Orthodontics in Your 50s: Protruding Teeth and Gaps Between Teeth, Middle-Age Orthodontic Treatment

I’d like to introduce a review of Invisalign Lite orthodontic treatment for protruding teeth and gaps between teeth in your 50s.

Hello, this is Apgujeong Orthodontic Clinic.

As people age, it is common for the gums to weaken due to aging, causing the front teeth to spread apart.

The simplest way to fill the gap is to bond resin directly.

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Today, we will look at a case in which spaced teeth

and separated front teeth were treated with Invisalign Lite to close the spaces and restore tooth size.

I’m writing this post in hopes that it will be helpful for those who hesitate to get orthodontic treatment because they are older.

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In July 2024, a patient in their 50s came in for orthodontic treatment.

The front teeth had a shape that was, in short, flat, with the width greater than the height.

The gaps between the teeth had been filled with resin and maintained that way.

The patient came in to undergo orthodontic treatment together with extractions of the molars due to cavities.

First, we removed the resin between the front teeth.

We also removed tartar between the lower front teeth.

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A large portion was occupied by resin.

If the lower front teeth have no space between them but the upper front teeth have a large gap,

orthodontic treatment alone cannot close that space 100%.

We need to reduce the space as much as possible and finish the remaining tiny gaps with resin.

Invisalign Lite treatment was recommended.

For the lower front teeth, we decided to perform interproximal reduction as well, both to eliminate the existing black triangle and to improve the situation.

Also, since the lower front teeth were pushing the upper front teeth and making the gap worse, intrusion of the lower front teeth was also necessary.

This is what it looked like after wearing all 14 aligners in the first set.

This is how it looked four months after starting the aligners in January 2025.

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The gap between the front teeth has been significantly reduced.

The space needed for implants was also adjusted appropriately.

To further improve the remaining areas, we started making additional aligners.

Due to the patient’s circumstances, they were not able to wear the additional aligners consistently and diligently.

So the additional aligners were worn on and off for almost a year.

In January 2026, after finishing the last aligners, we decided to fill the remaining space with resin.

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This is the appearance immediately after the resin treatment.

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The bite is good.

Now, let’s compare the before and after results.

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The improvement in the angle of the front teeth is noticeable.

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The lower front teeth were improved in both angle and protrusion by using the space between the upper front teeth through interproximal reduction and intrusion,

and the upper and lower front teeth each moved back by about 1.5–2 mm.

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Now let’s look at the facial comparison.

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A neat smile

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A well-arranged smile

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Over the one-and-a-half-year treatment period, there was no root resorption, and root parallelism was good.

During the one-and-a-half-year treatment period, as the protruded angles of the upper and lower front teeth improved, the lips could also close a little more comfortably.

For those who were worried about middle-age orthodontic treatment because of their age,

I hope this post was helpful.