New Advances in Orthodontic Technology
Orthodontic technology refers to the branch of dental practice involving designing and fabricating various dental appliances that help in treating malocclusions that may be due to disproportionate jaw relationships or tooth irregularity.
Types of Orthodontic Appliances
Orthodontic appliances are broadly grouped into three categories: functional, passive and active appliances. The appliances in each category may be either removable or fixed.
Functional (dentofacial orthopaedic) appliances make use of the patient’s muscle action to produce either orthopaedic or orthodontic forces. Active appliances are the devices used to apply pressure to the teeth so as to adjust their relationships to one another. Passive appliances are used to retain and maintain spaces.
Here are some of the recent advances in the field.
Cone Beam CT Scanners
This state-of-the-art scanning device has helped in making great strides in diagnosing and treating patients. It generates three-dimensional images that provide a lot of details because they include the whole skull, jaw as well as underlying bone structure. This gives orthodontists the opportunity to get more details on the symptoms their patients experience.
The images may be viewed from all angles, which helps in making better evaluation and treatment plans.
Orthodontic Miniscrews
While the use of surgical titanium screws in oral surgery has been around for some time, they are a relatively new type of treatment in orthodontics. They provide a fixed anchor that is secure to prevent unwanted movement in anchor teeth, which tends to create some complications. They also prevent movement from surrounding areas.
The procedure is fast and painless and just a little topical anesthesia is applied to gingiva. The screws are removed after treatment.
Passive Self-Ligating Braces
American Association of Orthodontists state that more than a million adults in America wear braces. New studies have demonstrated that ligation and friction forces affect the movement of teeth. Active ligation that was used traditionally caused significant friction because steel wires were used to apply the required force to the braces. Moving the teeth also required a lot of force. The combination caused significant patient discomfort and healing took a relatively long time.
With the passive self-ligating brackets, the orthodontist places the wire within a slide mechanism. In addition to reducing pressure and friction, the device applies better forces, leading to better treatment.
Insignia
This treatment philosophy combines custom-made brackets and wires with a special indirect bonding method. The customized smile design uses three-dimensional treatment planning software and brackets specifically designed for each patient.
The software creates a three-dimensional virtual model from the patient’s teeth impressions. The orthodontist modifies them to get the best smile and show the patient the virtual results.
These advances have largely done away with tooth extractions that were common in the past.
About the Author: Peter Wendt is a writer and researcher in Austin, TX. He recommends that those looking for the most advances orthodontics visit Austin Family Orthodontics. For adults, he recommends Austin invisalign braces.