Orthodontics

What is orthodontic?

Orthodontic is a dental specialty that diagnoses and provides treatments of teeth misalignment and malocclusion with braces, clear aligners and other appliances. Orthodontic treatment not only could enhance your aesthetic, but also help you improve oral health by reducing occlusal trauma, facilitating oral hygiene, making it easy to eat, smile and speech.

What is the difference between a dentist and an orthodontist?

An orthodontist is a dentist who chooses to specialize in teeth alignment, usually attended three additional years of orthodontic training beyond dental school. While some general dentist also provides braces or clear aligner to patients, an orthodontist is the expert in recognizing and treating tooth alignment and bite issues.

What type of teeth problem need orthodontic treatments?

Crowding

Crowding is insufficient space for the teeth to fit properly within the jaws. Teeth may be displaced or rotated. It can be caused by improper eruption of teeth and/or early or late loss of baby teeth. It could also occur when teeth appear larger than the available space within your jaw.

Spacing

Spacing is excessive space for your teeth to fit properly within the jaws, which is the opposite of crowding. You will realize there are gaps between your teeth. This occurs because your teeth are smaller than the available space. It could also be caused by protrusive teeth, missing teeth, or impacted teeth.

Crossbite

Lower teeth should bite inside the upper teeth. If there is one or more upper teeth fit inside the lower teeth, this is called crossbite. It is one type of malocclusions, and it could affect the front and/or back teeth. If you realize you or your children have this type of occlusion, early correction is recommended.

Openbite

Openbite is lack of vertical overlap of the teeth, so the upper and lower front teeth cannot touch when the back teeth bite down. It is usually caused by bad oral habit such as tongue thrust, thumb sucking, etc. Orthodontic therapy for this type of malocclusion usually includes breaking oral habits.

Overbite

Overbite is when upper front teeth cover or overlap the lower front teeth for a disproportionate amount. One example could be you cannot see the lower front teeth when bite down.

Overjet

Overjet is when the upper front teeth are too far anterior to the lower front teeth. It could be caused by improper alignment of teeth and/or a skeletal imbalance of the upper and lower jaw. Bad oral habit such as thumb sucking, tongue thrusting could exacerbate the condition as well.

Impacted Teeth/Missing Teeth

Impacted teeth are teeth fail to erupt into the mouth. It could be caused by improper position of the developing tooth bud, early loss of primary teeth or teeth crowding.

Missing teeth is the absence of a tooth or teeth that should normally present in the mouth. It could be congenitally, or caused by trauma.

Bad Oral Habit

Bad oral habit such as mouth breathing, thumb sucking, tongue thrust, etc. could contribute to teeth malocclusion/alignment. Orthodontic therapy not only focuses on your teeth alignment, it also helps identify your bad oral habit and break them during your treatment.

What type of orthodontic treatments we offer at RC Dental Center?

Depending on your condition, we offer clear aligners, clear braces and/or metal braces. Please schedule a free orthodontic consultation with us at (718) 358-4448 to see which is best for you. At RC Dental Center, all orthodontic therapies are customized based on your condition.

Clear Aligners

For clear aligners, we offer Invisalign® as a treatment option. Invisalign® is a series of clear plastic trays created based on the existing teeth alignment and might use different types of attachments (white filling materials) bonded to your teeth to gradually move your teeth into proper alignment. Invisalign® trays have to be worn at least 20 hours a day to get predicted result. The trays are easily removed, allow patients to floss and brush as they normally do. For more information about Invisalign®, please visit https://www.invisalign.com.

Clear/Metal Braces

Braces are common orthodontic therapy for children and teens. There are two components of braces: brackets and wires. Brackets are placed on each tooth and the wire is threaded through the brackets. While wires apply pressure to teeth and cause teeth to move, the other side gives away and new bone grows. Rubber bands are often used in conjunction with braces to exert constant force to move teeth. They could be worn, but could be changed easily at home in order to maintain proper force.

Metal braces have brackets and wire made of metal which is the traditional material used in orthodontic field. However, clear braces become popular due to esthetic. Clear braces are braces use tooth-colored ceramic brackets and wires. It serves in the same way as metal braces do.