Adult Orthodontics
About 6o% of our patients are adults and Dr Daniels is an expert in adult orthodontic treatment. Orthodontic problems in adults range from minor crowding or spacing of teeth, to very complex problems involving repair and replacement of missing teeth, and treatment to correct anomalies of facial growth and severe dental disease. To meet the needs and wants of our discerning clientele we offer all forms of invisible and nearly invisible orthodontic treatment and when coupled with Suresmile technology significant improvements in treatment time without sacrificing quality are the result. Many adult patients are hoping to avoid visible braces and choose invisalign or invisible braces placed on the inside of the teeth.
Orthodontic treatment and advanced dental procedures : implants
For various reasons, occasionally teeth are missing or extracted. Following a tooth loss, the adjacent teeth often drift towards the space and adopt positions which are less than ideal. Orthodontic treatment is used to position teeth prior to restoration of the spaces, or may occasionally be used to close the space, negating the need for expensive tooth replacement. In this case, the patient has 2 missing upper second incisors replaced with a temporary denture. Unfortunately the roots of the adjacent teeth are tipped into the extraction spaces and therefore prevent the placement of implants. Orthodontic treatment was employed to move the roots out of the implant site.
Do wisdom teeth always require extraction? – not if the orthodontist can align them!
Wisdom teeth are often a problem but do not always require extraction, especially if previous extractions have been carried out. Sometimes, even the most hopeless looking teeth are amenable to orthodontic alignment and this can be a cheaper alternative to implant replacement to consolidate the dental arch. In this case, the tipped wisdom teeth in the lower jaw were uprighted and the space completely closed improving the dental function, protecting the bone support and bringing the impacted lower right third molar into a useful position avoiding the need for a dental implant at the same time.
Correction of major growth disturbances with jaw surgery
Orthodontic problems involving severe jaw growth discrepancies can only be corrected once growth has been completed. Sometimes, the size of the upper and lower jaws do not match closely enough to allow a good meeting of the front or back teeth. This is a potentially serious handicap to the functional chewing ability of the teeth as well as being unsightly. The only way to get an ideal dental relationship is to straighten the teeth and then perform surgery on the jaws to correct the growth problem. The particular surgical procedure depends on what the growth problem is and this will be discussed between the orthodontist and the surgeon. Jaw surgery has the advantages that the dental alignment is usually more stable and there is an enhanced facial balance, but obviously involves more risks and is more expensive.
