Can Your Orthodontist Help Your Misaligned Teeth?
Dental misalignments are common in dentistry, which explains why orthodontic dentistry exists. Various anomalies with the placement of your teeth affect the functionality of your mouth as much as it does the aesthetics thereof. While many patients want to straighten their misaligned teeth to benefit their aesthetic appearance, orthodontics entails so much more.
What Do Orthodontists Do?
Orthodontists near you are dental professionals who concentrate on offering orthodontic services to patients. Their tasks in dentistry entail shifting, rotating, and moving teeth to adopt the correct position in the jawbone. Some of the reasons why you may need an orthodontist to get your straight teeth are:
1. Crooked teeth – refer to when teeth grow in the wrong direction. Sometimes the crookedness of teeth can cause you to have impacted teeth, where one or more of your teeth are partially stuck underneath the gums.
2. Overcrowded mouth – refers to having an overly populated mouth, either due to having too large or too many teeth. When the size of your teeth is too big, there may not be ample room in your mouth for all of them to fit in properly. Still, you may have more than the standard number of teeth in your mouth, especially if you did not have all your baby teeth removed by the time your permanent adult teeth started to erupt.
3. Improper bite – can be an overbite, underbite, or crossbite. Improper bites inform the protruding of either your upper or lower jaw in such a way that your jaw does not align properly when you close your mouth or chew. Improper bites place unnecessary pressure on your jaw when you eat and can also be the reason for recurring biting accidents in your cheeks, tongue, and lips.
Does Orthodontics Realign Your Teeth?
If you visit a dentist’s office near you to straighten your teeth, orthodontic dentistry will offer the best solution for your smile. Treatments entail using different teeth aligners to move teeth. Some types of teeth aligners for moving teeth include the following:
1. Traditional braces – are the most common types of teeth aligners, also known as metal braces. They feature metal brackets and wires that are attached to your teeth and adjusted periodically by your dentist as you go.
2. Invisalign® braces – are virtually invisible teeth aligners made of transparent plastic-like material formed into a tray of aligners. They are removable, which means you get a new set of Invisalign aligners every couple of weeks to continue your treatment.
3. Lingual braces – are a lot similar to traditional metal braces, other than the fact that they are attached to the backside of teeth toward your tongue. If you want a guaranteed aesthetically pleasing smile while you undergo treatment, lingual braces are for you. Since they are at the back of your teeth, they are not noticeable when you smile.
The technique of teeth aligners is to apply controlled pressure on teeth for a predetermined period to rotate and move them. Usually, your orthodontist will come up with a treatment plan for guiding the direction of movement for your teeth, along with the period that it will take. Depending on the type of dental aligners you get and the complexity of your orthodontic problem, treatment can last anywhere between 6 and 24 months.
After wearing braces for several months and your teeth respond well to the orthodontics treatment, you will need a different type of dental aligners called retainers. Instead of moving teeth, retainers hold them in position to prevent them from shifting back to their initial position. The period for wearing retainers after braces, allows your bone tissue to grow and support your teeth correctly in their new positions. Wearing retainers will not compromise the aesthetics of your smile. Retainers usually go on the backside of teeth toward the tongue, making them unrecognizable when you smile. You will need to wear your retainers for a couple of years after your orthodontics treatment. However, your orthodontist may suggest that you wear retainers every day and night, indefinitely after your orthodontics treatment with braces is complete. Some patients can get off the hook after ten years of wearing their retainers, while others may need them for a much extended period afterward.