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Orthodontic Glossary
Adjustment
A painless procedure where small changes are made in your orthodontic appliances (for example, wires are tensioned) to keep your teeth-straightening treatment moving forward as it should.
Appliance, orthodontic
A device that is placed into the mouth and is designed to help straighten the teeth. Common examples include braces, palatal expanders and clear aligners.
Archwire
The thin, springy wire that runs horizontally across the teeth, and is attached to them with bands or brackets. The small force exerted by this wire helps cause the teeth to move.
Band
A metal loop that goes around the tooth and anchors other...
Orthodontic Headgear
Sometimes, braces alone aren't enough to move teeth into a better position, or to correct trouble with the bite or remedy problems in the growth of the jaws. In those situations, special appliances may be recommended. Orthodontic headgear is the general name for an appliance, worn partly outside the mouth, which creates just enough force to move the teeth properly and guide the growth of the face and jaws.
There are several different types of orthodontic headgear, each designed to work best in a specific situation. A treatment program will be designed to address your individual needs, and select the...
Orthodontics and Surgery
Most of the time, individuals with misaligned teeth or other bite problems can be successfully treated with the many types of orthodontic appliances now available. Jaw development in a growing child can even be guided to improve tooth alignment when appropriate treatment is received before puberty. But sometimes, orthodontics alone isn't enough to correct problems with the teeth or jaws. That's when a surgical approach may be needed.
Corrective jaw surgery (also called orthognathic surgery) may be recommended for orthodontic problems that are skeletal in nature — meaning the misalignment of the bite is caused not by the position of...
Palatal Expanders
A major benefit of receiving orthodontic treatment in childhood is that it's possible to take full advantage of a youngster's own natural growth process to treat or even prevent malocclusions (“bad bites”). A palatal expander is a device designed to help do that.
Palatal expanders create more space in a child's mouth by gradually widening the upper jaw. Although this may sound scary, it's really quite easy — both to do and to tolerate. That's because the upper jaw (maxilla) actually develops as two separate halves that don't completely fuse together until sometime after puberty. Before that happens, the two...
Temporary Anchorage Devices (TADS)
Temporary Anchorage Devices (TADS) are small, screw-like dental implants made of a titanium alloy. As the name implies, they're temporary — they usually remain in place during some months of treatment, and then they are removed. Their function is to provide a stable anchorage — that is, a fixed point around which other things (namely, teeth) can be moved. But why is anchorage so important?
Moving teeth in the jaw has been compared to moving a stick through the sand. With the application of force, sand moves aside in front of the stick, and fills up the space behind. The...
Types of Braces (Fixed Appliances)
For the vast majority of orthodontic patients, wearing fixed appliances (commonly called braces) will be a major part of treatment — and those braces, for the most part, will be the familiar silvery-metal type. But while they're still quite popular, traditional-looking metal braces are no longer the only game in town! Let's have a look at some of the options available in orthodontic appliances.
First, we should distinguish between fixed and removable appliances. Fixed appliances like braces are attached to the teeth by metal bands or special cement. They aren't normally taken off until treatment is complete. Removable appliances, such...
Your First Orthodontic Appointment
Your first appointment is an exciting time! It's a chance for you to learn about the treatments and services that can help give you the best smile possible. It all starts with the initial consultation.
You should plan to spend at least an hour at the first visit. That's to ensure that no one has to rush, and that you get plenty of time to ask any questions you may have. You will meet one of the receptionists or patient coordinators, who will take some information from you and bring you through the office. Then it's time for some diagnostic...
Laser Dentistry
They are inside your laptop computer and your DVD player, present on the factory floor and the supermarket checkout line. And now, lasers are finding increasing use in dentistry. Someday soon, you may have a routine dental procedure performed with the aid of a powerful, yet highly controllable beam of laser light, instead of a drill or a probe.
What are dentists currently using lasers for? These devices have been proven to help in the detection and treatment of oral diseases. They can be used for treating gum disease, detecting cancer, and pinpointing tooth decay in its early stages. They...
Periodontal Flap Surgery
When advanced gum disease (periodontitis) develops, your teeth are in danger: At this stage, the ligaments and bone tissue that surround them are being destroyed, and you could even begin losing teeth! If the disease can't be controlled by non-surgical treatments like cleaning and scaling, then periodontal flap surgery may be your best treatment option.
Flap surgery is today's leading method for treating and repairing periodontal pockets. What are these “pockets?” They are areas below the gum line where gum tissue has detached from the teeth, resulting in an uncleansable space where harmful bacteria can proliferate. These bacteria cause inflammation...
Periodontal Laser Treatment
Since their invention in the early 1960s, lasers have found ever-increasing applications in medicine and dentistry. The latest generation of lasers is now being used in various dental procedures, ranging from disease detection to soft-tissue treatments, and even some hard-tissue procedures like the preparation of small cavities for fillings. One promising area where this technology is having an impact is the field of periodontal (gum) therapy.
Why are more periodontists using lasers? In general, these high-tech tools seem to offer several advantages over conventional treatments for soft-tissue procedures. They are considered minimally invasive treatment methods, meaning that it's possible to...
Treating Gum Disease Without Surgery
Periodontal (gum) disease is an infection caused by bacterial plaque, a thin, sticky layer of microorganisms (called a biofilm) that collects at the gum line in the absence of effective daily oral hygiene. Left for long periods of time, plaque will cause inflammation that can gradually separate the gums from the teeth — forming little spaces that are referred to as “periodontal pockets.” The pockets offer a sheltered environment for the disease-causing (pathogenic) bacteria to reproduce. If the infection remains untreated, it can spread from the gum tissues into the bone that supports the teeth. Should this happen, your teeth...
Air Abrasion
In the future, could small cavities be detected early and filled without anesthesia, and with only the minimum removal of tooth material? Will routine dental procedures be performed with patients noticing no vibration or pressure? Will the piercing whine of a dental drill be a sound that's heard in dental offices no more? The answer may well be yes — in fact, it's happening right now with air abrasion technology.
The air abrasion instrument is a hand-held tool that dentists use for a variety of purposes. A bit like a mini-sandblaster, it uses compressed air (or another gas) to produce...
Anesthesia Wand
If you've ever had needle phobia, you might like to learn about a new technology referred to as an “anesthesia wand,” which is a computer-controlled dental-injection tool. In fact, some people feel it is more of a “magic” wand because it doesn't look like a typical injection and it works even better by making the entire process virtually painless.
Here's how it works
Your anesthesia will be delivered through a syringe-free wand or pen-like device that is connected to a computer. Before the tiny needle attached to the wand is inserted, the computer delivers a small amount of anesthetic so...
Cone Beam CT Imaging
In the early 20th Century, not long after X-rays were discovered, medical professionals recognized their value as diagnostic tools: They could clearly reveal structures hidden inside the body without the need for risky surgery. At the dawn of the 21st century, a revolutionary new technology has entered the diagnostic arena. Today, Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) promises to change the way many dental problems are diagnosed and treated.
Cone Beam CT has some similarities with conventional X-rays, and also with the standard CT scans you would get in a hospital setting. But it's a quantum leap forward in technology and...
Digital Dental Impressions
For years, whenever you needed a dental crown (cap), your dentist had to make molds of your teeth which required taking an impression of your teeth. A tray filled with a goopy, putty-like material was used so that a three-dimensional model of the prepared tooth could be created. Using this mold, a dental lab could custom-craft the new crown.
However, as we journey further into the technology-driven 21st century, this traditional methodology is being replaced with virtual models — made using small, handheld “wands” that employ a digital camera and some reflective dust.
Here's how it works
The initial phase...
