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Airway Orthodontics
At Graf Orthodontics, we understand that a beautiful smile is just one aspect of optimal oral health. Our commitment to your well-being includes a focus on airway function, ensuring that every case we treat addresses both dental alignment and proper breathing. Airway orthodontics is a specialized approach that evaluates and improves the airway, leading to better sleep, enhanced overall health, and greater quality of life.
Airway orthodontics involves assessing and treating issues related to the shape and size of the airway, which can be influenced by the positioning of the teeth, jaws, and other facial structures. By addressing these factors, we can help alleviate problems such as snoring, sleep apnea, and other breathing-related difficulties. This comprehensive approach ensures that our patients not only achieve a beautiful smile but also enjoy improved respiratory health and overall wellness.
Focusing on airway health can provide numerous benefits, including:
- Improved Breathing — Enhancing the airway can reduce obstructions, leading to easier and more effective breathing.
- Better Sleep Quality — Correcting airway issues can alleviate snoring and sleep apnea, resulting in more restful and restorative sleep.
- Enhanced Overall Health — Proper breathing supports systemic health by ensuring adequate oxygen levels, which can boost energy, cognitive function, and overall well-being.
- Optimal Growth in Children — Early intervention can guide the proper development of the jaw and facial structures, promoting healthier growth patterns and preventing future complications.
Integrating Airway Treatment
Airway health is integrated into every treatment plan. Here’s how we incorporate airway considerations into our orthodontic care:
- During your initial consultation, we conduct a thorough assessment that includes digital imaging and airway evaluations. This helps us identify any structural issues that may impact your breathing.
- Based on our findings, we create a customized treatment plan designed to improve both dental alignment and airway function. This may involve using advanced orthodontic solutions such as expanders, braces, or clear aligners to correct misalignments and optimize the airway.
- We utilize the latest technologies to ensure precise and effective treatment. Tools like iTero scanning and 3D imaging allow us to monitor progress closely and make necessary adjustments for optimal outcomes.
- Throughout your treatment journey, our team provides ongoing support and regular check-ups to ensure that both your dental and airway health are progressing as planned.
Our commitment to using the latest technologies ensures excellent results in the shortest amount of time, with the most comfort. Our doctors’ years of experience and dedication to going above and beyond for our patients have earned us a reputation for delivering top-of-the-line care.
Indirect Bonding
Indirect bonding is a modern method for placing braces that involves creating a customized template for bracket placement outside the patient’s mouth. This process allows for more accurate positioning of brackets, ensuring that each one is placed precisely according to the orthodontic treatment plan. The brackets are first positioned on a model of the patient’s teeth and then transferred to the mouth using a special tray, making the process quicker and more comfortable.
By incorporating DIBs AI (Digital Indirect Bonding System with Artificial Intelligence) into our practice, we offer several significant benefits:
- Enhanced Accuracy — DIBs AI uses advanced algorithms to plan the optimal placement of each bracket. This precision ensures that the braces work effectively to move teeth into their desired positions, reducing the need for adjustments.
- Shorter Treatment Times — The precise placement of brackets means teeth can be moved more efficiently, often resulting in shorter overall treatment durations.
- Improved Comfort — With more accurate bracket placement, patients experience fewer issues related to misaligned brackets, such as discomfort or irritation.
- Reduced Chair Time — The indirect bonding process allows for quicker application of braces, meaning less time spent in the orthodontist’s chair during the initial bonding appointment.
- Consistent Results — The use of AI technology ensures a high level of consistency and predictability in treatment outcomes, leading to beautiful, well-aligned smiles.
How it works
The process of indirect bonding with DIBs AI at Graf Orthodontics involves several key steps:
- We begin by taking digital scans of your teeth using advanced 3D imaging technology. These scans provide detailed information about the current position of your teeth.
- Using DIBs AI, we create a precise treatment plan that determines the optimal placement of each bracket. The AI technology analyzes the digital scans and generates a customized bonding tray.
- A model of your teeth is created, and the brackets are positioned on this model according to the treatment plan. The brackets are then embedded in a custom bonding tray designed to fit your teeth perfectly.
- During your bonding appointment, the custom tray is used to transfer the brackets onto your teeth. The tray ensures that each bracket is placed accurately, adhering to the predetermined positions.
- Once the brackets are bonded to your teeth, the tray is removed, and any final adjustments are made to ensure comfort and effectiveness.
At Graf Orthodontics, we strive to offer the best possible care by integrating innovative technologies like DIBs AI into our practice. Our dedication to cutting-edge techniques ensures that our patients receive the most accurate, efficient, and comfortable orthodontic treatments available. With years of experience and a commitment to excellence, our team is here to help you achieve a beautiful, healthy smile in the shortest time possible
Surgical Orthodontics
Though most conditions can be treated with a full treatment of clear aligners, advanced braces, and/or an orthodontic appliance, more severe cases may require surgical orthodontics.
Surgical orthodontics, also known as orthognathic surgery and corrective jaw surgery, is a more intensive orthodontic treatment that serves to treat jaw irregularities, skeletal issues and severe misalignment.
Through early orthodontic treatment, we can help to prevent the need for surgical orthodontics later in life. This is why it’s important that children receive their first orthodontic exam by the age of seven.
Your experienced Graf orthodontist can identify skeletal issues or conditions that are soon to become problematic, and we can create a custom treatment plan to intervene and correct the jaw bones while they’re still developing! Once the jaw bones have stabilized, jaw surgery may be necessary.
How does orthognathic surgery work?
Jaw surgery is performed by an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, and typically completed in a hospital.
If we determine that orthognathic surgery is necessary, we will refer you to an experienced surgeon. The surgery may take a few hours, and generally requires a two-week recovery period post-surgery. We advise that you take time off of work or school to allow for a complete recovery.
Once your jaws have healed, your orthodontist will reassess your bite to ensure that the treatment was effective. You will typically undergo orthodontic treatment after surgery for the next six to 12 months, depending on your case.
how do i know if i need surgical orthodontics?
It can be difficult to tell if you need surgical orthodontics without a professional opinion. That’s why we offer complimentary consultations! Your orthodontist will examine your teeth and jaw bones with no charge. We genuinely want to help you make the best decision for your smile.
There are a few telling conditions that may indicate a need for surgical orthodontics, including:
- Receding chin
- Protruding jaw
- Lips or teeth don’t meet in the front when the mouth is closed
- Facial deformities from birth or injury
- Frequent mouth-breathing
- Sleep apnea
At your first visit to our orthodontic office, we’ll determine whether surgical orthodontics is the most efficient treatment route for your case. If necessary to treat your condition, corrective jaw surgery can help you experience your true smile. Jaw surgery will reposition the jaw bones to create a healthy alignment and bite position.
Corrective jaw surgery will restore your ability to bite, chew, and speak properly. Because the jaw bones play a critical role in facial structure, corrective surgery can significantly improve your appearance, boost your self-esteem and renew your confidence.
Dentofacial Orthopedics
We’re committed to creating exceptional results! A huge part of that commitment is providing truly comprehensive orthodontic care.
Through dentofacial orthopedics, we take orthodontic treatment one step further to achieve a clinically-excellent outcome that transforms your appearance and confidence.
What is dentofacial orthopedics?
It’s not just about the appearance of the smile. It’s about facial structure too — where ‘dento’ meets ‘facial’. While orthodontic treatment primarily focuses on the position of the teeth and jaw bones, dentofacial orthopedics focuses on the development of the face as it relates to the teeth and jaws.
The purpose of dentofacial orthopedics is to guide the bones that support the teeth and contribute to the appearance of the face to promote harmonious, proportional development.
By combining orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics into a custom treatment plan, we can optimize your aesthetics and functionality with greater comfort and efficiency.
Dentofacial orthopedic treatment is most efficient when the jaw bones and facial bones are still developing. Treatment that begins while the bones are still growing works in tandem with the patient’s natural development process.
Because children’s bones are still developing, early orthodontic treatment with dentofacial orthopedics is highly-effective and can reduce treatment time significantly.
Orthodontic appliances are often used with a full treatment of clear aligners or advanced braces to treat the jaws, teeth and facial features with the most efficiency.
Once one of our highly-experienced orthodontists examines your smile, we’ll determine the best plan of action and create a personalized treatment plan to help you or your child achieve a healthy smile.
Common Appliances
Orthodontic appliances have a variety of uses. They’re effective for facilitating more efficient tooth movement, holding space in the mouth for permanent teeth to grow, and/or helping to support proper growth and development of the jaw bones.
When your experienced orthodontist creates your personalized treatment plan, it may include any of these orthodontic appliances to achieve beautiful results in the shortest amount of time.
We’re proud to create most of our custom appliances in-house with our very own 3D printer!
Palatal Expander
Palatal expanders are a common appliance used in early orthodontic treatment for children whose jaw bones are still developing. These appliances serve to widen the upper jaw to create the necessary space for teeth to erupt in a healthy alignment. Palatal expanders can help prevent crowding and impaction by guiding proper development of the jaw bone.
The rapid palatal expander (the most common type of palatal expander) is bonded to the upper molars on both sides of the top jaw, with a screw located in the center of the appliance. To activate the palatal expander, you’ll insert a special key to turn the center screw, which expands the device ever so slightly and widens the palate gradually over time.
If your child requires a palatal expander, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about cleaning it, activating it and caring for it.
Forsus™
The Forsus™ Fatigue Resistant Device treats overbites by creating a healthy alignment between the upper and lower teeth. This appliance uses springs to apply persistent pressure on the upper and lower teeth and create resistance, guiding the upper teeth backward and the lower teeth forward.
Once the appliance is in place, it shouldn’t require any maintenance until it’s removed. It’s important that you keep this appliance as clean as possible.
TADs
Temporary anchorage devices (TADs) are temporary dental implants embedded into the bone to create an “anchor” that assists with tooth movement. These appliances are generally used when certain teeth require shifting, and others don’t. TADs enable us to treat individual teeth with greater efficiency.
These anchorage devices appear as tiny metal buttons, strategically implanted into an area of the jaw bone. A small wire or elastic may be attached to the TAD to connect it with the specific tooth (or teeth) in need of treatment. We will refer this out to an oral surgeon for placement.
Teeth Separators or Spacers
Spacers, also called separators, are small rubber bands that help to create the space necessary for bands of appliances to be placed. A metal band is placed around the back molars if brackets continually break due to bite, crowns, or as part of an orthodontic appliance.
Separators are temporary appliances that are only worn for about one to two weeks before active treatment begins.
Nance Appliance
The Nance appliance is used to hold the upper molars in place, to prevent them from rotating or shifting forward. With this appliance, two metal bands are cemented around the first molars and a wire connects the back molars to an acrylic pad, located behind the two front teeth.
Reverse-Pull Headgear (Orthodontic Facemask)
The reverse-pull headgear (facemask) is an appliance used to promote proper alignment of the jaw bones for young kids around the ages of seven to 10. It works by pulling the upper jaw forward to treat underbite conditions that may otherwise require jaw surgery to correct.
Lower Lingual Arch (Space Maintainer)
The lower lingual holding arch is a space maintainer used to hold the necessary space in the mouth for premolars to grow. It has metal bands that go around the two lower molars, with a metal wire spanning from the molars, around the inside of the bottom teeth.
The lower lingual arch appliance establishes the proper foundation that shapes the lower arch in a healthy alignment.
Banded Bite Plate
A banded bite plate serves to correct a deep bite (overbite) condition. This appliance fits behind the upper, front teeth, and disables the rear teeth from meeting when the mouth is closed, which allows these posterior teeth to develop properly. Over several months, the deep bite will be corrected!
Common Ortho Issues
There are common orthodontic problems that we see in new patients, but your experience, your preferences and your ultimate smile goals make your case one-of-a-kind.
When you visit us for a free consultation, one of our highly-experienced orthodontists will examine your smile to determine the most efficient treatment method to reach your goals.
Underbite (Malocclusion)
With an underbite, the lower jaw extends further than the upper jaw. This condition can cause facial imbalances, cause pain or difficulty chewing and speaking, and can cause the teeth to wear down prematurely as they don’t meet evenly.
Underbites are often treated with clear aligners or braces, and in more severe cases, surgical orthodontics.
Overbite (Malocclusion)
When the upper jaw extends further than the lower jaw, this characterizes an overbite condition. Depending on how severe the condition is, an overbite can make it challenging to eat and chew properly. In some cases, the lower teeth will meet the roof of the mouth — ouch!
Like underbites, overbites are often treated with clear aligners or braces, and in more severe cases, surgical orthodontics.
Crossbite (Malocclusion)
When the upper teeth are positioned inside the lower teeth, this is called a crossbite. This may be a posterior crossbite (in the back of the mouth) or an anterior crossbite (toward the front of the mouth).
Crossbites can affect individual teeth or multiple teeth in a row. This condition is often the result of irregular tooth eruption, late loss of baby teeth, or thumbsucking during childhood. It can also occur due to a mismatch in the size of the upper and lower jaws.
Crossbites are often treated with airway orthodontics, clear aligners, or braces, and in more severe cases, surgical orthodontics.
Open Bite (Malocclusion)
If some of the top teeth don’t meet the bottom teeth when the mouth is closed, either in the back of the mouth or the front, this is called an open bite. With a healthy alignment, the top teeth overlap the bottom teeth slightly.
An open bite may be the result of skeletal development problems and/or childhood habits, like thumbsucking and tongue-thrusting. It can be extremely challenging to chew food properly and pronounce certain words with an open bite, and the facial structure is typically affected by this condition.
Some open bite cases may be treated with clear aligners or braces, while others may require surgery. Early orthodontic treatment can be especially effective for treating this condition before it progresses and leads to further challenges.
Crossbites can affect individual teeth or multiple teeth in a row. This condition is often the result of irregular tooth eruption, late loss of baby teeth, or thumbsucking during childhood. It can also occur due to a mismatch in the size of the upper and lower jaws.
Crossbites are often treated with airway orthodontics, clear aligners, or braces, and in more severe cases, surgical orthodontics.
Protrusion (Malocclusion)
A protrusion, also known as an overjet condition, occurs when the front teeth protrude outward. Commonly called “buck teeth”, an overjet generally results from underdeveloped jaw bones, or thumbsucking.
Early orthodontic treatment is an especially effective and efficient treatment option for protrusions. Depending on the severity of the condition, a full treatment of clear aligners or braces may be used for these cases.
Spacing Issues
Although it is normal to have some spaces between primary (baby) teeth, excessive gaps or spaces between the teeth can also be caused by a few factors, including excessive space in the mouth, missing teeth congenitally or due to cavities or trauma, as well as childhood habits (like thumbsucking).
Spacing issues are some of the most common orthodontic problems, and most are treatable with clear aligners or braces .
Crowded Teeth
Teeth that are overlapping are considered ‘crowded’. More often than not, crowding is the result of insufficient room in the mouth. When the jaws aren’t wide enough to fit all teeth, the teeth start to overlap each other as they’re emerging.
In some cases, crowded teeth can be treated with a palatal expander appliance during childhood, while the jaws are still developing. In severe cases of crowding, our orthodontists will discuss the best treatment route with you.
Retainers
When your orthodontic treatment with any type of braces or clear aligners is complete, you’ll start wearing your custom retainer. Your retainer plays the key role of holding your teeth in their beautiful new position to prevent them from ‘relapsing’.
Your teeth are susceptible to ‘orthodontic relapse’ (reverting back to their original pre-treatment positions) when your braces are removed or you take out your clear aligners for the last time. Your new smile requires a period of retention to ensure that it stabilizes in the proper alignment.
Your initial set of retainers will be included in your treatment cost! However, in the event that you lose or break your retainer, there will be a replacement fee. If you lose or damage your retainer, please let us know immediately. We want you to have a new retainer as soon as possible to prevent your teeth from shifting out of place and avoid jeopardizing your hard work.
Types of Retainers
There are two types of retainers, removable retainers and fixed retainers.
- Removable Retainers — Removable retainers are similar to clear aligners. They can be taken out as needed to eat, clean your teeth, and clean your retainer. We create most of our custom retainers in-house with our very own 3D printer! Our removable retainers are made of clear, high-quality plastic, and are custom-designed just for you.
- Fixed Retainers — Fixed retainers or permanent retainers, are bonded to your teeth and cannot be removed without your orthodontist. These retainers include a small metal wire, custom-designed to fit behind the teeth. They’re generally bonded to the back surface of the bottom teeth, but can also be used behind the top teeth depending on your condition.
We will actively monitor your retainer wearing for up to six months after orthodontic treatment. We’ll instruct you to wear your retainer every night, indefinitely! Night time for a lifetime, as we say.
This is how you’ll maintain the best results, because teeth have a tendency to shift throughout life.
Retainer Dos & Don’ts
Here are some tips you should follow with your retainer:
- Do put your retainer in your retainer case every time you remove it from your mouth.
- Do clean your retainer every time you brush your teeth. You can use a mild dish soap and an extra soft-bristled toothbrush to clean your retainer.
- Do clean your retainer case regularly. You want your clean retainer to be placed back in a clean carrying case every time. You can use a mild soap and lukewarm water to wash your retainer case daily, or at least a few times a week.
- Do soak your retainer in a retainer cleaning solution (like RetainerBrite) to disinfect your retainer a few times a week.
- Do clean your retainer before and after placing it in the mouth. Because the material used for fabrication is slightly porous, plaque tends to cling to the surfaces. Be sure to rinse the retainers thoroughly after cleaning to remove any cleanser or soap residue.
Here are a couple of tips you should not follow with your retainer:
- Do not expose your retainers to heat! Your retainer can melt or warp and become ineffective, so it’s important that you do not put them in the dishwasher, use hot water on them, or leave them in your car.
- Do not leave your retainer around your pets. You don’t want to find out how much they love chewing retainers!
