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Is it Time to Straighten Your Smile?

Is it Time to Straighten Your Smile?

Sep 21, 2016

There has never been a greater range of treatments available for straightening your teeth so if you are fed up with having a wonky smile then why not consider orthodontics?

Here at the Cosmetic Dental Group, orthodontics is an important part of the services we offer to our patients, which is why we can offer you a comprehensive choice using fixed and removable appliances and aligners. We are sure we will have just the right treatment to suit your needs. Our dentists treat children and adults and it is never too late to benefit from having a beautifully straight smile.

Have You Considered All the Advantages of Orthodontics?

We know most people will want to straighten their teeth to improve their appearance and it can make an amazing difference to your smile. By making sure your teeth and jaws are in the correct relationship, our dentists can help create a beautifully balanced and fully functional facial appearance. But it’s also worth thinking about the possible benefits to your dental health.

By ensuring you have a better bite, we can reduce wear and tear. Treating problems such as overcrowding will make it much easier to brush and floss thoroughly, reducing your risk of tooth decay and gum disease.

If you have any unsightly spaces in between your teeth, then closing these up can help eliminate food traps, which again can increase your risk of dental disease. Using the latest and most advanced orthopaedic orthodontics, we can treat more extensive problems that may be affecting your jaw joints and which can even cause facial pain and headaches.

So Which Options Could Help You?

We have a number of different options depending on the problems requiring correction. When you visit our dental practice, our dentist will be able to check your jaws, the position of your teeth and your occlusion or bite.

We may wish to take models, photographs or possibly x-rays to assess your mouth more fully. Using this information, we can suggest the best treatment to suit your needs. This will be a treatment plan that we feel will provide optimal results both for your facial appearance and for your dental health.

Aesthetic Orthodontic Treatment

Quite often we will see adults who have previously had orthodontic treatment but who have seen the results relapse over the years. In this case relatively minor modifications may be required to bring the teeth back into the correct positions and treatment could really be quite quick using a cosmetically or aesthetically oriented brace.

One such option is the Inman Aligner while the others are Invisalign and Six Months Smiles. All of these options can be quicker than traditional orthodontics and relatively inexpensive.

Taking a Closer Look at the Inman Aligner

This is a removable brace that concentrates on only moving the front teeth which is why it is able to produce results within a very short timeframe.

To do this, the aligner has two bows made from very thin metal wires that fit inside and outside the teeth. These are powered by nickel titanium springs to create a squeezing action so the bows can gently realign teeth.

It can be a great solution for straightening protrusive front teeth or for correcting minor issues with overcrowding. In most cases, treatment can be completed within 6 to 18 weeks. It is easy to use and being fully removable will have very little impact on your lifestyle. Another choice is to wear a fixed brace such as Six Months Smiles.

Taking a Closer Look at Six Months Smiles

This is another aesthetically oriented brace that is extremely effective. It uses tooth coloured fixed braces to gently realign your teeth, with treatment taking an average of just six months. The use of tooth coloured brackets enables our dentist to precisely realign the position of your teeth and these braces will be working continuously to achieve great results. Six Month Smiles is pretty versatile and can treat issues with crowding or spacing or protrusive teeth.

Taking a Closer Look at Invisalign

Invisalign differs from Six Month Smiles in that it uses a series of clear and comfortable retainers to gently guide your teeth into the desired position. Invisalign is barely noticeable and the retainers can be removed for eating and cleaning.

Invisalign can be used to correct a multitude of issues including overcrowded teeth, closing gaps, and cross-bites. Treatment times for Invisalign can range from an average of 6-18 months.

What about Orthodontics for Children?

Our dentists can provide early orthodontic evaluation for children as soon as age 6 or seven. At this stage we can assess if they have any problems that may have been caused by oral habits such as thumb or finger sucking or mouth breathing and it is possible for us to predict if there will be sufficient room for their adult teeth to erupt normally.

Often early treatment can help reduce these problems, correcting issues with narrow arches and reducing the time required for orthodontic treatment when they are in their early teens. By taking advantage of growth spurts, we can use various appliances to guide the growth of their jaws, creating sufficient room for adult teeth and reducing the need for tooth extractions. This can often be done using orthopaedic orthodontics.

Explaining Orthopaedic Orthodontics

One of the services we offer is orthopaedic orthodontics and our dentist Dr Jonathan Wood chose to study with Skip Truit in the United States in order to provide the very highest level of care. While this particular service is useful in treating young children, we can also use the same principles to help older children and adults.

Using this method of orthodontics greatly helps reduce the need for tooth extractions while providing patients with a beautifully balanced and aesthetically pleasing smile. This treatment can be enormously beneficial if you have any problems with your temporomandibular joints or jaw joints. Issues with these joints can cause a problem called temporomandibular disorder or TMD, a condition that can make it painful to open and close your mouth and which can also lead to chronic headaches and facial pain.

The aim of orthopaedic orthodontics is to create facial symmetry, ensuring the teeth and jaws are in a harmonious relationship and are fully functional, reducing unwanted stresses on the teeth and the jaw joints. Treatment is usually completed in three different phases and takes between 12 and 18 months to complete. Initially the aim is to help expand the upper arch, while the final phase concentrates on creating a more aesthetically pleasing smile by straightening teeth and closing up gaps.

Orthodontic technology is extremely advanced these days and treatment has never been easier or more comfortable. If you or another family member is interested in orthodontics then we’d love to see you for a proper consultation. We only recommend treatments we know will provide you with beautiful cosmetic and functional results as we want you to experience the benefits of having an attractive smile and a better bite.