American River Dental

Orthodontic Appliances

American River Dental

Retainer

Sometimes after braces come off or instead of even using a set of braces, orthodontic appliances are used to straighten your teeth. The most common of these appliances is a retainer, or space maintainer.

A retainer is a gadget that the orthodontist gives you to wear after your braces are removed. The retainer attaches to your upper and/or lower teeth and holds them in the correct position. You wear the retainer 24 hours a day at first then at night to make sure that none of your teeth move while your jaw hardens and your teeth get strongly attached to your jaw.

Space Maintainer

A space maintainer is a removable or fixed appliance designed to maintain an existing space. They are usually fitted to children when they have lost baby teeth early. The gap left from losing this tooth needs to be held open for the permanent tooth to erupt in its correct position.

Palatal Expander

A palatal expander is an appliance placed in the roof of the mouth to widen the upper dental arch, which allows the arch to be painlessly separated and spread. A treatment used for younger patients. Many times a palatal expander can be used to create a proper alignment of the arches so permanent teeth have room to erupt in a natural position. Often, the use of an arch expander early may eliminate the need for braces later.

Multi-Spring Appliance

Minor tooth movement may be necessary to position teeth properly as permanent teeth erupt during the growth process. In adults, minor tooth movement procedures in conjunction with restorative care can be used in many ways to enhance a patient’s appearance.

This removable appliance is used to accomplish multiple tooth movements. The objective is to close the space between the front teeth, create room in the arch for the blocked out lateral teeth and guide them into place. To accomplish the numerous movements, springs are used to move the teeth and close the spaces.

Spring Hawley Retainer

After completing orthodontic therapy, it is not uncommon to still need a little fine tuning of tooth alignment. This is particularly true in patients who have undergone extensive orthodontic therapy and are simply “burned out.”

This retainer is useful in correcting minor rotations and crowding. When worn, the spring action of the wires provide a light force to align the teeth. The appliance is constructed to the “ideal” setting and the patient’s teeth adapt to their new position.

Wilson 3D Appliance

When the desired objective of a treatment plan requires bodily tooth movements, significant tooth rotations, root torquing or leveling, aligning, and rotating of entire arches, it is necessary to utilize full arch fixed mechanics.

The Wilson 3D system utilizes a series of precision arch wire systems to enhance the efficiency of most fixed appliances. These snap-in modules fit into lingual tubes that attach to molar bands. Rapid results from using the Wilson 3D system are possible due to the twenty-four hour per day wearing time. This system is effective in a variety of movements and tooth positioning.

Spring Distalizer

A spring distalizer is utilized when one molar is caught under the edge of a second primary molar. Its purpose is to gently move the erupting molar into the proper position by attaching a spring to both teeth and gradually correcting the alignment.

Twin Block (overbite treatment)

Overbite treatment with the Twin Block, a removable functional appliance consisting of two bite blocks (twin blocks), upper and lower, that are designed to interlock at 70 degrees in such a manner that the mandible (lower jaw) is held in a more protrusive position. Over time, the repositioning of the lower jaw forward eliminates the overbite (horizontal projection of upper teeth beyond the lower teeth). When treatment with the Twin Block is complete, teeth in the upper and lower jaws will interact normally.

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