Why Braces?

Children's Dental Clinic offers orthodontics as a part of our patient care.  Orthodontic treatments include habit appliances for tongue thrusting or thumb/finger sucking, expansion appliances for anterior and/or posterior cross bites, phase I (interceptive) orthodontics that creates space for larger permanent teeth to erupt and addresses poor growth potential, or complete orthodontics for those patients who do not need an interceptive phase of treatment.

Once a doctor has diagnosed the need for orthodontics, we will schedule a POGO (Pre Orthognatic Guidance of Occlusion) appointment, which is a series of x-rays, photos, and impressions used by the doctor to determine your child’s needs.  More specifically the POGO is used to evaluate the patient’s growth and development stages.  After the POGO appointment, we schedule an afternoon appointment for the doctor to discuss the patient's recommended treatment plan.

How Orthodontic Treatment Works

Orthodontic appliances can be made of metal, ceramic, or plastic. They may be removable or they may be brackets bonded to the teeth. By placing a constant, gentle force in a carefully controlled direction, braces slowly move teeth to a corrected position. This is a great time to wear braces! Gone are the days when a metal band with a bracket was placed around each tooth. You can choose the color of the ties that hold the wire in some types of appliances. In others, no colored ties are used. Wires are also less noticeable than they used to be and the latest materials move teeth faster with less discomfort to patients.

Duration of Treatment

Four things that can shorten treatment time:

• Keeping your appointments. Each missed appointment can lengthen treatment time by about a month
• Not Breaking Your Appliances. Broken appliances can stop or reverse treatment progress.  Please be sure to wear a mouthguard to protect your teeth and braces when participating in contact sports.  Extensive repairs may require an appointment during school hours.
• Wearing your elastics and appliances as instructed.  Your teeth won’t move if instructions are not followed.
• Keeping your Teeth and Braces Clean.  All efforts should be focused on designing your new smile, not on unhealthy teeth and gums.  Clean teeth with healthy gums move faster.