Tooth extraction

Dental problems can be congenital or acquired (due to injuries or improper dental care). Orthodontic treatment is more effective in younger people up to about 25 years of age, as long as the bones are more elastic and the ossification is not over. Even if there were no problems with the bite in childhood or adolescence, they may occur later due to the loss of one or more teeth, and "happy" neighbors try to fill the vacancy. Problems with the bite can also occur with the coming of the wisdom teeth. In other words, a bite can occur at any age and your bite needs to be monitored, in other words, you should visit your dentist regularly. There are several solutions to problems.

Braces

The first solution associated with tooth correction is a metal plate mounted on the teeth and connected to a wire. This is perhaps really the most common method of correcting a bite. The advantage of this method of treatment is its flexibility, it is also possible to correct serious bite-related problems, which cannot be corrected by other methods. Often (but far from always) it is also a method that is cheaper than alternatives. However, there are several disadvantages to using braces.

The first problem is that wearing braces involves pain and damage to the oral mucosa. The patient may experience pain as early as the first week after braces are placed (and the arch is changed every three months) and throughout treatment, in addition to the fact that the arches and braces rub the tissues during tooth movement, damaging the oral mucosa.

Another disadvantage is that wearing braces creates difficulties with eating and oral hygiene. For example, it is possible that the brace carrier cannot bite an apple and must grind the food into smaller pieces in order to eat it sensibly. It is also necessary to brush your teeth or at least rinse your mouth thoroughly after each solid meal so that the pieces of food stuck to the braces do not stand out to others. Also, when wearing braces, it is not always possible to brush all areas on the teeth, and sometimes this causes plaque and often worsens the condition of the teeth, which in turn indicates the need to visit the doctor more often.

The third and most important problem for the wearer is the appearance of the braces. When interacting with others, braces are immediately visible, which may be unacceptable to individuals under public scrutiny and to people working in certain occupations. In addition, plates attached to teeth are something that is associated with childhood or adolescence in people's heads, and the average person wearing braces may therefore be seen in a similar light. Yes, many materials have recently been used (polymers, ceramics, sapphires) that allow the braces to be partially "masked" by the teeth, but the wire connecting the braces is nevertheless metal and visible. The solution may be to use a palate, but there are also clear negative effects. First of all, this method of treatment is more expensive (at least one and a half times more expensive than treatment with agents, which we will talk about later). Second, the braces in this case are on the back of the teeth and for some time the tongue therefore becomes an error and disturbed by diction, which is not suitable for everyone. Third, it is necessary to find a good specialist who would put this type of braces on the patient, because the use of this method is more complicated and involves technological challenges that do not occur with the traditional method.

Aligners

The treatment method based on the lineage is relatively new and it developed at the end of the 20th century. However, it is a method that is rapidly taking over the dental market. According to the latest data, patients in the United States were treated with the same quantity of patients as braces compared to the number of patients who used braces. The aligners are made of transparent polymeric. The treatment is based on two stages: making a shape from the patient's teeth, calculating each tooth path using a computer to achieve the desired result, and making the necessary number of cuts. Aligners are then placed and your doctor gives you a brief overview of what the treatment will look like. As with braces, you should see your doctor periodically, but much less often.

Compared to braces, aligners have several advantages. The lineages do not damage the oral mucosa or the tongue. During the day, the aligners can be removed for eating and oral hygiene - which also means that there is no need to follow a special diet. Due to the maximum possible result of the technique, the patient can see at the beginning of the treatment how his smile will look later (unlike braces, where the result is much less predictable and more affected by human factors). Due to developments in digitization, treatment times are often shorter with braces than with braces, and less pain is associated with their use.

Of course, there are disadvantages associated with the use of materials. In some cases, the cost of using elastics is higher than that of classical braces (where the braces are attached to the visible part of the teeth). Liners can also be used in smaller cases and in some cases must be used with braces if there is no other way to correct the bite. In addition, it is not possible to use veneers until the formation of teeth and face has been completed (up to about 16 years of age).

Laminates, crowns

In certain cases, the problem of "crooked teeth" can be corrected with "traditional" prostheses, which can be used with crowns and laminates (more information about this treatment method can be found here and here.

Often, these methods solve more than just the problem they came up with (correcting crooked teeth). This is especially true in cases where crowns are placed on teeth that are part of a visible smile (10-12 upper and lower teeth that are visible when interacting with other people). Broken tooth tips are often covered with crowns or missing teeth with a filling bridge. Of course, it is difficult to make the decision to grind 10-20 of your own teeth and replace them with filler, but this method is used to correct the most extreme bite-related defects. These are then situations where it is also not possible to achieve results by using braces and elastics together.

In addition to the crowns, we have already mentioned laminates, ie thin plates made of different materials (ceramics, composite material, zircon), which are placed on the front of the teeth. This approach is a milder option than placing crowns, in which case you do not need to grind your tooth completely - you only need to grind the front of the tooth. Laminates are thus used in simpler cases where the defects are small or it is necessary to change the natural color of the tooth or to eliminate the darkening of the actual teeth.

The problems associated with using laminates and crowns are obvious - they are related to changing your own teeth. However, there are also advantages, with a small workload (it is necessary to replace one tooth or close a small tooth gap), this method is cheaper than other alternatives. It's also true that after two "painful" days (supposedly less pain when wearing dentures, but that's not our estimate), you'll get a result that would otherwise have taken six months, a year, or even three years to complete every day. limit their activities.

I would like to end this brief diversion to orthodontics with my usual recommendation to visit a dental clinic (be it our clinic or our competitors' clinic) for an accurate clinical overview of the situation and a doctor's advice on how best to resolve the situation.