Treatments

Braces

The Problem with Crooked Teeth

The body is an amazingly clever and well-designed system. When everything goes as designed, the adult teeth erupt into their correct place, allowing the teeth to function properly, feel comfortable, and look pretty good. However, jaws sometimes don’t grow optimally, and teeth can end up out of position.

For example, you could have a combination of the following:

• Teeth that don’t come down in the regular sequence.
• Teeth that fail to erupt into their intended position.
• Teeth become stuck inside your jawbone and never grow in.
• Being born with extra teeth or too few teeth (which is surprisingly common).
• One or more teeth are lost for various reasons, and the adjacent teeth move or tip into the gap.
• Mismatching jaw sizes where one or both jaws end up under or overdeveloped. Childhood facial accidents, along with your tongue, cheeks, nose, lips, facial muscles, genetics, diet and airway, all influence how the teeth arrange themselves.
• Teeth moved out of position due to Interesting habits like thumb sucking.

The immediate effect of having crooked teeth can influence how you breathe, eat, speak, kiss and smile. In particular, musicians, singers, actors and broadcasters can be susceptible to changes in the mouth and speech quality. Athletes undoubtedly benefit from a significant airway to facilitate their sport.

There can be knock-on effects regarding your dental health, particularly if your bite is thrown out. This can impact how stable your teeth and jaw joints are over your lifetime.

Benefits of Braces

The goal of the brace treatment is to give you a good smile that feels and looks fab, and one where your bite is well balanced. Well-positioned teeth can also be easier to clean and care for. It is often better to be proactive and address the problem early. This can mean less treatment and better results for some patients.

Benefits of the Gentle Approach

• Your views on treatment are taken into account. For example, some people are okay with wearing a brace fixed to the teeth, and others prefer clear braces.
• You will get clear information on achievable results, time frames, options and what it would be like to use and live with the brace.
• Generally, we avoid extracting teeth for braces. Instead, we prefer to create space for the teeth to move into using methods to generate broader smiles that are more muscle, nerve and joint-balanced.
• Extra attention is given to leaving the teeth as healthy and bite-stable as possible.
• Dental hygiene is super important for people wearing braces. The Gentle team will advise you on how to keep your mouth spit spot clean.

Clear Braces

Clear braces are great for simple to moderate complexity tooth straightening. They are comfortable and easy to wear, which is why it’s the most popular system worldwide.

Advantages of Clear Braces:

• Clear braces are easy to use, and it’s lovely to see the weekly improvements.
• The positioners are more discrete visually and feel smooth.
• They can be removed for social functions.
• There are typically fewer visits than train tracks, one or two appointments every three months.
• In addition to improving your smile, you can also improve your bite, making your mouth healthier.
• Once your teeth are positioned, you can choose between a fixed or removable retainer for added stability.

You can find out more by visiting www.invisalign.co.uk

Children’s Braces

Some children of primary school age have teeth or jaws that are not developing in balance. In this case, braces may be indicated to harness the natural growth of the developing child. Consultations are available to see if your child would benefit from this approach. MRI imaging may be helpful to assess if anything is impeding the growth of the jaws, and this information can then be used to improve jaw growth as a child develops.

Example 1

This patient felt that her eye teeth were too pointy looking. Since the teeth were in great condition, they were gently moved with clear braces. Putting teeth where they are meant to be gives a beautiful “After” smile, and, super importantly, the bite has been improved. This means that the facial muscles, jaw joints, teeth, and nerves exist in an optimised balanced position that gives lasting comfort and reduces the chances of teeth breaking.

Example 2

This patient was self-conscious about the gap and wonky front tooth. After the clear braces were removed, some bonding was placed on the teeth to improve the smile and restore smiling confidence.

Example 3

This gentleman felt he could only see his front teeth when he smiled in photos. The teeth are all squashed together and trapped, which occasionally leads to facial muscle discomfort, tooth wear and jaw joint aches. The brace treatment was completed with a series of clear braces, which gently aligned the teeth and broadened the smile.

Example 4

This lady had suffered from headaches, clicking jaw joints and tinnitus for years before she came to Gentle. Her teeth were misplaced to such an extent that her lower jaw couldn’t move around freely. This set up tensions in her head and neck muscles and resulted in pains, headaches and ringing in her ears.

Initially, the teeth were aligned with a fixed brace to broaden the arch. After the brace, the teeth are straighter and easier to clean.

On the left below, this is the start of treatment where hardly any lower teeth are showing. On the right you can see the crooked teeth before the braces went on. The teeth are trapped, which causes them to wear down, chip and break.

The braces were removed, and temporary crowns were placed on the top front teeth. What you can’t see is that there were abscesses under the gum and gum disease. These infections were treated, which promotes mouth and overall body health. Gum contouring was also completed to improve the proportions and extend the lifespan of the teeth.

Now, the lower teeth are much more visible after the brace and bonding treatment. The lower jaw is now “untrapped”, meaning the teeth can slide around comfortably in a muscle-balanced way. We were delighted when the patient told us that most of her facial and jaw joint discomfort had resolved and her tinnitus had reduced in severity.