The beauty of your smile is not just a reflection of your personality and how you look to the world. Your smile is also the mirror to your oral health as well as your general health, which explains why it is very important that you address imperfections and flaw affecting how your teeth look. One of the most common problems affecting the appearance of your teeth is their alignment. If you have a crooked, misaligned or crooked teeth, do you know that you can do something in order to address these problems? If you have these conditions, orthodontics is the answer you are looking for.
Orthodontics is the field in dentistry that focuses on the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of teeth that are not aligned resulting in an improper bite. The most common dental solution used under orthodontics is braces. Orthodontics also cover some aspects of facial growth and even the development and the shape of your jaw. Orthodontics is also being considered as one important aspect of cosmetic dentistry because of the way it helps a person improve their appearance.
The word orthodontics is taken from the Greek word “orthos†which means perfect or straight and “dontos†that refers to teeth. Orthodontic treatments can give emphasis on the dental displacement and can also include the control as well as the modification of your facial growth. For severe cases of misaligned teeth, on orthodontic treatment may not be enough. Sometimes orthodontics is combined with jaw surgeries.
What are the causes of orthodontic problems?
Most of the time, these orthodontic problems are inherited which means that it is your genes that determine your risk of suffering from orthodontic conditions. Some of these conditions which result from genetics are crowding, spacing, protrusion of your teeth, extra or missing teeth or even jaw growth problems. Other conditions are acquired by habits affecting your teeth just like thumb sucking, others are because of dental diseases, accidents or late loss of milk teeth.
If you are considering getting orthodontic treatment, you need to have yourself examined by your dentist. He will be doing a review of your dental and medical history and will also be conducting clinical exams and will be taking X-rays and photographs. If your dentist decides that you qualify for an orthodontic treatment, he will immediately develop a treatment plan for you.
If you have any of the following conditions, then orthodontic treatment may be the solution for you:
- Also known as buck teeth, this is when your upper teeth lie far too forward over your lower teeth.
- This is when your upper teeth do not come down in front of your lower teeth whenever you bite them together
- This is when your upper teeth are too far back and it is your lower teeth that are far too forward. This condition is also called as bulldog appearance.
- Open bite. This refers to the space or the gap between the biting surfaces of your front teeth when the back teeth bite.
- Misplaced midline. This is when the center of upper teeth is not in line with the center of your lower teeth
- This is a result of a missing teeth or teeth that do not take up the spaces in your mouth
- This is when you have too many teeth that can be accommodated by your dental ridge. Normally, this could be because your teeth are too big for your jaws.
The most common procedures performed under orthodontics are the following:
- Traditional braces. Braces is one of the most common appliance used to correct the alignment and the position of your teeth. It is made up of bands, wires, rubbers and metal brackets. In order to move your teeth into their position, a gentle pressure is applied on the arch wires that pass through the metal brackets so that your teeth’s alignment is being correct gradually.
- Damon braces. Damon braces are similar to the traditional braces except that it uses a slide mechanism, and the treatment time is relatively shorter.
- Invisalign aligners are made up of clear, plastic aligners that are worn over your teeth to get their alignment corrected. These aligners can be removed as they are not fixed in your teeth unlike braces.
For more information on orthodontics, you can call Napa Valley Dental Group at [phone_number], or visit us at 2119 Jefferson Street Napa, CA 94559.