Before & After Photos
Orthodontics is not just about straightening teeth anymore. Today we understand that creating a beautiful smile involves all aspects of the face and even in some cases it involves other parts of the body. We need to know if the patient is growing or not, if the patient is periodontally healthy, if they are cavity prone, if there familial pattern to the problem. Today, adults are increasingly seeking care to improve their oral health and their self-image. At one time, there were limited options for adult treatment but today there are multiple new tecniques that have made it possible for an adult to achieve the same beautiful smile we routinely give adolescents. There are also compelling reasons to undertake early treatment for patients who are developing jaw discrepancies (underbite, crossbite). Following are several patient series that are example of the different techniques we use, the range of patient problems we treat. Some patients have allowed us to show faces, in others we have not showed faces to preserve the patient's privacy.Adolescent Treatment (Crowding)
This teenager presented with severe crowding in the upper and lower teeth, a deep bite, impacted canines (eye teeth). It was necessary to remove several permanent teeth to allow the eye teeth to drop in to plae and eliminate all her crowding. Her after photos show her beautiful smile after less than 2 years of treatment.
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Adult Treatment (Buck Teeth)
This young man presented with a chief complaint of "buck teeth" and spacing. His before picture shows the severity of his spacing, flared incisors and bite. He was treated with a fixed mandibular advancing appliance (no headgear was used) with elastics (rubber bands) and traditional braces. The after picture shows the correction of the protruded teeth, the spaces and the bite. As a bonus, his profile improved dramatically also. The puffy gums are a result of not flossing properly and were normal within weeks of removing braces and improving his oral hygiene!
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Adult Treatment
This patient is an adult female who was bothered by her smile (before). She was missing two permanent front teeth (upper lateral incisors) and was treated orthodontically as a child by moving the eye teeth forward in to the position of the missing lateral incisors. She experienced considerable shifting since her adolescence as well as periodontal problems (gum disease) and her periodontist felt that improving her bite and the position of her teeth would improve her periodontal health. The final photos (after) reveal what can be done by strategically repositioning her existing teeth, reshaping them conservatively so they could be postitioned better and improving root position.
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Adult Treatment (Multi-Disciplinary)
This 50 year old adult presented with the problem of how to restore her "disappearing teeth". The before picture shows how severely worn her teeth were after years of severe grinding. Her longest front tooth is the porcelain crown! To complicate matters, she showed a very large amount of gum tissue when she smiled, a result of years of the teeth continuing to move while they were being ground shorter and shorter. It was tempting to just send her for gum surgery to do extensive crown lengthening, however, it was determined that her bite probably contributed to the cause of the grinding and she would benefit from orthodontics to correct the bite. Her back teeth were moved in to the correct bite position and then the front teeth were moved back up in to her gums and jaw so that the gum surgery would not be so extensive. Her after photo photo shows the result after her gingivectomy and crown lenghthing (no bone needed to be removed), and the excellent crowns done by her general dentist. She no longer grinds so the suspicion that her bite contributed to her grinding problem proved correct.
View all photos for Adult Treatment (Multi-Disciplinary)
