Dental Practice

What Is It, When Do We Need It, What Types Are There And How Much Does It Cost?

What is Orthodontics:

Orthodontics intervenes in cases in which there are abnormalities in the shape, position, or relationship and function of the teeth and jaws.

Its main objective is to try and correct these flaws to keep the teeth in a healthy condition and with the good aspect or because the teeth in place inadequate hinder oral hygiene are likely to fall early, to suffer unusual wear, and cause tensions and pains in the muscles involved in chewing.

For the treatment of all these defects, orthodontics uses and control different types of appliances, techniques, and forces that allow correcting the problems of the teeth, such as appliances (fixed and removable), which allow teeth to move, retrain muscles, or modify the growth of the jaws.

Types of orthodontic appliances

Orthodontic appliances can be divided into fixed and removable. Fixed appliances are those that are attached to the patient’s teeth, while removable ones are those that can be removed from the mouth to eat, sleep or brush teeth.

Fixed appliances

Brackets: they are made up of a system of bands, wires, and brackets, which are adjusted to exert gradual pressure on the teeth to bring them to their correct position.

Special fixed appliances: These are used to control things like thumb sucking or the pressure of the tongue against the teeth.

Space retainers: they allow to maintain the space left by a temporary tooth when it falls out while the permanent tooth comes out.

Removable appliances

Removable Aligners – Helps align teeth, but without metal wires or braces.

Removable space retainers: allow to maintain the space between teeth.

Appliances for the repositioning of the jaw: they are used to correct problems in the jaw joint, they are placed in the upper and lower jaw.

Lip and cheek separators: they are used to keep lips and cheeks separated at an adequate distance.

Palate expander: used to widen the arch of the upper jaw.

Removable retainers: used on the roof of the mouth to prevent the teeth from moving back to their original positions.

Facebook or cap prevents the growth of the upper jaw, retains the back teeth, and pulls back the anterior teeth.

Who Needs Orthodontics?

The need for orthodontic treatment can vary from person to person, what is a fact is that teeth in a good position and that bite correctly tend to last healthy for more years. These are some of the reasons for orthodontic treatment:

To maintain spaces

In the stage of milk tooth replacement, it is possible to help with orthodontic appliances to maintain or create spaces for the permanent teeth that are erupting.

To align crowded or crooked teeth

This in addition to improving the aesthetics of your smile will help you brush your teeth correctly avoiding problems caused by poor dental hygiene such as gingivitis or periodontitis. Properly aligned teeth can function properly and thus do not wear out.

To avoid cavities

Crooked or crowded teeth can be the perfect space for plaque and bacteria to be difficult to remove with daily dental hygiene, therefore, they are more prone to developing cavities.

To bring the bite into a good position.

A bite in a bad position causes abnormal wear on teeth, inefficient chewing, and deterioration in the jaw joint (temporomandibular joint), which joins both jaws. Orthodontic treatment can correct bite problems such as:

Open bite: Bite in which there is a space between the upper front teeth and the lower front teeth, which makes them not close between them, but between the back teeth.

Crossbite: One or more upper teeth close behind or outside the lower teeth.

Increased overbite: The upper teeth completely cover the lower teeth when the bite is closed.

Midline deviation: The center of the upper teeth does not coincide with the center of the lower teeth.

Because your gums are retracting

A bad tooth positioning causes the teeth to receive the forces incorrectly and this can unnecessarily overload the gums and bones that support the teeth and as a consequence of this overload the teeth wear out and the gums retract causing gingival recessions.

To treat pain in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ)

The TMJ is the joint that joins the two jaws, if our teeth are not in a good position or bite badly, they are likely to cause a bad position in the joint. The muscles will overwork to stabilize the joint and this can cause muscle, head, neck, and ear pain.

Types of orthodontics

Orthodontics seeks the balance of all the components of the chewing apparatus and achieves this by applying controlled forces on the teeth to place them in an optimal position. Depending on the purpose of the treatment, we could say that there are the following types of orthodontics:

Interceptive orthodontics

This type of orthodontics uses fixed and removable appliances that help maintain or alter the space between the teeth, directly affecting the bones, that is, the jaws, which support the teeth. Generally, they are devices that, by expanding little by little, help to bring the jaws into an adequate position, preventing crowding and other problems in the future with the permanent teeth.

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