An Orthodontist is a specialist who has already completed a degree in General dentistry, as well as an additional 2-3 years of specialized training in the field of Orthodontics. An orthodontist has specialized and experienced to move teeth and their practice is usually limited to Orthodontics.
The Canadian Association of Orthodontist recommends that kids see an Orthodontist no later than the age of 7. The purpose of the early treatment visit is to intervene while the teeth are erupting and the jaw growth is still active. Once kids enter puberty, the boney changes are much more difficult and sometimes impossible to achieve. Early treatment can therefore more effectively address underlying issues and thus prevent the need for surgical corrections later on. With early intervention and elimination of problematic habits such as thumb sucking, we are able to minimize the detrimental effects on the jaws and teeth, thereby improving final outcomes.
Many patients seek orthodontic treatment to address esthetic concerns, as their primary goal is to straighten their teeth. Others see orthodontic treatment to correct functional concerns, as they want to improve their bite. Some common problems that would benefit from orthodontic treatment include the following:
Overbite:
The upper front teeth extend out over the lower front teeth. In certain cases, the lower front teeth may even bite into the roof of the mouth.
The upper and lower jaws are both misaligned. One or more of the upper teeth sit inside the lower teeth.
Teeth are unable to make physical contact with the opposing teeth for a proper bite. An openbite can sometimes be associated with an unwanted habit such as tongue thrusting.
Crowding occurs when teeth do not erupt in the correct position due to a lack of space, which often results in teeth overlapping with each other.
Spacing problems may be caused by missing teeth.
When the middle of the upper teeth doesn’t coincide with the middle of the lower teeth. This can result from premature loss of baby teeth, missing adult teeth, malaligned jaws, or skeletal deformity.
Invisalign is only a tool that helps fix the teeth when we know what the problem is. The first step is to determine the problem. Once we diagnose the problem, we give our patients the choice of either braces or Invisalign, you choose!
