The society today is more aware and conscious about sound dental health than that in the past and it is mainly of this cause that we get to hear a lot about orthodontists. Who is an orthodontist? What does an orthodontist do? These are few obvious questions that pop up with relevance to the term ‘orthodontist’. An orthodontist is a specialist dentist who gets advanced specialised training to diagnose, treat as well as prevent irregularities of the teeth and the jaw. A qualified orthodontist or orthodontic expert fixes existing conditions related to the irregularities of the teeth an jaws and more than that is capable of identifying and preventing any upcoming problem that may arise along the future timeline. An orthodontic expert is trained and skilled to treat patients belonging to every possible age group including both adults and children.
A perfect smile has much to do with your sound perfect health. The oral health of any individual plays a crucial role when overall wellbeing of the person is concerned. Typical conditions for which people seek treatments from an orthodontist like misaligned teeth or malocclusion make one easy susceptible to oral health issues like decay of the tooth, difficulty in chewing, gum disease and others. When the teeth are severely misaligned then chewing itself may turn out to be very painful. It is an unfortunate truth that every individual does not born with straight and perfectly aligned teeth. Thus, someone may have a bad bite, someone may have severe gaps between the teeth and likewise. In all those circumstances one has to seek the right consultation and necessary treatment from a dentist who specialises in orthodontics.
Now that we have got some basic ideas about what orthodontics is we can now conclude that an orthodontist or orthodontic specialist is a dentist who is dedicated to straighten your teeth and align your bite more than anything else.
More about how an orthodontist helps
As far as the United Kingdom is concerned to step into the shoes of an orthodontist you have to undergo a rigorous training for three years during which you are taught to fix different types of problems related to the misalignment of the teeth or the jaws. In order to provide their service these dental professionals make use of a range of dental appliances and devices. The appliances which are used in orthodontic dentistry can be broadly divided into two categories namely fixed and removable and some of the examples include bands, braces and retainers, etc. These appliances help shifting and positioning of the teeth easily in the mouth. Thus it is through the appliances that orthodontics can help their patients achieve your results and expectations from your treatments.
What dental issues can orthodontic dentistry can correct
Modern orthodontics can correct a wide range of dental issues including the following –
- Crowded teeth (also called as malocclusion)
- Crooked teeth
- Misalignment of the jaws
- Different types of bite issues (like cross bite, open bite, cross bite, under bite and overbite, etc.)
- Gaps existing between the teeth of teeth positioned far away from one another
The basic or primary goal of any orthodontic treatment is to help you improve your bite. Teeth that are evenly spaced and straight easily align with the teeth in the opposite arch. According to a dental specialist in London who has years of experience in providing perfect teeth orthodontics opines having a normal and healthy bite is nothing less than a blessing as it enables you to eat, speak and chew properly without any hindrance. The majority of patients you will at orthodontic practices are children and teenagers. These young patients mostly go to get their orthodontic braces.
Training and education to qualify as an orthodontist
To qualify as an orthodontist is never easy; you have to go clear the standard college followed by dental school and then an orthodontic specialisation course to step into the shoes meant for orthodontics. The orthodontic residency programme, which is mandatory to clear to qualify as an orthodontist, lasts for about 2 to 3 years. But before enrolling in this course you must pass out from dental school and become a general dentist. And this is why it is often said that all orthodontist are dentists but all dentists are not orthodontists. The orthodontic residency programme is designed smartly to help these specialist dentists achieve success in their professional lives.
As far as the general dental course if concerned, it includes highly limited orthodontic instructions. This is the reason that makes the orthodontic residential programme so crucial for these “soon to be” specialist dentists. The specialisation programme is tailored with lot of care and consciousness to provide specialist dentists of tomorrow with ample intensive and focused instructions on handling varieties of critical cases. A specialist dentist who handles cases of orthodontic tooting over the years explains the overall curriculum of the specialisation programme as the following –
Dentao facial orthopaedics and Orthodontics
Dento facial orthopaedics is all about guiding the development of the jaws, teeth and the overall face whereas orthodontics deals with safe and proper movement of the teeth.
When to see an orthodontist
People book appointments with an orthodontist when they suffer from malocclusion of the teeth or misalignment of the jaws. Malocclusion or misaligned teeth is mostly found to be a hereditary problem. Technically the problem arises when the upper and the lower jaws of an individual are of different size. However, in many cases the problem arises because of disproportionate size of the jaws and the teeth in an individual.
Most important problem of teeth malocclusion is it leads to many other complexities like irregular bite pattern, misshapen jaws, overcrowding of the teeth and others. Usually, the problem of teeth malocclusion is treated in either of the two ways – using braces or dental appliances and orthognathic surgery.
Braces look like square bonds which are fitted to your teeth. The range of appliances is made from various materials including metal, plastic and ceramic. The force that is needed to make your teeth move from their initial position to ideal or final position is provided by a set of springs or wires. Clear braces are also called clear aligners and are used to correct cases of minor malocclusion whereas conventional fixed metal braces are usually reserved for the cases that involve severe malocclusion. Once your braces come out of your teeth it is necessary to wear retainers to orthodontic relapse.
According to a specialist dental professional at 1A Orthodontics who handles cases of smile orthodontics cases of severe overbite or under bite are solved through orthognathic surgeries. These surgeries are also known as orthodontic surgery and can stretch or shorten the length of the jaw as required by a patient.