Tayla Brunger | The perfect smile

Tayla has recently completed her first year of University in America on a track running scholarship. Also, like many teenagers this pathway was not always smooth and easy, and she may now have a smile as bright as you can imagine, however this was not always the case.

When Tayla was young, she had an accident falling off a trampoline. She says she does not remember much about that day, but she lost her upper front baby teeth. This meant it would be several years before her adult teeth would appear to regain her beautiful smile.

Unfortunately, it was not to be, as a few years later with the new adult teeth coming through it became clear that the accident had caused some significant issues.

Her new upper teeth were trapped in behind her lower teeth. This not only affected her smile, it was stopping the natural growth and development of her upper jaw. Without intervention it would have had a significant effect on her facial profile.

Tayla, after several years of no teeth, had been looking forward to regaining her smile and because of the misalignment felt self-conscious and wanted this rectified.

When her mother decided to take her to see Dr. Adam Durning at The Dentists, things started to shift, literally.

At The Dentists, we believe in working with what nature gives us. We avoid pulling teeth whenever possible to ensure we only change a bite to the way it was supposed to be in the first place. The first step was to grow Tayla’s jaw to where it was supposed to grow, had the accident not happened.

We could have easily pulled the problem teeth instead, but it would have caused the whole structure of Tayla’s face to be changed. Her chin would have been protruding and an overbite would have been created.

Working with her existing structure and growing her jaw, allowed us to shift her teeth in the back to move into the front and form a nice row.

After the first stage was completed, Tayla had already grown a lot in confidence. We could see it from the moment we took her braces off. Her smile, her eyes and her posture had completely changed. That day she went home on a mission. She dressed herself up and asked her mom to take some photos of her, because she felt proud of the change that she had achieved. It was amazing to see the transformation.

A few years later, after her face developed into that of a young lady, she returned and asked to now finish up her treatment and get her teeth perfectly straight. After less than a year using clear aligners, her teeth were now perfect.

Her teeth, the perfect smile

Not because of how straight or white they are, but it is the way Tayla feels about her teeth today. You can see it from the moment you meet her. As a dentist, the role in this was small but to her it has meant the world.