Early Treatment

This appliance is used on the top jaw when the jaw is too narrow. When the top jaw is too narrow, a crossbite will be present. If not treated at a young age, it can become impossible to fix this in the future.

In this example, the teeth on the patient’s left side are in a crossbite. In the second photo, you can see that the crossbite is corrected.

We typically try to postpone braces until all of the permanent teeth have erupted. This is not always possible. Early braces can be necessary when there are issues with crowding and overlap. The goal of limited braces is to correct a problem which will become more severe if left untreated. These braces may not eliminate the need for future braces. Limited braces have much shorter treatment times than full braces.

Here are two examples of children who had limited treatment.

This is an appliance used in two different circumstances. The first is when a baby tooth is lost early (before the permanent tooth is ready to erupt). The second is when there is a severe amount of crowding on the lower front teeth. The permanent molars naturally want to move forward, and this appliance prevents that movement. It helps maintain the appropriate spaces for the permanent teeth to erupt into in the future.

This patient didn’t have enough room for the lower right canine to come in. The blue circle shows the space the permanent tooth needs to fit; it is definitely short on space! The subsequent photos are taken one year and two years after the space maintainer was placed. You can see that the canine eventually had room. No braces were used to obtain this result, only the space maintainer appliance!

Treatment of an underbite when baby teeth are still present can be very important. Underbites are difficult to treat, so treating at a young age can sometimes make the difference between needing jaw surgery in the future or just needing braces to achieve correction.