Orthodontics is a great way to increase your self-confidence, improve your dental health and create a beautiful smile.

It is an area of dentistry that deals with the assessment, prevention and correction of misaligned teeth and jaws.

At the Cosmetic Dental Studio we offer many orthodontic services for all ages.  If you are not lucky enough to have developed straight teeth, we can help you and your children realize that dream.

Functional Orthodontics

Functional habits include thumb/dummy sucking, mouth breathing and tongue thrust. They all contribute to the unfavorable growth of the jaws. Oral habits can commonly cause the upper front teeth to stick out and can contribute to speech problems. The best way to intercept a habit is to first make certain that the child has a proper size airway and can breath through the nose. In cases where there are serious allergies, swollen adenoids or tonsils, a referral to an Ear, Nose & Throat Specialist is necessary. After airway considerations are addressed a habit- breaking appliance could be made to stop the oral habit.

Early Treatment

We feel that children should be evaluated by the age of 7 to see if there is a bone problem (orthopedic) or a tooth problem (orthodontic).

Early interceptive orthodontic treatment usually starts before the eruption of the permanent teeth or when the child has very few permanent teeth present. Our goal is to guide the growth of the upper and/or lower jaw to make adequate space for the eruption of all the permanent teeth.

Other benefits of early treatment:

• Improve profiles, smiles and self-esteem
• Correct harmful habits, such as thumb sucking and tongue thrusting.
• Improved speech
• Reduction of the time in fixed braces and frequently eliminates the need for the extraction of permanent teeth
• Increases nasal breathing which improves general health
• Creates beautiful broad smiles by developing the arches
• Eliminates grinding of the teeth at night
• Prevents headaches and earaches

Early Warning Signs

Deep Bite

Do the upper teeth completely hide the lower teeth when you bite down, or does your child bite on the roof of their mouth?
 

Open Bite

Do the upper and lower teeth not meet in the front when your child bites together?

Overjet

Do the upper front teeth seem to be more noticeable and stick out quite a bit, compared to the lower front teeth?

Cross-bite

When you look into your child's mouth are the upper teeth on the inside of the lower teeth?

Crowding

Are the permanent teeth starting to come in crowded?

Habits

Does your child suck their finger or their thumb? Do they breathe through their mouth instead of their nose? Do they stick their tongue between their teeth when they swallow?

Facial Asymmetry

When looking at your child from the front does it appear that their face, or chin are shifted to one side. Are they growing crooked?

Headaches

Does your child complain frequently of headaches? If your child grinds their teeth, or has a deep bite, the muscles may be over worked and can contribute to headaches in children.

Earaches

Sometimes a bad bite or a deep bite can cause undue pressure on the small membranes of the ear, contributing to earaches.

Adult Orthodontics

If the teeth are out of position, they are more difficult to clean, increasing the risk of tooth decay and periodontal (gum) disease. If chewing is difficult, people may not eat the foods needed for good nutrition. If your bite is poor, extra strain may be placed on the chewing muscles, possibly causing pain and problems with your jaw joint. Some of the symptoms of jaw joint problems include headaches, neck aches, ringing in the ears, dizziness, fainting, pain behind the eyes and difficulty swallowing.

 No matter what age you are, you can benefit from orthodontic treatment. Teeth can be moved at any age and therefore more adults are proceeding with orthodontic treatment today in an effort to achieve straight teeth, a beautiful smile and healthy jaw joints.

At the Cosmetic Dental Studio, we utilise an innovative technology - “self ligating” braces. Traditional orthodontic therapy involves ‘tying in’ wires with elastic bands. Self-ligating braces have a small built in sliding door that holds the wire, allowing it to slide more freely to straighten your teeth. This means more comfortable treatment and fewer adjustment visits to achieve your beautiful new smile.

Not every dentist or orthodontist uses self-ligating braces. The reason we do is simple- they make getting a beautiful new smile less time consuming and more comfortable then ever. And when new technology becomes available, we want our patients to be the first to benefit from it.

Invisalign

We introduce to you the breakthrough technology that lets you have the smile you've always wanted — without the hassle of braces.

By using a series of clear -virtually invisible, removable aligners, Invisalign straightens your teeth with results you'll notice sooner than you think. The course of treatment involves changing aligners approximately every two weeks, moving your teeth into straighter position step by step, until you have a more beautiful smile. And unlike braces, these clear aligners can be removed while you eat and brush your teeth as usual.

Shorter treatment time. An average complete Invisalign course of treatment takes about a year. However, if you only want to straighten your front teeth, it may only take 3 months. You'll visit us every 6 weeks for adjustments and to check progress.

Since Invisalign is practically invisible, there's no unwarranted attention to your mouth. In fact, very few people will notice at all - unless you tell them.