About Orthodontics
Achieving a beautiful smile is often more than just straightening teeth.
Orthodontics deals with not only straightening the teeth but also aligning the bite and working towards a balanced profile. Properly fixing malocclusion (our fancy word for crowding, spacing, or protruded teeth) may require correcting the bite for necessary clearance.
This is why orthodontists are specialists who train for years after dental school regarding growth and development, tooth movement, and dentofacial orthopedics.
Ultimately, a malocclusion can affect the smile, the way a person chews, speaks, and can sometimes contribute to jaw pain. Achieving a beautiful smile and proper bite can improve esthetics, speaking, bite comfort, and confidence.
When to get Orthodontic Care
The American Association of Orthodontics recommends children as young as 7 be seen by an orthodontist. This is about a year after the first permanent teeth begin to erupt. Our goal is to observe growth and tooth eruption to monitor that they are following typical progression in order to catch any early problems that could lead to later complications.
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Our philosophy at Glades Orthodontics is that early treatment if necessary should be limited in scope to addressing targeted objectives for severe issues. We prefer comprehensive treatment for patients at or slightly before all permanent teeth have erupted. Being able to observe patients growth and development for years, helps determine the right time to start treatment.
Our Treatments
For achieving that dream smile, we offer a number of treatment options. At your consult, you can discuss the best options for your case with the doctor.
Traditional Braces
We offer traditional metal braces for treatment, using modern, low-profile brackets for esthetics and comfort. These new metal brackets are less obvious and more comfortable than metal brackets of years past. Best of all, they are American made and manufactured in Wisconsin, not overseas!
Glades Aligners
Glades Aligners are clear plastic trays that have tooth movement programmed into them. We use our intraoral 3D scanner to take a digital scan of your teeth and use our own 3D software to custom program your tooth movements. Each aligner is made on our 3D printer, so we make your Glades Aligners in our office. This is a great way for us to treat less complex cases and reduce the wait time to get your trays!
Clear Aligners
Clear aligners are a great way to treat malocclusions for those that want an esthetic treatment option without brackets and wires. The doctor programs tooth movements digitally, and the aligners are manufactured outside our office. This system is more efficient for complex cases requiring a large number of trays to reach a successful result.
Clear Braces
Clear braces are a great balance between the advantages of metal braces (control and efficiency) with the esthetics of clear aligners. Clear brackets blend in with the color of your teeth and become virtually invisible. We use LightForce 3D printed ceramic brackets, which are custom designed to fit a patient's individual tooth shape and position using a scan from our 3D intraoral scanner. We digitally position the brackets prior to bonding to increase treatment efficiency and reduce treatment time.