Your Fear of the Dentist

Dental phobia is estimated to affect about 30% of all adults, with many unable to entertain the idea of dental work being done under anesthetic.
As with most forms of phobic behaviour, the origins of dental fear tend to be found in childhood or adolescence - a traumatic dental experience, possibly with a critical or inconsiderate dentist, maybe backed up by unfavourable experiences related to friends or family members. Such experience can influence adult behaviour despite any amount of education and media coverage to the contrary.
The consequences of dental phobia can be traumatic in themselves. Over many years, a condition which is treatable can turn into one which is not. Phobic patients are highly likely to suffer from dental disease and end up slowly losing their teeth or in emergency services.
Dental phobics can get special help by specialists in psychotherapy services. There is a ‘talking’ cure, a very effective and friendly form of treatment, which often produces dramatic results. The guiding principle behind treatment is a graduated controlled exposure of patients to the feared stimulus.
The patients first have a session, in a room near the surgery, with a psychotherapist who will work with them to help them leave their fear in the past. They will then have a consultation with the dentist. Psychotherapy is more effective if the patients go immediately into the surgery, even if only for a consultation, rather than waiting several weeks.
A demystification of the dentist and his equipment is intended. Not all dentists cause pain. Besides, if one goes to the dentist regularly and damage to the teeth is treated immediately, there is little chance for the patient to feel any pain, whereas when fear of the dentist keeps you away from the surgery and your teeth develop large cavities, the intervention will always be painful.

Things to Do to Maintain Your Dental Hygiene

Inadequate dental hygiene can cause numerous problems not only to your mouth but throughout your body. Most people consider regular dental checkups to be something you do when you’re younger.
However, as you age your body tends to breakdown and this also includes your teeth so keeping consistent with your dental hygienist is important at any age. Of course this doesn’t mean you can slack on your regular practice of caring for your teeth. In fact, I’ve read quite often that you should brush and floss daily.
Quite honestly, that leads me to believe once a day is enough. Quite frankly, it isn’t. You are required to eat three meals on a daily basis. Generally, it’s taught that people should brush after meals. Therefore, brushing three times a day would be more appropriate. Flossing is important because most often, brushing doesn’t get all the particles from between your teeth.
Food left behind turns into bacteria quickly. This bacterium sets the stage for a majority of problems with your teeth. Flossing will prevent this from happening. Rinsing also helps in killing bacteria not to mention, makes your breath smell fresh and clean. For those who are generally found within groups, the company you keep will be grateful.
Regular routine cleanings by your hygienist are also crucial because no matter how hard you try there is likely to be little microscopic nuisances lying around in your mouth. It is also important for us to understand the effect our nutritional habits has on our teeth. Poor diet can lead to significant dental problems especially in adolescents because of their tendency to indulge in foods with high sugar content. Soda, is especially damaging.
Eating foods which are high in vitamin and mineral content will help your defense against potential dental difficulties. Keeping your dentist informed is also very important. People tend to overlook telling their dentist about clicking, locking, or grinding in relation to their teeth or jaw. Grinding your teeth can be very damaging and possible cause them to crack or break. The problem is, some people tend to do this in their sleep and don’t realize it.
So discussing with your dentist symptoms such as soreness and pain can be significant in diagnosing the problem and getting treatment. Maintaining your dental hygiene does take effort but it’s far more difficult to restrict your smile.

Why Teeth Whitening Systems Are So Effective?

Tobacco, coffee, tea or age are the main reasons for the teeth problems, but there are case where some antibiotics as well such as tetracycline or too much fluoride can cause them.
If you are in this condition you can visit as well as consult your dentist, and let him know about your problems in order to suggest you a number of whitening systems. There a lot of Teeth whitening systems such as: Bleaching kits, Bonding, Porcelain veneers, Whitening Toothpastes used by dentists, which can be purchased at any time. All the ingredients included in the tooth whitening systems can be used carefully at home.
Our Teeth whitening system can do a lot for you, having in mind that customers must put on thin thermoforming trays over the top and bottom teeth for only 15 -30 minutes a day - and this is a single Session. This system does not include any fluoride and its quality formula actually reduces tooth sensitivity with no question asked at all. Guarantee your total satisfaction with the results of our product or your money back - this is with every product in this niche, because the smile of your face if one of the thongs that people will see and comment as well.
Using such a teeth whitening system you should stick to the instructions given on the site or those, which are shipped with the product. In both cases you will have maximum results if you do it correctly. Some dental products have strict rules of using them in order to achieve what you are looking for, while others are just well-know on the market and have no specific rules, just a short instruction and that's all. The second ones are used in a family as a normal product.
As you know some people go to dentist not only to fix their teeth, but to make them more attractive, white and beautiful. Well if you need to go to dentist and make them more attractive as well as white you have to think of a product that can bring them in this condition without all the procedures, something that is provided on the offline or online stores. Teeth whitening system are available online and offline, that's why laser procedures are replaced by these easy to use and safe supplements.

About Tooth Whitening Systems And White Light Refills

Most of the stains and problems in teeth may be caused by tobacco, coffee, tea or age. But sometimes such type of stains can be caused by some antibiotics as well such as tetracycline or too much fluoride.
At this condition you can consult your dentist about tooth-whitening options. It includes a number of whitening systems. But now a days Teeth whitening systems like Bleaching kits, Bonding, Porcelain veneers, Whitening Toothpastes used by dentists can be purchased. The ingredients in the tooth whitening systems can be used carefully at home. These home tooth whitening systems do not require extensive treatment sessions; you have to spend only fifteen to thirty minutes in a day. How many days the tooth whitening system can be used depend on the amount of whitening the customer prefers to have on his/her teeth?
To use the tooth whitening systems, customer must put on thin thermoforming trays over the top and bottom teeth for only 15 -30 minutes a day. This formula has much whitening power than other tooth whitening systems, white light refills and therefore requires less application, less time and less effort. It improves higher percentage of active tooth whitening ingredients and is ph optimized to maximize the tooth whitening process.
Some teeth whiting systems:
Bleaching kits—it is mostly accepted whitening tool for tooth bleaching.
Bonding—a complex resin that is molded onto the teeth to change their shade and to reform them.
Porcelain veneers— it is used to reshape and/or lengthen teeth as well as to whiten.
Whitening Toothpastes— whitening toothpastes effectively keep the teeth cleaner and looking whiter. The stronger toothpastes rely on scratch to remove external stains as opposed to actually changing the color of teeth.
It is very important to isolates your gums and lips with a protective material in order to avoid burning of your soft tissue. It is for this reason that home whitening kits usually have a low concentration of peroxide so that there is less change of any damage at home. The tooth whitening system does not contain any fluoride and its quality formula actually reduces tooth sensitivity. We unconditionally guarantee your total satisfaction with the results of our product or your money back - no matter how many you order.

Root Canal Therapy

The root canal therapy consists of the specific therapy of the dental pulpy chamber soft and highly sophisticated for hard food intake complications. There are many complicated framework divisions of the tooth that connects the root canal within the cavity itself and the roots. The therapy is done to treat the highly vascular zed loose connective tissue of the pulp. The tooth fractures cause infection and inflammation of the cavity and the cavity begins to bleed and microorganisms peep in fairly due to micro-bacteria multiplication.
In such treacherous condition the byproducts of the mouth or the oral flora have easy access to the pulp chambers but the surgical intervention take out such deposits from the root canal through the therapy known as endodontic therapy. The nourishment of the teeth with the help of the therapy to curb the eruption of the nerves or delicate blood vessels is the prime objective for the dentist. Once the tooth itself matures the dentist could take the pulp out of the chamber and maintains the safe placement again for the tooth inside the gum.

Root Canal Therapy

The therapy is done mainly for two specific reasons for the gum one it is for any form of infectious agents causing bacteria formation and two if there is experienced an irreversible and irretrievable damage of the pulp according to the patient. The teeth decay corrode the enamel deep down without prior warning to the patient until it opens wide open and affects the delicate root canal system. The prior treatment by the therapy furthermore increases as certain patients taking antibiotics have difficulty having access to the infection directly in the pulp chamber in order to execute the bacteria.
It has to clearly bear in mind with cautious attempt of the dentist to take precautionary measure at the time of installing crown after the surgery because the slightest crack or opening in the treated cavity can furthermore cause inflammation of the cavity and could give rise to the root canal treatment. The dental surgeon fills up the empty tooth canal with the help of inert material. The therapy is acted upon so that the tooth might not be removed as the missing tooth cavity will allow the neighboring teeth to intervene with the empty space in order to have drift outside the normal growing cavity line and overstressing the cavity to pinch from the corners or side-by-side.
As the dental surgeon is aware of the repetition of the infection and slight reverberation of the tooth while chewing the hard food from one side of the mouth the doctor of the teeth insert an injection inside the soft and delicate pulpy cavity chamber every few seconds in between the surgery which is basically a non-bacterial-non-infectious gel that doesn’t alter the normal teeth to invite the infection again inside the cavity once the treatment therapy is fruitfully accomplished.
When a dental surgeon seals up the root cavity with highly specialized permanent cement of the tooth, it never permits the patient to pull the cement out of the tooth cavity in the near future because permanent cementing is only recommended to safeguard the natural wide-opening of the tooth cavity so that the direct intervention of hot and cold foods with other respected liquids might not certainly touch the treated area yet again or else there might be chances for the inflammation of the cavity for the patient.
The sensitivity to heat and cold, swelling of the cavity inside the gum, discolored tooth with or without the acute pain, inflammation due to contamination of the teeth structure from future microbial invasion etc necessitate the importance of therapy for the patient and decontaminating the tooth successfully is the feeling of bliss and a mission to accomplish for the dental surgeon.

Cosmetic Dental Surgery

shade whitening surgical procedures that goes from front to back. There isn’t unfortunately a single standard system discovered and revealed for the patient so far that can have the capacity as well as purposeful criterion for a tooth color.

Cosmetic Dental Surgery

Under advanced cosmetic dentistry there are accessible four different shaded for the teeth. They can be: grey, reddish brown, yellow and reddish grey. The dental surgeons make certain the procedure to be implemented to the best of the patient’s knowledge. Whitening toothpastes are slightly abrasive in nature and helps to remove the surface staining. Bleaching gel tubes are obtainable in the domestic market with rubber mouth trays that are of the same shape as one’s teeth are. The surgeons make use of hydrogen peroxide as influential chemical for whitening the front surface especially.
Laser bleaching of the teeth is an advanced but sophisticated version of dental surgery. A rubber seal is applied to the section of the gum and a bleaching gel is painted all over the teeth so that the laser beam light can be targeted to the area to work over by the surgeon. He then uses internal bleaching which is productively done subsequent to root canal treatment this in turn means that the delicate blood veins and vessels inside the tooth have been replaced with rubber filling.
A surgeon could make a deep penetrating hole in the tooth and put bleach inside it then that hole is sealed with only temporary fillers. If the cosmetic dentistry fancies the patient then the surgeon can fill the hole of the tooth with colored fillers. The composite and Porcelain tooth veneers are used in surgery for understanding teeth enamel discoloration factors such as: Aging process, staining or any chemical damage of the teeth with people depending over heavy-smoking and drinking significant amount of soft drinks etc. The surgeons position veneers or plastic over the front segment of the teeth.
The veneers are worn for uneven surfaces or for big and small bizarre teeth. Crooked and chipped teeth have weird appearance. The surgical veneer unravel (solve) the irregularities and create a hard-wearing pleasing smile of the face. Dental bonding of the tooth is composite resin filler which is placed at the back of the teeth and front. The surgical composites are used as a way out to restore the decomposed teeth. The minor gaps are effortlessly sealed and thin coating of plastic material is applied to the affected section.
A high-intensity light is concentrated upon the surface first and then the surface is polished by the surgeon. The composite fillings last for about seven to eleven years, the customary silver filling precedes till seven years only. Cosmetic dental implants are fixtures of titanium that are surgically implanted by screwing up the jaw bone. If there appears a false tooth the implant becomes an anchor to protect and hold up the set of the teeth in the mouth. Before the surgery the surgeon ensures that the patient should have adequate bone in the missing area to implant & attach to. It is not always necessary to replace the tooth with implantation but replacement of different kinds of partially removable dentures and bridges of the tooth gum is achievable. The additional cosmetic dental surgeries are: Bridging, contouring, dental crowning, root canal therapy, accelerated orthodontics non-preference to traditional braces attachment, cosmetic gum surgery etc. All these methods are utilized by the surgeon for the accomplishment of the surgical mission and help the client to the best of his knowledge and treatment outlook.

Affordable family dental care

as it becomes much cheaper and hygienic with variations in the price tag according to the acuteness of the gum related oral diseases. It certainly has the power to let a patient wear smile on his face when told about the convenience of the treatment therapy and other operational procedures.
The family dental care and treatment is inexpensive in comparison to other foreign countries with safe and sound state-of-the-art dental clinics equipped with latest and even sophisticated dental equipments which are cheaper then patient paying in dollars and pounds. The dental care adopts an international standard to remove plaque, tartar, bed breath from the gums, etc. A personal attention to the family dental care is the prime objective for many dental services working indigenously in our country.
With affordable price tag comes along quality dentistry, courtesy and commitment with responsible staff for performing major and minor dental operations helping dental surgeons in there activities. A prompt follow-up is understated by a member of the family to ensure the hard earned penny be not vast and wasted in wrong hands who might be ill-experienced to perform a safe dental operation after all it’s the absolute question of faith and a family doesn’t wants to take any chance of it to trouble themselves for no reasons.
Getting a dental check-up is a piece of cake for some but for others it can be a whole budget for a month and they don’t want to loose a single hard earned penny thereby cheap dental clinics are given much preference by commuters to have regular check-ups as to satiate their desires of bad-breath-free mouth. The first step of the dentistry is to understand the problem criteria that involves cleaning, sealing, filling, crowning of the teeth over the delicate gums, root canalling, bridging gaps caused due to unwanted sharp-tools used in a form of toothpicks or all pins, cosmetic whitening, veneers made up of porcelain, bonding of the tooth through cosmetics or plastic forms, pressing ceramics into inlays and outlays of the tattered tooth gums, etc. are some of those operations that are either a bit expensive with meager amount pay scale or might takes a gigantic shape of large fee charging structure which a patient should confirm by a dentist before getting operated for the disease because in many cases previously the patient wasn’t aware about the price tag or is being mislead and misinformed about the operation charge that has increased more and more each time the operations underwent respectively. The nature of the dental operation decides as to what should be an exact figure charged accordingly and with such assessment a patient might decide as to what amount is a genuine amount either for him or for members of the family.
A family dental care package is safe if done with the same family doctor again and again as by pushing along to various dental clinics without any prior knowledge of the fee structure you will definitely be overcharged or fooled by fraud implications. The un-hygienically and disgusting appearing tooth that is completely eaten away by the tooth worm is always extracted out from the doctor immediately as it affects the other adjacent tooth’s aligned in the gum structure due to chewing of tobacco, smoking or black fillers causing unwanted gaps in the tooth are charged with high-amount as machinery and tools are emphasized by dental surgeons and manual removal of the tooth is impossible in nature there a amount charged is genuine and a patient shouldn’t disgrace his money for it but any possibility with less impact can be handled safely and demands alert appropriation both by the patient and the doctor.

Reconstructive dental surgery

the patient must withstand the treatment performed for a prolonged period. It thus includes in it the soft tissues of the face and facial bone too. The reconstruction under certain operations are meant to be necessitating the thorough treatment that has been left in lurch in previous attempt but is essentially and systematically done this time with no errors or problems to the patient.
The remains of the post-traumatic experiences or pathology been removed demands reconstruction of the dental region to specify as to what went wrong the previous time and if major consequences have surfaced due to delay by surgeon then how the loss be fulfilled in given stipulated time period. This form of surgery restores functions consisting delicate veins and nerves, the skin and bones that joints to move jaw freely and other specifically defined regions of the mouth of the patient.
If surgery is lightly handled initially thereby unexpected human aging signs or marks along with facial features are clearly visible to the outside world. These features are unbearable to certain sensitive patients with people complaining the patient largely.
The oral pathology ensures the reconstruction surgery to specifically target the special type of pink skin inside the mouth and near the gum. It’s very smooth in nature. The appearance of the mouth when altered is a warning sign for complete pathological processing of the dental care. In certain cases, the cancer recuperates once the surgery is already performed by the dental surgeon; those are the cancerous growth cells inside the mouth with a sign of red pigmentations or patches, a formation of lump inside the mouth that helps in thickening of the mouth skin, a sore caused by ill-treated curing technique by the surgeon leaving the sore to bleed heavily and rather refuses to heal overtime even the medicines are prescribed to the patient that should exactly match with his hormonal capabilities, a patient might complains about hoarseness with frustrations attached and throat which is enormously bitter in nature.
The least but common problem is the difficulty to either swallow or chew any food item carefully with no pressure mounted over both sides, depending completely on liquid diet chart plan. The reconstruction must ensure all that have lost. The lost is easily detected over the cheeks, mouth palate, lips, chin bone and tissues of the gum respectively. The tongue sometimes has to bear the brunt for the surgical difficulty of the tooth gum when patients are sick to speak or yell at others. The sheer pain is associated oral cancer.
In reconstruction the dental implants of the tooth cavity into the gums are the fixtures utilised for permanency and durability respectively and even along with posts of tiny titanium inserted directly into the jawbone where from the initial surgery the teeth have been missing. For a possible tooth substitute there are used some anchors made up of metal and they don’t even react either with mouth saliva or blood. In other words they are non-toxic by nature and safe and sound according to dentists. The bone of the jaw simply bonds along with titanium and that creates some kind of protrudes at the gum region. The foundation of it is very strong in a form of artificial teeth helping the canal to suit with it. The posts for the anchors provide stability for replacement of the artificial teeth inserted into the canal or cavity. Dental surgeons recommend thorough flossing and brushing of the tooth canal because it’s the fixtures that cause gigantic shape to resurface again.

5 Things to Do to Maintain Your Dental Hygiene

Inadequate dental hygiene can cause numerous problems not only to your mouth but throughout your body. Most people consider regular dental checkups to be something you do when you’re younger.
However, as you age your body tends to breakdown and this also includes your teeth so keeping consistent with your dental hygienist is important at any age. Of course this doesn’t mean you can slack on your regular practice of caring for your teeth. In fact, I’ve read quite often that you should brush and floss daily. Quite honestly, that leads me to believe once a day is enough. Quite frankly, it isn’t. You are required to eat three meals on a daily basis.
Generally, it’s taught that people should brush after meals. Therefore, brushing three times a day would be more appropriate. Flossing is important because most often, brushing doesn’t get all the particles from between your teeth. Food left behind turns into bacteria quickly. This bacterium sets the stage for a majority of problems with your teeth. Flossing will prevent this from happening.
Rinsing also helps in killing bacteria not to mention, makes your breath smell fresh and clean. For those who are generally found within groups, the company you keep will be grateful. Regular routine cleanings by your hygienist are also crucial because no matter how hard you try there is likely to be little microscopic nuisances lying around in your mouth. It is also important for us to understand the effect our nutritional habits has on our teeth.
Poor diet can lead to significant dental problems especially in adolescents because of their tendency to indulge in foods with high sugar content. Soda, is especially damaging. Eating foods which are high in vitamin and mineral content will help your defense against potential dental difficulties. Keeping your dentist informed is also very important. People tend to overlook telling their dentist about clicking, locking, or grinding in relation to their teeth or jaw.
Grinding your teeth can be very damaging and possible cause them to crack or break. The problem is, some people tend to do this in their sleep and don’t realize it. So discussing with your dentist symptoms such as soreness and pain can be significant in diagnosing the problem and getting treatment. Maintaining your dental hygiene does take effort but it’s far more difficult to restrict your smile.

Combining Teeth Whitening and Porcelain Veneers

What is Teeth Whitening?
This is whitening process that lightens discolouration of enamel and dentine. It is the most popular cosmetic dentistry procedure.

Types of Teeth Whitening
There are two main types of whitening treatment available:

* ‘Zoom’ laser whitening – done in the dentist chair – takes approximately 90 minutes
* Home whitening – done in your own time at home – takes 1 hour per day (10-14 days)

What Causes Teeth to Discolour?
There are many causes of teeth discolouration. The most common are ageing, consumption of tea, coffee, red wine and tobacco. Another cause of darkening of the teeth is nerve degeneration.

Who Would Benefit From Teeth Whitening?
Almost anyone can benefit, but you must remember that old fillings or porcelain crowns or veneers will not respond to the whitening process. A cosmetic dentist would be able to tell you if whitening would be an option for you.

How Does Teeth Whitening Work?
Both treatments use oxygen releasing whitening gel placed against the surface of your teeth. As oxygen enters the enamel and dentine, it whitens the coloured substances. Only the teeth colour is made lighter, while the structure of the teeth remains unchanged.

Combined Whitening and Porcelain Veneers
In some cases a combination of laser whitening, home whitening and porcelain veneers could be a good way to keep to your budget, so that only the teeth that are causing disharmony would have to have porcelain veneers. Firstly the cosmetic dentist would lighten your teeth with ‘Zoom’ laser whitening in the practice and also give you a home whitening kit to use so that your teeth would go to the lightest possible shade. Then the teeth would be prepared for the porcelain veneers and would be made to match your new whiter colour.

Endodontic and Cosmetic Treatment in Essex

Many people dread root canal treatment, but there is no need. This treatment can be done painlessly by an endodontic specialist in Essex very successfully; it’s just like having a filling done!

Why Do You Need Endodontic treatment?
You can save a precious tooth with root canal (endodontic) treatment in Essex. When bacteria pass into the nerve of the tooth, it can become painful and infected. This could result in the nerve of the tooth being damaged and can spread to the bone beneath the tooth. Root canal treatment will clean the bacteria and save your tooth.
If the tooth is left untreated you may get an abscess which will cause more pain and swelling.

The signs to look for are:

    * Persistent toothache
    * Swelling of the gum near the tooth
    * Tooth becoming darker after a trauma
    * Tender gum or tooth

Once the tooth has been root treated, it may become darker with time. This is the time that most people in Essex and around the UK then turn their attention to cosmetic dentistry.

Smile Makeover or cosmetic dentistry
Cosmetic dentistry can improve the way you look. It can make you look and feel younger. The look of your teeth will improve and also the health.

Cosmetic Dentist and Endodontist Essex
Porcelain veneers are a great option to hide unsightly teeth, especially after endodontic treatment They improve the colour, shape and function of the teeth and misshapen teeth can be made straighter.There are many benefits of cosmetic and endodontic dentistry.

Cosmetic Dentistry – Fill That Gap!

There are several ways that a cosmetic dentist can fill gaps in the mouth where teeth have had to be extracted or even knocked out!
Teeth Implants
Teeth Implant dentistry is the most advanced therapy available to replace teeth. In addition to looking and feeling like real teeth, teeth implants allow you to:
    * Improve your smile
    * Eat the foods you enjoy
    * Restore your confidence
Dental Bridges
A dental bridge is fixed to the remaining natural teeth by the cosmetic dentist restoring aesthetics and function. There are two types of dental bridge-:
    * Fixed – dental bridges fitted over prepared abutment teeth. A secure and long-lasting option.
    * Adhesive – A sticky dental bridge which is bonded to natural teeth and requires minimal tooth preparation.
Having a fixed bridge can make a fantastic improvement to the quality of your life and the treatment can be completed by the cosmetic dentist in two weeks!

Dentures
There are two types of dentures used in cosmetic dentistry: -
    * Acrylic (or plastic) dentures
    * Cobalt Chromium (or metal based) dentures – only advised when some teeth are present.
The advantages of cosmetic cobalt chromium dentures are: -
    * Better chewing (more stable; less movement of denture)
    * Food more enjoyable (less coverage of the palate)
    * Stronger (metal is very hard, plastic can fracture)
    * Lighter and thinner (plastic is more bulky)
    * More healthy (less gum coverage)
Treatment Planning
The cosmetic dentist at our dental practice strive to diagnose dental problems accurately. Duplicate models of your mouth, x-rays, special gum measurements and the bite pattern are some of the factors we assess during a complete mouth examination. A treatment plan is then made giving you options and good advice as to which treatment best suits your individual needs.

The Basics of Braces

Braces are used to correct misaligned jaws or teeth that are out of place. They’re most commonly applied to children, whose jaws are still growing and can thus be guided into proper alignment. But thanks to advancing orthodontic technology, it’s becoming increasingly possible to use braces to correct jaw alignment issues (also known as “malocclusions”) in adults. If you suspect that you or your child may need this procedure, here are some important things to know.
Are braces important?
One of the most common reasons cited for getting braces is to improve one’s appearance. While this is undoubtedly important, it is far from the whole story. When malocclusions are present in the teeth and jaw, it can make it difficult to maintain proper hygiene at sensitive spots in the mouth, which can lead to tooth decay and gum disease. Plus, when malocclusions prevent one from chewing food properly, this can lead to digestive problems.
Who can apply braces?
Only certified orthodontists are qualified to apply braces. Orthodontists are essentially dentists with a couple of extra years of training in advanced practices. Standard dentists without this advanced training are not qualified to work with braces.
What are the signs that braces might be necessary?
If any of these conditions are present, you might want to talk to your orthodontist about the possibility of braces:
• teeth that are crowded or out of position
• frequent cheek biting
• severe over-or under-bite
• difficulty chewing or swallowing
• an off-center bite
• teeth growing in behind others
• teeth out of proportion with others
• a too-prominent or too-weak chin
• strange teeth position as a result of tooth loss
• noises in the jaw
• large spaces between the teeth
What causes misaligned teeth?
Genetics play a large role in determining how the teeth grow in, but other factors such as finger sucking, pacifier sucking, poor toothbrushing, gum disease, and early loss of baby teeth can also contribute to malocclusions.
How do braces work?
Braces work by applying slow and steady pressure to the teeth and jaw over a period of months or years. In children, as the teeth naturally grow, the braces harness that growth to guide the teeth into a proper position. In adults, the braces themselves have to apply the pressure, and it usually takes a much longer time for the benefits to be seen.
When should children visit an orthodontist?
Orthodontic organizations recommend that children should have their first consultation by the age of 7. However, if you suspect that your child may have an orthodontic problem, it’s never too early for a checkup. Remember that orthodontics is a preventative field, so the earlier a problem is caught, the more chance there is of correcting the problem.