Orthodontics

Many developments in today’s orthodontic treatment have been focused on helping adult patients. If your teeth are crooked, orthodontic treatment at any age may be just what you need to give you a smile you can wear with confidence. Recent improvements in traditional braces have resulted in smaller, stronger, more efficient and less conspicuous brackets. Conventional braces with metal brackets are the most familiar; however, clear and tooth-colored ceramic and plastic brackets are now available.

Class I – A malocclusion where the bite is okay and the top teeth line up with the bottom teeth, but the teeth are crooked, crowded or turned.

Class III – A malocclusion where the lower teeth stick out past the upper teeth called an “under bite”.

Anterior open bite refer to a condition in which the top and bottom front teeth are not in contact (they do not touch each other when the patient bites). The origins of open bites can be traced to habits that patients have or had in the past and occasionally to discrepancies between the sizes of the jaws. Since most open bites in children are associated to an existing habit, treatment usually addresses the habit itself and is most effective when done at an early age. Many appliances are available for treating this condition, and your dentist will discuss in detail the risks and benefits of treating an open bite in children.

Invisalign Teen^® is the only clear orthodontic aligner therapy designed to address the unique concerns of treating non-adult comprehensive patients. Because aligners are removable, patients can continue to eat their favorite foods and brush and floss normally to help keep teeth and gums healthy.

Invisalign Teen^® has all the features of Invisalign^® Full, plus:
– Compliance indicators track the patient’s approximate wear time and help provide reassurance for parents that the teen is being compliant.
– Six free individual replacement aligners are included with Invisalign Teen^® to replace lost or broken aligners.
– Many teens present for treatment with erupting permanent dentition, so Invisalign Teen^® has been engineered with a feature to help prevent supra eruption of the second molars.

After completing orthodontic therapy, it is not uncommon to still need a little fine tuning of tooth alignment. This is particularly true in patients who have undergone extensive orthodontic therapy and are simply “burned out.”

This retainer is useful in correcting minor rotations and crowding. When worn, the spring action of the wires provide a light force to align the teeth. The appliance is constructed to the “ideal” setting and the patient’s teeth adapt to their new position.

A lower lingual arch is a space maintainer for the lower teeth. It maintains the molars where they are and it does not move them. It keeps the molars from migrating forward and prevents them from blocking off space of teeth that develop later. Used when early loss of baby teeth or when lower teeth are slightly crowded.