What Is Orthodontic Treatment?
Orthodontics is a division of dentistry for treating malocclusion, a condition where your teeth are incorrectly positioned when closing your mouth. Malocclusion results in an improper bite. The Houston orthodontist specializes in straightening your teeth. The treatment you acquire from the professional can be cosmetic to improve your appearance, but the treatment also improves your oral function.
What Types of Treatments Do Orthodontists Offer?
Orthodontists can perform work aiming to close gaps between your teeth and align the tips of your teeth. In addition, they can straighten crooked teeth to improve speech and chewing ability. These specialists can boost the long-term health of your teeth and gums and prevent excessive wear and trauma on your teeth while treating an improper bite.
The treatment orthodontists provide can improve the appearance of your teeth and also result in better chewing and speech function besides helping protect your teeth from damage or decay. When achieving these goals, orthodontists use a range of dental devices, including headgear, plates, and braces.
What Are the Stages of Orthodontic Treatment?
You can have orthodontic treatments at any age. However, your age determines the complexity of the treatment, the duration of time, and the price of the therapy. There are four stages of orthodontic treatment.
The sooner you identify potential problems, the less orthodontic treatment and remedies become necessary later. It is why children’s orthodontics in Houston, TX, recommend children undergo an examination at seven or eight to discover future teeth and jaw alignment issues. For example, children are often affected by practices like thumbsucking that push their teeth forward, altering the shape of your child’s jaw.
Early treatment can begin between seven and 11 to prevent potentially severe problems and achieve results not possible when the jaw development is complete to avoid future jaw surgery.
Traditional orthodontic treatment helps achieve dental alignment and facial balance between 12 and 19. Therapy at this stage also helps decrease the risk of jaw issues like TMJ and wear on the teeth.
Adults 20 years older can also seek orthodontic treatments preferring clear or colored braces, clear aligners, and alternative options.
What Is the Best Orthodontic Treatment?
Earlier, metal and wire braces were the only solution available to treat a malocclusion. However, orthodontic treatments have changed dramatically since the late 90s, when the revolutionary clear aligners were introduced.
If you don’t favor traditional metal brackets mounted on your teeth with wires and bands holding them together, you can consider clear aligners to correct your orthodontic problem.
Traditional braces are still acknowledged as the gold standard for straightening teeth and have served the market for over a century. However, the braces are not appealing and will likely remain on your teeth for three years or more until you complete the treatment. Metal and wire braces also restrict you from having the foods you love and leave you susceptible to oral health issues like tooth decay if you don’t maintain proper dental hygiene when you have them on your teeth. However, if you have a complicated situation of underbites, overbites, crossbites, open bites, crowded teeth, and crooked and gapped teeth, traditional orthodontic treatments remain the best and recommended by most orthodontic professionals.
If you are fortunate not to have complicated situations of the conditions described, you can seek help from alternative treatments like clear aligners that are removable and virtually invisible. You might find the clear aligners beneficial because they don’t saddle you with restrictions prohibiting you from having the foods you love. In addition, the removable feature of the aligners allows you to have the foods and drinks you want before you return the aligners to your teeth.
If metal and wire braces do not appeal to you, alternatives like ceramic braces and lingual braces are also available. Ceramic braces are not invisible but are tooth-colored and not noticeable in your mouth from afar. Lingual braces remain hidden from view because they are mounted on the lingual surfaces of your teeth. These alternatives are also effective in straightening teeth and delivering excellent results.
When seeking orthodontic treatments to straighten teeth, the complexity of the situation affecting you determines whether or not you can have a specific kind of treatment. Except for traditional braces suitable for treating all conditions, the others require careful evaluation by the orthodontist in Houston, who recommends the best solution depending on your unique needs.
If you think you need to straighten your teeth to improve your appearance or dental health, Greater Houston Dental Arts provides orthodontic treatments in the area. Please do not hesitate to contact them for an evaluation to receive the treatment you need.