TREATMENT OF
MAL-ALIGNED TEETH
(BRACES)

Some patients have severely crooked teeth or teeth that are not in natural position. Some people have excessively proclined front teeth where as some have small lower jaw. Certain patients have upper jaw excessively developed while some have deep bite. In some patients their teeth do not occlude properly. Certain children have habit of sucking their thumb or pushing their tongue and these habits result in front teeth to move forward giving an old age look while smiling. When one of the above causes is present, then the teeth are not properly aligned and so the biting force is not equally distributed among all teeth. Sometimes the muscles also get tired leading to muscle and joint pain around the mouth or headaches. All such patients are ideal to get braces so that the proper alignment of teeth can promote better oral health as well as evenly distributed force on both the jaws.

• Generally braces are meant for growing children so that the treatment has the best and fastest outcome. In such cases the treatment can alter the path of eruption of teeth and can guide the teeth into proper occlusion. But now even adults have started taking advantage of this speciality. Incases where the teeth have proclined due to moderate bone loss, or the tooth is partially broken or in cases where the wisdom tooth is required to take place of the chewing teeth the orthodontists come to the rescue. But for this you will need a skillful and experienced orthodontist who will find out the cause of malocclusion and provide you with a perfect spot-on treatment plan. So do book an appointment with us at V4U Dental Care & Implant Centre to avail the various treatment options with our highly skilled orthodontists. Hence age is just a number for our orthodontists as they can bring the best at any given point or age!!

• In some cases where the space is not sufficient for all teeth to come in to position few teeth are removed. It varies from patient to patient. Not all patients need to remove teeth. This decision is taken at the beginning of the treatment itself and it is informed to the patient as well as the guardians incase if the patient is minor.!

• The benefits of going through this long and sometimes painful procedure is the gaining of a marvellous and spot-on perfect smile with all teeth and gums in harmony from the growing phase itself. The disadvantages can be that it is time consuming (takes around 2-3 years at an average), some patients develop mouth sores due to the wires, can have problems in speech, restricted food intake, causes more accumulation of plaque resulting in infection of gums till the treatment is going on. In some conditions relapse can occur also but the chances are very less.

• There are removable braces for very minor corrections wherein it consists of a plate with wires and springs as well as clasps to retain the plate in mouth. This plate can be removed and cleaned and worn again. It works by applying gentle pressure to the teeth for movement.

• Then there are fixed braces which are attached to the tooth surface by a bonding material. This technique is used for complex treatment where continuous and constant force has to be applied on the teeth.

• For patients in the growing age the use of functional braces is carried out where the braces are attached with a headgear or chin gear to give direction to the upper/lower jaw to grow or to restrict its extra movement.

• Braces can be made of metals like stainless steel or titanium. Ceramic braces are also available which are of the same colour as the teeth.

• Commonly metal braces are used which are bonded to the tooth and then wires are placed in these braces. These wires can be kept in place by elastics or other thinner ligating wires. Recently self ligating braces are also available. But the disadvantage is that these braces and wires are visible from a far also reducing the self confidence of the teen patient.

• Thus now ceramic braces have come into the market which looks like the colour of tooth. They camouflage with the tooth and are less visible as compared to metal braces.

• Other technique is called “Lingual Orthodontics”. This procedure is carried out behind the tooth towards the tongue. This results in complete absence of braces on the outer surface of the tooth. But the orthodontist should have taken sessions on this particular treatment to carry it out. One has to be a certified dentist to perform this particular process. The orthodontist at V4U Dental Care & Implant Centre is capable of performing this procedure without any hesitation.

• First all clinical examinations are carried out. X-rays are taken like lateral ceph, OPG etc. Also, teeth impressions are taken and casts are made. After this, the treatment plan is charted out and explained to the patient. Once all this is explained to the patient the braces are placed on the teeth. Once the brackets are bonded on the teeth the wires are attached to these brackets and they are fixed with the help of ligating wires or elastics. This whole procedure takes 2-3 hours. After that the patient is called every 3-4 months to change the amount of force that is applied by the wires on the teeth. This procedure takes around 20-30 minutes.

Once the braces and wires are in place the patient has to be extra cautious in everything that is eaten. Do not use hard, sticky food that will either stick to the wires or breaks/ bends them. Brush the teeth twice daily with utter care not to damage the wires or brackets. Use interdental brushes to brush between wires and teeth. Use of mouthwash is a must as prescribed by the dentist. Incase the appliance hurts the gums or cheeks place the orthodontic wax that would be provided to you by the dentist. Incase of any damage to the braces, call the dentist immediately and take an appointment. Some amount of pain would be felt as the teeth move then at that time a pain killer can be used to reduce the pain. As it is rightly said NO PAIN NO GAIN!! Hence some amount of discomfort will have to be managed to get that spotless and flawless smile..

• This is the newest technique in the field used to correct overbite, spaced teeth or crooked teeth. But for complex cases conventional braces are the best option. For these aligners the dentist first has to take an impression of the teeth and send to the manufacturer. The manufacturer sends the custom fit aligners in sets. The number depends on the treatment plan. These aligners have to be worn sequence wise as mentioned by the dentist for the amount of time prescribed by them. They should be removed only to eat or brush. With each new aligner the teeth slowly move in position presumed by the dentist. Each new aligner will be provided by the dentist during the recall visits.

• As these can be removed only a motivated patient can get the desired result from this treatment. There are high chances of losing them too. Even these aligners will cause a little pain/discomfort when shifted from one to another as they will apply pressure on the teeth to move them. The best thing about this procedure is that it is performed almost invisibly. No one would ever know that an orthodontist is at work on your teeth.

• It is the most recent procedure hence, it is very costly. It can be performed on a highly motivated patient only. Also, only minor mal-alignments can be treated by it.