Orthodontics St. Louis

What Is Orthodontics?

The literal meaning of orthodontics is “straight teeth.” Orthodontics involves jaw alignment and teeth straightening for both aesthetics and function. A basic understanding of orthodontics is that your body will remodel bone based on constant force. For example, when we move your teeth with constant force, your body remodels the bone around the teeth so they can move.

This is most easily accomplished when the jaw is still growing and reshaping to accommodate new permanent teeth. Although orthodontics is a bit easier for teens, this shouldn’t stop other ages from seeking out orthodontic treatments. It’s never too late to visit Dr. Chris Hill for orthodontic treatment.

Although orthodontic treatments, in general, all utilize the same principle, they each use different techniques to achieve goals. Each technique may also not have the same goal. With this in mind, we offer several different orthodontic treatments to help our patients reach their goals. Since not every smile is the same, we don’t believe every orthodontic treatment should be the same.

Facial Growth Orthodontics

When it comes to orthodontics, the most difficult problem to treat for adults is underbites and overbites. This is because the jaw and teeth have already fully developed. With traditional orthodontics and adults, it’s common for teeth to become loose or not move as easily as they would with a teenager undergoing treatment.

To give patients a better treatment option to address bite problems, Smile on Dental Studio in Richmond Heights, MO proudly offers facial growth orthodontics. Facial growth orthodontics is a treatment available to all ages including adults, children, and adolescents. The treatment helps realign the jaw without the need for jaw surgery and multiple rounds of braces over the course of several years.

Facial growth orthodontics work by addressing nasal breathing, tongue posture, and lip seal. When one or more of those factors are not in their proper place when the jaw grows and develops, it can lead to disharmony and an imbalance in the craniofacial structure. This affects your bite, the position of your teeth, and even your facial appearance. What seems like small factors can actually cause your bottom or top jaw to under or overdevelop or grow into the wrong position and cause a multitude of other problems.

Through the use of facial growth orthodontics, we can transform your jaw and realign your teeth. Growth appliances can help stimulate your jaw to allow it to grow to its genetic potential. The appliance helps you retrain yourself to breathe through your nose instead of your mouth, seal your lips properly, and rest your tongue in an ideal position. Once you reach your genetic potential, you will have a bite at its proper position and a beautiful smile to match.

At the end of your facial growth orthodontics treatment, you will notice a few different benefits. First, your facial appearance might seem different. Once your jaw develops correctly it may give you plumper cheeks and lips, a defined jawline, improved posture, a straighter nose, and reduce wrinkles around your lips. If mouth breathing was a prior problem, facial growth orthodontics can result in an elimination of sleep breathing problems. Lastly, the treatment can help reduce or eliminate TMJ symptoms for good. This means no more migraines, jaw pain, neck pain or other TMJ related symptoms.

Cosmetic Orthodontics

If you don’t have an overbite, underbite or any other bite problems, we may suggest that you use one of our cosmetic orthodontic options to achieve your goals of a straighter smile.

Invisalign

With Invisalign, your treatment is basically invisible. To straighten your smile, you will wear a set of aligners for at least 22 hours per day for two weeks at a time. Every one to two weeks (depending on the complexity of treatment and how long you wear your aligners), you will switch to your next set of aligners. In as little as 6 months to a year, your smile is completely straight. The best part is that the invisible aligners are removable for eating your favorite foods. Keep enjoying the foods you love while achieving your straighter smile in less time than traditional braces. Teens and adults can use this treatment without anyone knowing about it.

Learn more about Invisalign

Six Month Smiles

Another orthodontic treatment we offer is Six Month Smiles. This technique is specially designed to create a beautiful smile in as little as six months by only moving the teeth that are visible in your smile instead of focusing on the teeth in the back.

Learn more about Six Month Smiles

See Which Orthodontic Treatment is Right For You

If you’re in need of orthodontic treatment in St. Louis, schedule a consultation with Dr. Chris Hill to find out which of our orthodontic options is right for you. We take your goals and the severity of your case into consideration when planning your orthodontic treatment. Please call (314) 530-3663 today for an appointment at Smile On Dental Studio.