Teeth that are crooked or ones that do not correctly fit together are more challenging when it comes to cleaning. They are also vulnerable to tooth decay as well as other types of periodontal diseases. Such teeth cause extra stress on your chewing muscles leading to periodic headaches, shoulder, neck and back pains, and even the TMJ syndrome. Crooked teeth impact negatively on your physical appearance, and they dent personal confidence and self esteem.
Orthodontics is a branch of dentistry that deals with issues of correcting jaws and teeth that are improperly positioned. A specialist in this specific dental field is referred to as an orthodontist. Qualified and certified orthodontists must have gone through the required number of years at a dental school under the watch of the Australian Dental Council (ADC).
Do You Need The Treatment?
Your dentist can identify the need and refer you to a specialist. However, it is only an orthodontist that can establish if you stand to profit from treatment. An orthodontist is best fit to establish whether this mode of treatment is recommended and then generate a customized treatment plan for you. A treatment plan will be based on a variety of diagnostic tools such as a clinical exam, full dental and medical health history, photographs and X-rays, and plaster models of your teeth.
You would be a right a candidate for orthodontic treatment in case you got any of the following:
– Overbite (buck-teeth): where your upper front teeth are lying too far forward and are sticking out over your lower teeth.
– Underbite (bulldog bite): where your lower teeth appear to protrude forward. The upper teeth could also be placed too far back.
– Open bite: when you’re having a space between your biting surfaces.
– Crossbite: when your upper teeth don’t come slightly in front of your lower ones when you bite down.
– Spacing: when you got gaps between your teeth due to loss or teeth that are not filling up your mouth.
– Crowding: when you seem to have excess teeth than your jaw or dental ridge would accommodate.
– Misplaced midline: when the center of your upper front teeth center is not lining up with your lower front teeth center.
In addition to correcting the above abnormities, the other benefits include a more pleasant look, a healthier mouth, and teeth likely to last you an entire lifetime.
How Does It Work?
There are several types of orthodontic tools, both removable and fixed that an orthodontist would use in moving your teeth, retraining muscles and in affecting the growth of your jaws. They operate by exerting some gentle, but constant pressure on your jaws and teeth. An orthodontic approach that realizes the best outcomes depends on the severity of your dental problem.
Removable orthodontic appliances are generally more widely employed by most orthodontists. These appliances include:
– Dental aligners
– Appliances for jaw repositioning
– Removable space maintainers
– Palatal expander
– Lip and cheek bumpers
– Removable retainers
– Headgear
Fixed Appliances Include:
1. Braces
2. Fixed space maintainers
3. Special fixed appliances
It is vital to ensure that your orthodontist is using appliances approved by the Australian Dental Industry Association. ADIA represents suppliers of services and products used in dentistry across Australia.
