Crooked teeth: Part VI

How frequent are the visits to the orthodontist?

Once the braces have been placed, the appointments can vary from 3 to 7 weeks, depending one ach phase of the treatment. The use of new techniques allow that the wires keep activated for the long periods of time avoiding discomfort and frequent visits to the orthodontist.

Is it necessary to extract dental pieces to get the correct alignment of teeth?

Not necessarily. Nowadays, they extract much less pieces than they used to some years ago. Fortunately, they have developed different techniques as the breaking of “contact areas” or the expansion of the arches to make the spaces with no need to extract a tooth.

What is the best age to start going to the orthodontist?

According to the American Association of Orthodontics the ideal age top visit the orthodontist is at 7. Severe problems of dental growing and clustering can be more easily corrected before puberty. With the aim of avoiding long and expensive treatments, the early dental treatment has to be done in two phases: the first one to correct growing problems or making spaces to allow the eruption of permanent teeth, and a second phase, to finish the dental alignment. It is necessary that these two phases are realized separately; and to establish the problems to correct in each of them from the beginning to avoid prolonged, expensive and uncomfortable treatments (more than 3 years).

Why there are crooked teeth or bite problems?

There are a number of factors that make teeth grow in a bad position like genetic or inherited causes, until severe cavity problems in baby teeth, nutrition, different type of habits or certain respiratory problems.

How come teeth move?

Dental movement is the result of applying slight strengths to the tooth by different devices, which unchains a remodeling of the bone and the tissues that surround the tooth enabling it to move. For this to happen, it requires certain time: thus, the braces are tightened every 3 to 7 weeks.

The indispensable elements for an orthodontist treatment are the braces or brackets and the wire. The wire gives the strength; and the braces transmit it to the tooth.

When applying strength to a tooth with these two devices, it is generated a soft pressure over the periodontal ligament.

On the pressure area, the bone is reabsorbed; and on the tension area, the bone is formed.
When the wire is changes very month, it is making pressure, but in a show way that do not harm any part of the tooth.

These pressures stimulate the bone cells to reallocate the teeth through the bone remodeling.