What is Orthodontics?
Orthodontics is used to properly align your teeth, jaw and lips to give you a beautiful, healthy smile and boost your self-confidence. It focuses on diagnosing, preventing and fixing problems like a bad bite, crooked and misaligned teeth, overcrowding, gaps, bad jaw growth and more.
Our Brisbane orthodontics services are designed to adjust and align your teeth to create a straight, attractive smile. And that’s not all – professional orthodontics can also help relieve or prevent other health problems that, without treatment, can become much more serious. For example, a bad bite can lead to speech impairments, tooth loss and chipped teeth while other orthodontic problems can result in gum disease, tooth decay, bone destruction and chewing and digestive difficulties.
Southside Dental Group orthodontics is used to correct existing alignment problems and prevent future problems from developing, and is a very important addition to your regular dental care. Talk to your Brisbane orthodontics specialist at Southside Dental Group for more information about the best options for making your smile the best it can be.
Who Needs Orthodontics?
Treatments are suitable for both adults and children alike and can benefit patients at every stage of their growth and development. There are a number of effective treatment options available to correct and enhance your smile, and it’s never too early or too late for an orthodontic assessment.
Children
The Australian Society of Orthodontists recommends an initial orthodontic evaluation by the time the permanent front teeth break through – usually around 7-8 years of age. This early evaluation – and if necessary, intervention – means tooth growth and development can be influenced to prevent more serious problems later down the track.
This ‘interceptive treatment’ can target a wide range of initial tooth and gum problems in your children by:
- Creating room for crowded, erupting teeth
- Preserving space for teeth that haven’t yet erupted
- Modifying jaw growth to establish facial symmetry and balance
- Reducing the risk of trauma to protruding front teeth
- Eliminating crossbites
- Reducing the need for tooth removal in the future
- Reducing or simplifying treatment time with braces or other corrective orthodontics in the future
- Improving speech problems
- Correcting bad oral habits
Adolescents and Teens
Orthodontic treatments in these formative years will help shape the way your teeth align as you continue to grow, creating a beautiful smile sooner that you’ll get to keep for life!
Comprehensive orthodontic treatments are best started in the early teen years, around 11-15 years of age, when most or all of the permanent teeth have emerged. Treatments are targeted at several goals:
- Improving function and comfort with a proper bite
- Improving self-confidence with a straighter, more attractive smile
- Creating ideal alignment
- Reducing stress and strain on jaw joints and facial muscles
- Improving distribution of weight on the teeth to prevent abnormal wear of tooth surfaces
Adults
Tooth alignment can be corrected at any age, and at Southside Dental Group, we regularly treat patients in their 30s, 40s, 50s and older with our comprehensive orthodontics Brisbane services.
In adults, where teeth and jaw growth is complete, orthodontic treatments are focused on improving your personal appearance and self-esteem by aligning your teeth into their proper positions to establish an optimal bite and jaw function. It’s also important to make sure your teeth and gums are the healthiest they can be to prevent gum and bone loss, tooth decay, abnormal wear of tooth surfaces, headaches and jaw joint pain as you get older.
Adult orthodontics can help you achieve:
- A proper bite for improved function and comfort
- Improved self-confidence
- Proper alignment
- Less stress and strain on jaw joints and facial muscles
- Improved distribution of weight on the teeth
- Optimal positioning of teeth to assist with other dental treatments (such as implants, veneers, bridges, etc.)
