More Smiles Dental Spa Dentistry Blog | James A. Moreau, Jr., D.D.S.

My previous post ended with a teaser about the importance of the bucchal corridor in considering cosmetic changes for your smile.

The bucchal (say buckle) corridor is the space between your cheek and the outsides of your upper back teeth that is visible when you smile. We always ask patients to look in a mirror, smile and then count how many teeth they can actually see in their natural smile line. Usually, that is the number of teeth that would need to be veneered, or treated cosmetically, for a satisfying and natural-looking result.

Some people may figure if they can see 10 teeth in their upper arch smile, then maybe we can just get by with doing 6 or 8 teeth and save some money. The problem is that the resulting effect is that you "lose" the bucchal corridor. The front, veneered teeth will stand out, but then the smile drops off behind those and you just don't see the rest of your smile. The best way to convey the impact of a lost bucchal corridor (a long dark hallway if you will) is to show you. Though this photo is NOT our patient, in the picture above (you'll recognize the adorable Matthew Perry), you can see the effect of only veneering the front six teeth. The result is that the "improvements" appear unaesthetic, unnatural, and unappealing. The actor has since had his smile redone to eliminate this problem and create a more natural smile with a full bucchal corridor. So now you know. :-)