Personalised orthodontic treatment for all ages

North Sydney Orthodontics 1

Braces for teenagers

Orthodontic treatment for teenagers

Teenagers are more than just big kids so we partner with our teen clients to create fabulous smiles.

Braces for teenagers

Braces for teenagers are still the ‘go to’ solution for orthodontic specialists because of their flexibilty and comprehensive applicablilty. There is no doubts about whether a teenager is wearing a fixed appliance so compliance is never a mystery. So long as adequate care is taken to avoid breakages and keep things clean success is almost guaranteed when treated by an orthodontic specialist

Don’t worry if your teenager is a little bit particular about the display of the ‘tin grin’. We offer invisalign treatment as an alternative for teenagers. Apart from being more aesthetic its more hygienic and can be removed for contact sports. WARNING : this option requires a lot of personal responsibility and personal effort. Many parents report the hassle of chasing teenagers to wear the appliances.

Invisalign for teenagers

Teen girl with glasses applies lipstick while looking in a mirror, showcasing beauty routine.

When should my teenager see the orthodontist?

The Australian orthodontic society  recommends a first assessment by an orthodontist around the age of 6-7 years, because problems can start early. However don’t worry if you missed out at that age, but the earlier you get checked the better. Some problems are difficult to spot and can be damaging and difficult to fix if left too late. The teenage is the commonest time to do brace treatment because the adult dentition completes around 12 years of age.

Teenagers present the full range of orthodontic problems and they don’t have to be as severe as the examples shown here to warrant treatment. At North Sydney Orthodontics we fix functional and aesthetic problems in teenagers that threaten the long term dental health.  Braces for teenagers typically lasts 18 -24 months but can be much less with modern techniques.

What needs to be treated in teens ?

Canine teeth often go astray along of the long path they take to reach the correct position in the mouth. Sometimes the ectopic tooth will emerge spontaneously if sufficient space is created for it. Mostly ectopic teeth need to be surgically exposed and a braket attached to pull them it into place like this case.

Ectopic canines

MIssing teeth

Naturally missing teeth occur in about 5% of the population and the solutions are either to close the resulting space or to retain the space and place a prosthetic tooth

Extra teeth

When a primary tooth is prematurely lost (i.e. extracted due to decay),  adjacent teeth may drift into the space, and leave insufficient space for alignment of the permanent teeth.  An orthodontist’s opinion is required  to assess whether a space maintaining device is of value.  Space maintaining devices can be fixed or removable and the correct design will be determined by the particular situation.

Maxillary expansion for a broad smile

In this case only a simple upper plate was used to develop the upper arch to a very acceptable (though not perfect) alignment.

If dental crowding is noted in a young child, orthodontic treatment may be started around 9 or 10 years of age to expand the dental arches or maintain premolar spaces to avoid dental extractions later on.  This can usually be achieved initially with simple appliances but treatment is often then continuous until all the teeth have erupted and fixed appliances have completed the alignment.

Class II fixed functional treatment of jaw growth problems in children

For some children an imbalance in the growth between the top and bottom jaws (the maxilla and the mandible) makes it impossible to bite the teeth together correctly. This is often an inherited problem.  Expansion and forward growth of the upper jaw can be useful when there is a small upper jaw, and recent studies have indicated that an early start around the age of 6-8 years on this type of procedure is advantageous.

Another common problem is a small lower jaw for which many different types of functional appliance have been suggested.  North Sydney Orthodontics favours the use of the Twin block appliance for this type of problem . The best time to be using this kind of appliance around 9-11 for girls and 11-13 for boys.

Dental Protrusion

30 years ago the first question an orthodontist asked was ‘which teeth shall I remove”. Its not like that anymore and most teenagers do not need teeth extracting for orthodontic alignment. However there are still some circumstances to take teeth out when it is for the best – such as unrepairable decay – then braces can come to the rescue

Nowadays the commonest reason to take teeth out is to allow protrusive teeth to display nicely and to allow the lips to be kept closed without effort. In this example teeth stick out of your mouth and are crowded – to get a functional and attractive smile the front teeth must be retracted. Extraction of 4 teeth was used in this case but new methods are available now to avoid extractions if there are no wisdom teeth likely

To reduce the prominence of protrusive teeth there must be space to pull the front teeth back. This either comes from driving the entire dentition backwards using temporary anchorage screws (distalisation), or by space creation through extractions (find out more) and sometimes by both. Although this sounds confronting modern dentistry has ways of making it easy and acceptable

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