Orthodontics is the treatment of malocclusion through orthodontics or surgery. Malocclusion refers to the deformities of teeth, jaws, craniofacial, malocclusion, and dental caries caused by congenital or acquired factors during the growth and development of children. Periodontal disease and periodontal disease are listed as the three most common diseases of the oral cavity, and their prevalence rate is as high as 50% of the population.
Orthodontics Questions Answered:
1. Why are the teeth uneven?
There are many reasons, mainly including genetic factors and environmental factors. Environmental factors include congenital and acquired factors.
Congenital factors refer to various influences on the growth and development of the fetus in the mother’s womb, which may be the nutritional and metabolic disorders of the mother or the fetus, the mother suffering from rubella or infection with the virus, the mother’s trauma during pregnancy or birth trauma caused by childbirth.
Acquired factors refer to the influences on growth and development after birth.
(1) Diseases: Some acute infectious diseases and some chronic wasting diseases may affect the development of teeth and jaws. Endocrine dysfunction or malnutrition, especially vitamin deficiencies, may affect the development of teeth and jaws.
(2) Abnormal breathing and swallowing functions may affect the development of teeth and jaws.
(3) Bad habits such as biting fingers, biting the upper lip orbiting the lower lip, sticking out or sticking out the tongue.
(4) Problems in the deciduous or mixed dentition period. Including premature loss of deciduous teeth, delayed loss of deciduous teeth, premature loss of permanent teeth, a disorder of the eruption sequence of permanent teeth, etc., will cause uneven teeth.
2. Is there any harm in having uneven teeth?
Affect the beauty of the face
Misaligned teeth can easily lead to unclean brushing, so it is easy to develop caries and calculus, affecting the health of teeth and periodontal. Because the upper and lower occlusal relationship is not good, it will affect eating, reduce the chewing function, increase the burden on the gastrointestinal tract, and thus affect the health of the body. Sometimes it also affects pronunciation.
3. Is there any way to treat irregular teeth?
Misaligned teeth can be corrected. Many people think that teeth are just like that, given by their parents, and cannot be changed. Times have developed, and this old concept should also be changed. Orthodontics is also a discipline called orthodontics. It is over 100 years old.
4. Can only teens straighten their teeth? Can adults do corrections?
Just like teenagers, adults can also have orthodontics. So believe in science, you also have the right to pursue beauty.
5. Do I need to correct my child’s teeth when they change their teeth?
In addition to the following conditions, children generally do not need to be corrected during tooth replacement.
(1) Severe maxillary or mandibular skeletal deformities, such as excessive protrusion of anterior teeth and protrusion of lips.
(2) Bad habits seriously affect the development of teeth and jaws. Such as biting the lower lip habit, eating fingers habit, mouth breathing habit, tongue sticking habits.
(3) Serious dislocation of individual teeth, such as twisted teeth; individual crossbite (the upper teeth bite inside the lower teeth).
Temporary malocclusions can also occur when teeth are replaced. These conditions include mild crowding, gaps between the front teeth, and deep bites. Parents, please don’t worry. As the child grows, these misalignments will gradually disappear or ease, so correction is not necessary.
6. When is the best time to have teeth straightened?
Generally speaking, girls are best corrected at 10-12 years old, and boys are best corrected at 11-13 years old. The baby teeth have just been replaced.
However, for children with skeletal deformities, especially those with “pocket teeth”, doctors recommend that they should be corrected early in the mixed dentition period. Early treatment can help to block abnormal growth and development trends by taking advantage of the child’s peak growth and development and leading it to normal.
7. What are the methods of correction?
Movable appliance: It is generally used for simple correction of malocclusion and deformity in primary and mixed teeth, or with fixed appliances. The patient can take it off by himself.
Fixed car appliance: the most commonly used appliance. The patient cannot take it off by himself.
Functional orthodontic appliance: It is mainly used for children who are in the period of mixed teeth or who have just changed their teeth and are still in the peak of growth and development. The functional appliance can correct skeletal malocclusion and deformity.
Orthognathic surgery: Severe dental and maxillofacial deformities, such as maxillary protrusion, maxillary retraction, mandibular protrusion, and mandibular retraction, cannot be resolved by simple correction, and combined surgical and orthodontic treatment is required.
8. How long does it take to straighten teeth?
Correction usually takes about a year and a half to two years. In general, children are faster than adults, and tooth extraction treatment takes longer than non-extraction treatment. Complex malocclusions and deformities take longer to treat than simple ones. Skeletal deformities take longer to correct than simple dental deformities. Everyone’s situation is different, and it needs to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis, as well as the treatment time. After the correction is completed, the retainer is generally worn for about a year and a half.
9. Will straightening teeth cause loose teeth? Will I lose my teeth when I get old?
During orthodontic treatment, the teeth will be slightly loosened during the movement of the force, but after a period of maintenance after the orthodontic treatment is completed, the alveolar bone around the teeth will be remodeled, and the teeth will become as stable as before. So there is no need to worry about whether you will lose your teeth when you are old.
10. Why do you need to pull out your teeth to straighten your teeth?
About 50% of orthodontic patients require tooth extraction. The purpose of tooth extraction is to:
(1) Use the extraction space to align crowded teeth. Patients with crowding degrees II-III are more likely to have their teeth extracted.
(2) Use the extraction space to adduct the anterior teeth, improve the degree of arch protrusion, and improve the facial shape. For example, some people’s lips are more protruding. After tooth extraction, the protrusion of the lips will become smaller, and the facial shape will become more beautiful.
(3) Adjust the occlusal relationship of the posterior teeth by using the extraction space, so that the cusps of the posterior teeth are staggered, the occlusal contact area is the largest, and the best chewing efficiency is achieved.
11. Will straightening teeth hurt?
Generally, within 3-6 days after putting on the fixed appliance and after each follow-up visit, you will feel some pain and weak chewing, and you can eat softer food these days. Usually, the pain will gradually decrease until it disappears.
12. What checks are needed for orthodontics？
The following inspections are generally required before correction:
(1) Teeth mark: (that is, taking the model), it is used for the doctor’s diagnosis and design of the error and the situation, and comparison and inspection in the subsequent treatment process.
(2) Photography: Before the treatment, the doctor should routinely take the patient’s facial photo and occlusal photo, and leave them for comparison at the end of the treatment in the future.
(3) X-ray examination: Each patient was routinely photographed with lateral cranial radiographs and full-mouth curved tomographic films.
(4) Make a treatment plan: The doctor measures, calculates, diagnoses the type of misfit based on the model, photos, and X-rays, and formulates a detailed treatment plan. The doctor then explains the treatment plan to the patient and the patient’s family and seeks the opinion of the patient and their family. After the treatment plan was determined, the patient or the patient’s family signed the consent form.
(5) After the treatment, remove the appliance and put it on the retainer.
13. Is it possible to correct misaligned teeth with periodontal disease?
Many patients with periodontal disease often find that their teeth are slowly dislocated, and there are gaps between the front teeth, which are getting bigger and bigger, which seriously affects the appearance of the face. Many patients feel distressed by this. This situation can be solved by corrective methods. After systematic periodontal treatment, periodontal inflammation is controlled, and patients can wear fixed appliances for treatment if they have mastered the methods of maintaining oral hygiene.
Generally, after the teeth with periodontal disease are corrected, it is necessary to stick a fixed retaining wire on the lingual side of the teeth to permanently maintain the position of the teeth and also play a role in maintaining periodontal health.
14. Why do I need to wear a retainer after correction?
After the correction is completed, the appliance is removed, and the teeth become neat and beautiful, but this is only half of the long journey, and the retainer must be worn next. Because the teeth are still unstable in the new position at this time, the new tooth position must be maintained using a retainer and wait for the alveolar bone reconstruction, which generally takes one and a half years.
There are two types of retainers: movable and fixed. Fixed retainers, also called permanent retainers, are commonly used in adult patients.
15. Are there any aligners that look better?
There are many adults who really want to straighten their teeth, but they are very concerned about the “steel teeth” after wearing braces. For aesthetic reasons, people invented transparent brackets and lingual braces. Clear brackets are similar in color to the teeth, so they don’t look obvious. On the other hand, the lingual braces attach the brackets to the inside of the teeth on the tongue side, so they are invisible from the outside.