North York Orthodontic Services
OUR NORTH YORK ORTHODONTIC SERVICES
What is the benefit of orthodontic treatment?
There is a misconception among people that the only purpose of orthodontic treatment is just esthetic improvement. Crooked and irregular teeth and improper occlusion cause a few problems. One of them is esthetic concerns, but the other problems include: disability in some oral functions like chewing or speech difficulty, and temporomandibular joint problems associated with malocclusion and muscle hyperactivity.
Other related problems can be inability to keep up good oral hygiene, which might increase the risk of periodontal diseases and cavities. Susceptibility of flared teeth due to trauma during physical activity is another issue which can be prevented easily by orthodontic treatment in younger ages.
Adult patients can benefit from orthodontic treatment to control their dental disease or do space management treatment for restoration or implants for their missing teeth.
So based on what explained above, people can benefit from orthodontic treatment at any age to prevent dental diseases in the future, improve their oral hygiene and have better oral function. In simpler words, it can improve your quality of life overall.
When we should start orthodontics treatment?
There is two types of problems: dental or skeletal
SKELETAL PROBLEMS:
Whenever a jaw discrepancy exists the best way to resolve it it modifying the jaw growth in earlier ages. For example: upper jaw deficiency needs to be treated in preadolescence around 7-8 years old, or lower jaw deficiency and upper excessive growth has to be modified before children’s puberty whenever they are at the peak of their bone growth, however in case of excessive lower jaw growth delaying treatment until late teens is the best option.
DENTAL PROBLEMS:
Although most orthodontic problems can be resolved during adolescence, most children can benefit from earlier treatment as well. The main reason to start early treatment is to lessen the severity of problems in the future, or avoid some kind of jaw shift which can eventually create some skeletal discrepancies.
For example, front or back teeth crossbite which causes a jaw shift is one of the cases which has to be treated as soon as it is diagnosed. Other examples of problems that should be treated right away include over-retained baby teeth or teeth erupting ectopically, some oral habits and open bite, missing teeth and the space lost afterwards. Most of these dental problems can be treated easily with a simple appliance, and can save a lot of further treatment in adulthood. So by consulting your dentist and by early diagnosis, you can lessen the orthodontic treatment later in life, and slow the severity of some of these problems. So by consulting dentists and by early diagnosis most of orthodontic problem can be prevented or lessened in early ages which will require follow up up to adolescences when all permanent teeth has been erupted.
What is the Mandibular retrognathism and when is the best treatment timing for those patients?
Mandibular retrognathism is the case in which the the lower jaw growth is insufficient compared to upper jaw.
Functional appliance therapy is typically undertaken in Mandibular (lower jaw) deficiency patients, ideally during the period of maximal pre-pubertal growth. The importance of timing reflects the ability of functional appliance to modify the mandibular growth and has been shown to produce skeletal changes in short term.
Prediction of the peak timing of mandibular growth is complex, however, chronological ages of 10-13 years in girls and 11-14 years in boys are typically regarded as conducive to successful functional appliance therapy.
What is the posterior crossbites and when is the best timing to treat that?
Posterior crossbite means some teeth at the back of the mouth are not positioned normally and are displaced in or out, which causes shifting in the lower jaw.
Correction of dental crossbites in earlier ages is recommended because it eliminates functional shift and wear on erupted permanent teeth, and even possibly dentoalveolar asymmetry. This early treatment usually also increases arch circumference and provides more room for permanent teeth.
There are lots of orthodontic appliances for crossbite correction and children cooperation is pretty good with these appliances. Untreated children can develop severe asymmetric relationships and skeletal problems which will need complicated treatments or even ortho surgery later on in life.
For more information about our North York orthodontic services please call us today at 416-223-2453.