Braces are the most commonly known procedure in orthodontics. They are extremely effective at moving teeth into position, correcting a misaligned bite, and creating a straight and beautiful smile. Braces can be worn by both adults and children, making them ideal for people in all stages of life. There are, however, times where alternative treatments are needed.
Many children have difficulty with overcrowding. This occurs when baby teeth fall out too early and, as a result, the remaining teeth shift or move out of place. When the adult teeth try to come in, the space that should have been reserved for them has been lost. In this situation, braces are not an appropriate solution because the child is getting their adult teeth in, but they haven’t all come in yet. We can help by making more room in their mouth so that the adult teeth have a place to go.
Orthodontics involves moving your teeth, jaw, and pallet. In this scenario, we may want to use a combination of spacers and an expander to move the existing teeth and to expand the pallet so that the adult teeth can come in properly. Wearing an expander is a common solution because it is a metal device that is placed onto the roof of the mouth and by turning a key, will slowly start to stretch and expand the roof of the mouth. This is done over several weeks until the pallet has been expanded enough to make room for incoming teeth. It remains in place for some time in order for the mouth to conform to its new position. When the adult teeth come in, they will have a spot to grow into that is in line with the other teeth instead of behind them. By performing this procedure early, many children don’t need to wear braces at all.
Children and adults that do get braces may also need additional procedures to move their teeth and jaw into the right position. Remember that braces can make teeth straight but on their own cannot expand the pallet or align a jaw. In the case of an overbite, for example, headgear is often worn at night in order to move the top and lower teeth into alignment. Simultaneously, rubber bands are often used to align the bite. In this case, the orthodontist tells a patient which upper tooth to start the rubber band on and which lower tooth it should be ended on. By wearing the bands, the jaw is held in a certain position and slowly moved into place. Both of these additional steps are typically only needed for a portion of the treatment time.
There is much more involved with orthodontics and multiple ways to straighten teeth. There is no one size fits all solution so in order to find out what will work best for you, schedule an examination so that we can make a recommendation and discuss various treatment options.
