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Orthodontics

Orthodontic treatment with braces enhances the appearance and alignment of protruding, crooked, or crowded teeth and fixes tooth bite problems. 

Benefits

The advantages of orthodontics can include the following:

  • Straightening of your teeth
  • Modification of dental crowding
  • Correcting your bite site, so the back and front teeth meet evenly
  • Reducing the chance of damage

Many people hold crooked or crowded teeth, or their teeth do not meet in position when they bite. These problems make it more challenging to keep your teeth and gums sterile, and if this continues, your teeth are more likely to become impaired.

In some cases, irregular positioning of your teeth and jaw leads to altering the shape of your face.

Orthodontics can also help treat other health problems, such as a cleft lip and palate.

Types of Orthodontics

Orthodontics involves braces to fix the position of the teeth. Your exact selection of treatment depends on the crisis of your teeth. In many cases, you must wear headgear or small pins; they will temporarily be in your jaw while you are already wearing a brace.

If your teeth twist or overlap, consider having some teeth extracted as part of your treatment.

The treatment period will rely on the complex problem, but it usually finishes between 18 and 24 months.

When treatment concludes, the orthodontist will suggest a retaining brace; this is removable and worn all night to hold your teeth in their new position.

Orthodontics

These braces last for at least twelve months, but your orthodontist will instruct you. Occasionally, orthodontists may fix a thin wire behind your teeth row to keep them in position. 

Treatment

Orthodontic treatment can usually start after most of a child’s adult teeth have begun to grow; they happen at about 12 years old, but it depends on how many of their adult teeth developed.

For adults, orthodontic treatment can initiate at any age but with limited treatment options.

The treatment will start if you have good oral hygiene, as orthodontic treatment can raise the risk of tooth decay and gum disease.

Reviewed by – Dr. Priyanka, MBBS MD Microbiology
Page last reviewed: 04 October 2022