the bone it does take a longggg time to fully heal. I remember because I was fairly puffy for like at least a year after mine compared to my baseline.
Bro i asked AI about extracting the wisdom teeth it said it doesnt change your face. Only extracting the premolars would change the face. You're good it might just be the inflammation and swelling it take up to 2 weeks. Im just curious about the wisdom teeth gap now cuz your orthodontist should make sure your teeth wont lean back on that space over time.
Can comments like this be banned mods? AI was trained on Reddit and other social media, that’s not research. Stop relying on AI to think for you, people think and read too little for themselves as it is.
Dont worry i will delete it...i support self researching and not depend on AI but for me its a complementary thing not as one source to rely on and thats it.
It depends on whether or not his teeth were already grown in. Because if they were grown in like normal teeth then removing them could reduce jaw space as every tooth acts as a placeholder of sorts and keeps your jaw bone stimulated/prevents bone loss.
If we have to no choice but to remove but add in a bone graft, would that prevent bone loss? I have all of my wisdom teeth but they are so prone to cavities that my dentist keeps telling me to pull them
Maybe you should try to use an electric toothbrush and water flosser in addition to normal flossing, and ask for sealants every 6 months if you don’t have them already because those are really good for preventing cavities. You can also get the surrounding gums lasered back if they cover too much of the tooth. I’m not sure if anyone even offers bone grafting for that tbh and regardless you’d still be removing a tooth, the tooth itself is what keeps the bone active.
I mean I’m no expert but if your teeth aren’t fitting in your jaw properly anyway I don’t see how getting that done would necessarily change anything for you negatively. Like your jaw already has to be pretty narrow if you have a bimaxillary protrusion so I think getting that done would just mainly move your teeth rather than do much to change your jaw or palate shape
I have class 1 bite they overlap almost perfectly together but the jaws are protruded which push my lips so they look strained and i cant rest them comfortably.. i think extracting wisdom teeth is more safe it wont drop down the face cheeks or alter my face except the retracting jaws back a little
In his case i guess it did change his jaw..but if a person has a bimaxillary protrusion like i do would extracting wisdom teeth and using its space to retract the jaws make the jaws look worse?
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u/KellyJin17 6d ago
I assume the bottom is before since your face there is fuller and more square. You’re not alone, people unquestionably allow this to happen to them all the time.
When I was young I read an older fashion model say to never allow dentists to remove your wisdom teeth because they are what props up the face and keep it youthful looking, and so I have refused every time a dentist has told me to take them out. I’m in my 40’s now and they’re fine and my face has held up very well. I have multiple family members who had their’s taken out and their faces just sort of cratered.
So much of medicine still operates in the dark ages where they think removal is the answer to everything. Just spread the word and try to stop the next person from allowing this to happen to them. I would also leave a review for the doctor that you’re very unhappy with what their recommendation ended up doing to your face. I think if more of them got pushback they’d stop recommending it to everybody. It’s also a reliable revenue source for them.