Misaligned jaws and teeth can cause headaches, affect your appearance and speech, and even affect your chewing ability. Orthodontic treatment helps correct these problems to restore a healthy smile and boost your confidence.
Orthodontists create a customized treatment plan for every patient using impressions and 2D or 3-D X-rays. They also use molds and photos. They offer a variety of “appliances” to straighten teeth, including traditional braces, clear aligners and headgear.
Invisalign
Invisalign uses clear plastic trays for orthodontic treatment. Invisalign Boston creates a series of clear aligners for you that are custom made to fit your mouth, then you wear them every day (except for when you’re eating and drinking!) The treatment will continue until the end. You switch to a different tray in your series each week. This is designed to gradually shift the teeth into their final position. Invisalign can correct a range of dental problems, including crooked teeth, overbites, underbites, and more.
Your orthodontist evaluates your smile and your teeth during an Invisalign consult to determine if Invisalign will be the best option for your needs. If so, your orthodontist takes digital impressions of teeth using iTero scanning technology. These scans create a 3D picture of your teeth that allows your orthodontist customize your Invisalign plan.
The Invisalign treatment process usually takes 12-18 months depending on the severity of your case. During your treatment, you may need to wear a special retainer to maintain your results.
Invisalign has many advantages, including the fact that they are less visible than traditional braces. There are also no restrictions on food as long you remember to take out your aligners before eating and drinking. The aligners are difficult to clean and you will need to brush your mouth frequently to avoid plaque buildup or tooth decay. Additionally, Invisalign is not suitable for all cases of crooked teeth, and patients with more complex correction needs might require the use of metal brackets, rubber bands, or even jaw surgery.
Invisalign treatment can be expensive, but many orthodontists offer payment plans to help make it more affordable. Invisalign may be paid through a flexible spending account, health savings account, or both.
Some orthodontists offer a mobile application that allows you to check-in weekly with your orthodontist to see how your Invisalign treatment is going. You’ll get a better picture of your progress from your orthodontist than you can with an app, so make sure you keep your regular appointments and checkups.
Braces
Braces are the most common way to correct crooked teeth and misaligned bites in kids and teens. They use a combination of fixed and removable devices to apply gentle pressure on your child’s teeth. This pressure causes the jaw bones to remodel and shift. The result is straighter teeth and an aligned bite.
During the assessment appointment, the orthodontist may ask your child several questions, perform a visual inspection, and take Xrays of their mouth and head. This information will be used to create a personalized treatment plan for your child.
The brackets are made of metal or ceramic and are bonded onto each tooth. The brackets are connected by an archwire which acts as a track to guide the movement of your child’s teeth. At each adjustment (tightening) visit, your orthodontist will reposition the archwire to apply new levels of pressure to your child’s teeth. This process is essential to moving their teeth into their final positions as well as fixing any bite-related problems, such as overbite (underbite), underbite (crossbite) or crossbite.
Your orthodontist can also add elastic bands in addition to the wire to apply extra pressure to specific teeth. Rubber bands that are usually colored and attached to bracket hooks fit around the molars and back teeth. This pressure helps shift the molars, and close any gaps in between teeth.
In some cases, an orthodontist will use power chains. Power chains are a series rubber bands that stretch across multiple teeth. These can be used to close gaps, reposition narrow teeth and create spaces for reshaping by your child’s restorative dentist. Finally, some types of brackets don’t use o-rings at all and instead have a clip that engages the archwire into the bracket. These are known as self-ligating braces and can provide a similar level of pressure to traditional braces without the need for o-rings.
Retainers
Retainers form an important part of the orthodontic treatment. After braces or aligners are finished straightening your teeth, retainers are used to maintain the new position of your teeth. Your teeth will shift back to the original position if you don’t wear retainers. This may seem like a minor issue, but it can have serious consequences for your bite and oral health.
A retainer is an appliance made of plastic or acrylic that fits snugly over your top and bottom tooth. Your orthodontist will custom-make them to match your teeth’s exact structure and placement. They can be removable or permanently attached, depending on what you prefer.
It is important to regularly clean your removable retainer with water and toothpaste. Avoid eating hard foods as they can damage or break your retainer. You should also never attempt to repair or reposition the retainer yourself. Instead, if it becomes loose or damaged, contact your orthodontist for advice.
Removable retainers include traditional Hawley retainers with a wire attached to the front of your teeth, and clear retainers that are completely made from clear plastic. When your orthodontist makes a retainer for you, they will use a process called impression making. This involves making a mold of the teeth using dental putty, or another similar material. This allows the dentist to create a custom-fit retainer and ensures it won’t fall out of place.
After your orthodontist makes a removable retainer for you, they will typically tell you to wear it at night and during certain activities. Wear your retainer, for example, when playing sports or when eating. Your teeth will feel a little tighter and irritated while wearing the retainer, just as they did when you had braces on.
If you don’t follow the instructions, your retainer will not stay in position and your treatment results may fade. It will also take longer for your jawbone and gums to adjust to the pressure changes caused by the retainer.
A retainer won’t make your teeth perfectly straight. But it can correct misaligned or crooked teeth, prevent teeth clenching and grinding, correct overbites or underbites, as well as improve the appearance of your mouth. Most importantly, though, it will help you achieve the intended results of your orthodontic treatment — a straight, beautiful smile.
Jaw Surgery
Orthognathic Surgery, also called jaw surgery or corrective surgery of the jaws, is used for problems with the upper jaw and/or the lower jaw as well as the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). Your TMJ is a hinge joint that connects the lower jaw bone (called your mandible) to the base your skull. It allows you to move your jaw up, down, forward, backward and side to side. Jaw surgery can alter your facial profile, and in some cases improve your speech and chewing abilities.
Your orthodontist will work with your oral surgeon to determine whether jaw surgery is the right choice for you. They will do a thorough examination of your mouth, including X-rays and CT scans. They will then create a treatment plan that will guide you through the entire process.
For most people, the initial healing period after jaw surgery lasts six to twelve weeks. During this period, your diet will consist of liquids and soft food. Once your jaw has healed, your orthodontist will finish aligning your teeth to the new position. Most patients will wear braces until the braces are removed. They will then need retainers to maintain the new position.
During surgery, your orthodontist will make small cuts in your jaw bones to move them into the proper position. The orthodontist will then secure the bone using small screws, wires and elastic bands. These are placed in a way that leaves no visible scars. Sometimes, your surgeon may need to add extra bone in order to achieve the desired results. This can be achieved by using bone taken from your hip, leg or jaw.