5 Truly Amazing Innovations in Bite Correction
A straight and healthy smile includes a well-aligned, ideal bite — one that looks as good as it functions. As your board-certified bite correction experts in Denver and Centennial, Dr. Moran and Dr. White ensure that your bite problems will be a thing of the past once you’ve finished with orthodontic treatment.
So how do we achieve that? Well, in addition to our orthodontic expertise, the Foundations Orthodontics team taps into cutting-edge innovations in bite correction to help with precision and efficiency in your teeth straightening experience. Let’s talk about five of these fantastic innovations here.
What is Bite Correction?
But first, what exactly is “bite correction?” Simply put, bite correction in orthodontics considers the whole picture of health and harmony with your teeth, muscles, airway and joints. It’s not just straightening crooked teeth. The result is an ideal bite that allows your top and bottom teeth to stack together well, resulting in optimal chewing, speaking, and improved facial aesthetics while eliminating any interferences that can cause long-term issues to your entire chewing system. Bite correction can also help open up the airway and alleviate jaw or TMJ pain.
Digital Imaging and 3D Modeling For Precise Treatment
When you visit Foundations Orthodontics, you’ll notice we use high-tech, in-house diagnostic tools to get a clear and precise picture of your teeth, jaws, joints, and chewing muscles from every angle. This helps us develop an accurate diagnosis of your misalignment issues and design a precise, custom treatment plan.
We utilize a combination of a quick and painless diagnostics with a digital intraoral scanner and a 3D x-ray unit that results in almost instant 3D renderings of your teeth, bones and jaw joints. Dr. Moran and Dr. White then use advanced treatment planning software to plan every tooth movement from beginning to end. Our treatment planning software also allows patients to see and understand their treatment outcomes beforehand — a very exciting glimpse into their future smile!
Airway Orthodontics: Helping You Breathe Better
Bite problems can sometimes affect more than just teeth alignment; they can contribute to more significant health problems like airway issues. If you or your child has airway issues such as sleep-disordered breathing symptoms, snoring, or chronic mouth breathing, airway orthodontics aims to fix the bite and open up the airway passage. You see, the palate is essentially the floor of your nasal passage, and the position of your jaw affects the expanse of your airway at the back of your mouth (called the posterior pharyngeal airway). A palate or jaw that is too narrow, or a jaw with a deep overbite or underbite can contribute to obstructed breathing.
So, what does airway orthodontics look like? Maxillary expansion is an orthodontic airway treatment that widens the jaw and upper palate and can be recommended for either kids or adults. Goals for this airway treatment include:
Widening the floor of the nose (the palate/roof of your mouth)
Creating more space for the tongue
Creating more space for the permanent teeth to erupt in alignment
Open the posterior pharyngeal airway space so the tongue has more room to come forward
The specific appliance and treatment for maxillary expansion depends on age but is typically a type of palatal expander.
Sometimes the issue is with the lower jaw being too small or set back. If this is the case, we can either promote growth during adolescent years with orthodontic treatment, or in more severe cases, jaw surgery might be necessary to bring it forward (especially in adults).
Holistic Treatment Planning
At Foundations Orthodontics, we practice a holistic approach to orthodontics, which sets us apart from other orthodontists who focus only on straightening teeth. Every treatment plan is designed with our patient’s facial structure, overall health, oral health, chewing and speaking function, and bite stability in mind. Our approach is all about achieving a balance of improved beauty, health, and function.
Our holistic bite correction approach includes treating patients with painful jaws, TMJ disorder, airway concerns or a decline in their chewing system. As your bite correction experts in Denver, Winter Park, Granby and Centennial, we can design a personalized treatment plan to create the ideal relationship between the teeth and jaw joints for long-term health and stability.
LightForce Braces: The Personalization Pioneer
Did you know that every person’s smile is unique? Just like fingerprints. So, it makes sense that orthodontic treatment should be as personalized as possible. Enter LightForce braces, a groundbreaking innovation in orthodontics and treatment we’re proud to provide at Foundations Orthodontics. LightForce braces are the first fully customized 3D-printed braces system designed to fit each patient's specific dental anatomy. The back of brackets take the shape of your teeth’s contours, unlike traditional generic brackets with flat backs. This personalization improves the accuracy of bite correction, helps reduce treatment time, and enhances comfort.
Clear Aligners
The field of orthodontics has seen remarkable advancements in the form of customizable clear aligners like Invisalign® or Angel Aligners. At Foundations Orthodontics, we harness the latest in aligner technology with aligners to provide a discreet, comfortable, and efficient treatment option for bite correction. Yes, aligners can be used for bite correction, just like braces! For more severe jaw misalignment, Dr. Moran and Dr. White can employ special attachments for rubber bands to move jaws into an ideal bite gradually.
Fixing Your Bite With Your Denver Bite Correction Experts
Patients looking for a Denver, Granby, Winter Park, or Centennial orthodontist can look to the bite correction experts at Foundations Orthodontics for high-tech treatment and beautiful, healthy, stable results.
If you're ready to explore how to fix the bite issues you have, contact Dr. Moran and Dr. White at Foundations Orthodontics today.