Orthodontics

What is orthodontics?

In a nut shell, Orthodontics is an expert area in dentistry that basically focuses on the alignment and position of your teeth. When looking for dentists in Manchester, you should look no further than Odental. With Orthodontics, its about the dental and facial error corrections that can occur due to the following:

• Missing teeth
• Extra teeth
• Teeth not aligned properly
• Crooked teeth
• Crowded Teeth
• An overbite
• An underbite
• Misaligned or incorrect jaw position
• A disorder of the jaw joint

Braces are normally used to treat these orthodontic irregularities. Braces can be made in a variety of different ways but are usually made form springs and wires attached to either plastic moulds or minuscule metal plates. The way in which braces work is that they apply very gentle force towards the teeth so that they naturally adopt a different alignment as they grow. Due to this, braces are a lot more effective when children have them as their teeth have still got to fully grow and so the process is a lot quicker than in adults.

When it comes to a brace, it is up to the orthodontist to assess the teeth and design a removable or fixed brace that can occasionally be adjusted throughout the duration of the treatment course. This may be in the form of the invisible brace – invisalign. There’s a difference between fixed braces and removable one. This difference being that fixed braces are permanently fixed in the teeth and only taken out at the end of the treatment where as the removable braces can be removed during the treatment although this is only supposed to be for times such as eating or cleaning. In general, braces can really help the teeth function correctly and grow in the right alignment when it’s been disturbed.

Just what causes malocclusion or a bad bite? And what exactly are they?

Functional dilemmas such as finding it hard to talk or chew your food can be caused by a misalignment of jaws, teeth or the tempromandibular joint (TMJ), or also known as a bad bite. In more serious cases it may actually affect the appearance of a person. Sometimes this is genetic, but at other times it can be caused by the following occurrences:

• Trauma —possible improper line up with the jaw can be caused by knocked out or fractured teeth being replaced and fusing with the bone that surrounds the teeth.

• Drawn out thumb-sucking — pronounced protrusion is what can result in the upper teeth over the lower teeth.

• Thrusting the tongue while swallowing — pronounced protrusion of upper over lower teeth can also occur as a result of this.

• Losing baby teeth prematurelyh — can result in:
  The adult tooth erupting inaccurately, causing teeth to only be partially erupt and/or the teeth can be crowded.
  The eruption of the permanent tooth can be prevented as the teeth net to the primary tooth can move into this empty space which doesn’t allow the permanent tooth underneath to erupt.

Orthodontic treatment is vital, but why?

There are long-term dental health advantages:

• With decent oral hygiene, it is a lot simpler to maintain correctly aligned teeth.
• The risk of developing irregularities such as tooth decay is reduceed.

Develops digestion and chewing:

• In major cases, people with a bad bite chew less efficiently which may lead to nutritional deficiencies.

It can actually improve speech:

• Some speaking problems can be a result of misaligned lower or upper teeth.

The prevention of premature wearing of the back-tooth surfaces::

• When you bite, your teeth are forced to endure an enormous amount of force. Due to this, people with irregular bites are a lot more likely to wear out their back teeth surface.

How old does someone have to be to begin orthodontic treatment and screening?

There can be certain complexities and differences in the speed of the treatment depending on the age of the patient, but orthodontic treatment and screening can begin at pretty much any point in an individual’s life.

• Early childhood – orthodontic screening can start as soon as the permanent teeth have started to emerge which is usually around the age of 7. This is the perfect time as it is easy to spot where the future errors are likely to occur. It is imperative that you not wait until the permanent teeth are erupt as there’s so much more advantage the earlier the child starts.
• During teenage and adolescent years – treatment is most effective at this stage as most of the permanent teeth would have come through and so there’s still time for them to grow some more.
• At adulthood – On a lot of occasions, orthodontic treatments can be more complex in adults and it generally takes a lot longer to get the desired result as in younger years.

Orthodontic treatment and what it involves

There are two main stages that orthodontic treatment is usually carried out with:

• The active phase — this is the initial phase that actually sets the teeth in the right motion with the use of alignment and bite correction appliances such as braces.
• The retention phase — to ensure that the effects of the active phase are long term the use of a retainer to hold the teeth that have been brought into their new position.

The Invisalign system, or the invisible brace?

The Invisalign system is offered by a lot of orthodontists. This system is basically a set of customised virtually invisible braces which are moulded on to the teeth to aid them in repositioning as time goes on. There are numerous advantages to the Invisalign system, one of which is the ease of removal for the purpose of eating or cleaning them. Another advantage is that because of how clear they are, not many people at all will actually realise you have braces in. Lingual Braces are another popular and effect form of invisible braces. Even though these are made from wires and metal brackets, they are placed at the back of the teeth and just like Invisalign, can’t be seen.

The simple alternative – Inman Aligners

For movements that only require the front teeth to be repositioned, Inman Aligners treatment is a fantastic alternative to Invisalign treatment. This kind of treatment isn’t always best for everyone so it is always advised tha anyone seeking this treatment, go seek the advice of a professional orthodontist first. Although in a lot of cases, this treatment can provide results of full movement in 6-8 weeks.

Six-Month Smiles

The six-month braces system works much faster than alternative systems and as the name suggests achieves results within 6 months compared to the usually duration of two to three years.

Low-Friction Damon Braces

Due to the advances in Orthodontic technology, it’s possible to provide a more comfortable and faster alternative to conventional fixed braces with friction free braces such as the Damon braces system.