Before and After
A Youthful Smile Endures

Our Early Objectives

  1. Start Early! The earlier the child is treated...
    1. The more cooperative the patient is during treatment
    2. The easier it is to "jump start" them into harmonious growth
    3. The more stable the result is after the braces are removed…and…
    4. He or she benefits from enhanced self-esteem as a result of straight front teeth
      *** We find that at this age (7-9 yrs) the patient will easily accept treatment and will cooperate extremely well since he or she wants to please us and their parents.
  2. Criteria for starting early
    1. Crowding; crooked teeth
    2. Open bites; upper and lower teeth don’t come together when patient is biting down
    3. Crossbites/underbites; upper teeth on top of or behind lower teeth
    4. Protruding teeth; “bucked” forward positioning
  3. What do we recommend? When possible we use "Two Phase Treatment"
    • MINIMAL — If this plan is chosen, Phase II treatment will always follow.
      1. Gentle stretching of the palate...and...the bone of the lower jaw, to make room for all the teeth using expanders.
      2. The expanders are usually left in place as retainers until the patient is ready for Phase II.
    • MODERATE — Phase II to follow after all teeth erupt
      1. Gentle widening of the palate and bone of the lower jaw.
      2. Braces are placed on the molars and front teeth so that space for the permanent eye teeth can be made. At this time we also make sure we have the corrected molar bite relationship and corrected the midline.
      3. After braces are removed, the patient goes to full-time retainers for three months then night time until all the permanent teeth erupt.
    • EXTENSIVE —Phase II to follow
      1. This treatment is necessary when there is a large jaw-to-jaw discrepancies. A combination appliance is used for this and it is specially designed to the patient’s needs.
      2. All the corrections above under moderate plan are also achieved
  4. What have we accomplished?
    1. MINIMAL — Eliminate bone stretching treatment from later Phase II treatment
    2. MODERATE — Bone treatment and some tooth movements are achieved that help the patient’s self-esteem and eliminates longer
      3. treatment later during Phase II. All the corrections accomplished in Minimal treatment are also achieved here.
    3. EXTENSIVE — Large jaw-to-jaw discrepancies as well as disfiguring tooth-to-tooth relationships are eliminated early for patient’s self-esteem. All the corrections accomplished in moderate treatment are also achieved here.