What constitutes a broad smile? I tell my patients the “Julia Roberts look” but more and more I am hearing in response, “huh?” Not only is Julia Roberts becoming less and less well-known but gorgeous broad smiles are also becoming less and less common. To me, a broad smile is teeth from one corner of the mouth to the other, wall-to-wall teeth with no dark spots in the corners of the mouth. In a broad beautiful smile the back teeth are prominently visible. 

Why are broad smiles becoming more and more rare? The reason is because more and more people have underdeveloped dental arches or upper and lower jaw bones. Almost everyone these days has crooked teeth and crooked teeth are nothing more than a symptom of jaws that have not fully grown.

What causes jaws not to fully grow? There are many possible answers and for most people, probably a combination of answers but the most common causes are: too soft of a diet, over use of a pacifier or thumb sucking, mouth breathing, allergies, improper tongue position and poor swallowing pattern.

Can underdeveloped jaws be prevented? Absolutely, but only if growth problems are clearly identified at an early age and those problems are resolved with enough time for a child’s natural growth to get back on course. 

Can underdeveloped jaws be corrected if I am no longer growing? This is a highly controversial topic in dentistry. The majority of dentists will probably answer this question with something like, “not without surgery”. I too used to think that was the correct answer to this question because that is what I was taught in dental school. However, I have since learned better and now absolutely know (based on treating hundreds of patients) that a non-growing jaw can be enlarged non-surgically with orthopedic dental appliances. 

If a jaw can be made bigger, how does this benefit me? Remember crooked teeth is nothing more than a symptom of underdeveloped jaw bones, so in order to straighten crooked teeth the doctor has to either move teeth off the center of the dental arch (in cases of minor teeth crowding), overly splay teeth, slenderize teeth, or extract teeth.  Teeth can not be magically aligned in a space that is too small without making one or more of these compromises. However, if I can enlarge the dental arch to create the space required to align the crooked teeth then I do not have to make any of the above compromises; and I also get the added benefit of a broad, beautiful smile.