What is orthodontics?
Orthodontics is the specialty of dentistry that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of dental and facial irregularities. Orthodontics is also a word that originates from the Latin words 'ortos', which means straight, and 'dontos', which means tooth.
Who is an orthodontist?
An orthodontist is a dentist who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of dental and facial irregularities. To become an orthodontist, it is necessary to first finish the faculty of dentistry and then complete a specialization or doctoral program that can take four years or more. During this training, the orthodontist learns the necessary information to control tooth movement (which is the general name of these interventions is orthodontics) and to direct facial development (this treatment approach can be called jaw and facial orthopedics). Only dentists who have successfully completed this specialty or doctoral education can use the title of orthodontist.
What are the possible causes of orthodontic disorders?
The opportunities offered by preventive medicine to patients may not be used; for example, caries in milk teeth may not be treated with the logic of "it will change anyway", teeth may be removed prematurely, and fluorine and fissure protective applications may have been ignored.
Genetic factors: It is important whether there is a similar anomaly in the ancestological past, especially in individuals with skeletal disorder. Hereditary tooth deficiencies, narrow upper jaw, and collidness problems can also be inherited to the child. In this case, orthodontic problems are inevitable. What needs to be done is to take the child to a regular dentist's check-up starting from the milk dental period.
Ear-nose-throat problems: (Presence of tonsil inflammation, nase and adenoid; such as constant mouth breathing) can create obstacles in the shaping of the jaw bones and create tooth eruption disorders.
Bad habits: Bad habits such as finger sucking, using false pacifiers or bottles for a long time, tongue sucking, lip sucking, biting a pen can also cause orthodontic disorders in teeth and jaw structures.
Some muscle disorders can also cause orthodontic problems.
What is the age of orthodontic treatment?
Orthodontic treatment can be applied at any age. If there is no skeletal problem and there is only crowding of the teeth, these disorders can be corrected with orthodontic treatment at any age. The age of the patient only affects the duration of movement and treatment. However, if there is a skeletal problem, the treatment of these disorders until the end of adolescence can be corrected with orthopedic treatment approaches. In the adult period, such skeletal problems can be corrected with orthodontic treatment carried out together with orthognathic surgical operations. Today, teeth can be corrected with wires that do not look aesthetic (transparent brackets), wires attached to the back of the teeth (Lingual technique) and transparent molds (Invisalign).
How long is orthodontic treatment necessary?
By correcting the crowding in the teeth and the incompatibility between the jaws, orthodontic treatment helps to correct the chewing function and impaired speech, as well as preventing problems in the gum diseases and lower jaw joint that are likely to be in the future, but also for aesthetics. Orthodontic treatment, commonly known as the correction of crowding in the teeth, contains various treatment techniques in itself. According to the orthodontic problem in the mouth, treatments can be performed with mobile appliances, functional appliances and fixed appliances. Not too complicated orthodontic problems can be solved with plastic moving appliances that can be installed and removed by the patient. For the insufficient development and overdevelopment of the lower or upper jaw, tools that help the jaws, called functional appliances, to develop in a certain direction, are used during the growth-development period. Fixed appliances, which have recently taken a wider place in orthodontic treatment, act with the philosophy of moving the teeth by the wires that are glued to the teeth and placed in the grooves on the vehicles called brackets. Apart from these basic appliances, there are many other auxiliary appliances. After the active orthodontic treatments are completed, reinforcement treatments are also of great importance in order to prevent return and deterioration in the treatments. Various passive-working apparatuses are used for this treatment period.
Basically, the main goals of orthodontic treatment are; correcting the chewing function, correcting the speech function, helping to provide better oral hygiene, ensuring aesthetics and increasing the patient's self-confidence in the public, to provide psychological support.
Orthodontics can also contribute to the patient's nasal breathing by working with ear-nose-throat specialists. It also works in partnership with plastic surgeons or maxillofacial surgeons in the solution of skeletal problems in adult patients, in the treatment of babies and children with cleft lips.
Orthodontics is also constantly working with other branches of dentistry.
It is a fact that caries in milk teeth and premature recession of milk teeth cause orthodontic disorders and permanent teeth buried in the jawbone.
What is the importance of milk teeth in terms of orthodontics?
Milk teeth begin to erupt in a certain order from the 6th month after birth, and in a child about 2.5 years old, all milk teeth have erupted. A total of 20 milk teeth in the lower and upper jaw remain in the mouth until the age of 6. From this period to the age of 12, all milk teeth, in turn, are replaced by permanent teeth. During this change period, large caries in the milk teeth and early loss of milk teeth may cause crowding and permanent teeth to remain buried as a result of the movement of the teeth in the back towards these cavities. Therefore, it is very important that milk teeth stay in the mouth in a healthy way.
In the occurrence of orthodontic disorders, the conditions during the milk teething period are not responsible alone. Orthodontic problems can also be genetically passed on to children from parents or older family members. Apart from this, mistakes made by malnourishing with breast milk or using bottles and pseudo-pacifiers in infancy; Bad habits such as finger sucking, lip sucking, tongue pushing and mouth breathing in childhood can also cause orthodontic problems. If there are problems that prevent nasal breathing in the case of oral breathing, joint studies should be with ear-nose-throat specialists to eliminate them.
09 Haziran 2024