Orthodontic Appliances – Holliston, MA

Does My Child Need an Orthodontic Appliance?

Believe it or not, braces are not the only arrow in our quiver to treat development issues. Your child may need an orthodontic appliance, either before or after traditional treatment. Each serves an important purpose in the alignment of your child’s bite so that they can smile with confidence.

Retainer

A retainer can also be crucial to wear once traditional metal braces come off. Retainers work to ensure that teeth stay in their new positions, rather than drifting back. The last thing you want after you’ve invested in your child’s smile is for their teeth to relapse, and a fixed or removeable retainer can prevent this.

Space Maintainer

Early on, we can usually tell if there will be significant orthodontic issues, even before all baby teeth have come out. A space maintainer, which can be removeable or fixed, can work to make room for permanent teeth that still need to erupt. This can reduce the amount of time your child wears braces in the future.

Herbst Appliance

This appliance is used to correct an overbite. It helps to move the lower jaw forward and the upper molars backward for better bite alignment. It is typically utilized on younger patients to guide their jaw bones as they continue to develop.

Twin Block Appliance

As the name suggests, this treatment consists of two appliances, one on the upper teeth and one on the lower. They fit together like a puzzle and retrain jaw muscles to position the lower jaw more forward. Although removeable for easy cleaning, they are worn full-time, even while eating.

Palatal Expander

While your child is young, it is much easier to change the course of their oral development. If it appears that their palate is currently too small or narrow to hold all their teeth without crowding, we can use a palatal expander, which presses on both sides of the arch, to create more room and width.

Spacer or Separators

Several of these orthodontic appliances attach to the teeth through metal bands that surround teeth, namely back molars. In many cases, we need to insert tiny rubber donuts, called spacers or separators, in between the molars to ensure a comfortable fit for the appliance.

Carriere Appliance

In the past, some patients required bulky headgear to make alignment changes to the alignment of back teeth while wearing braces. However, the more subtle Carriere appliance now allows us to realign and preserve the back teeth, even if they’ve erupted incorrectly, without having to resort to obvious headgear or tooth removal.

Tongue Crib

While we also recommend using other methods to deter thumb or finger sucking, a tongue crib is an effective way to help rid your child of this bad habit. This metal grate attaches to the front top roof of the mouth, blocking suction when they attempt to suck. It also trains your child to rest their tongue in a downward and backward position, instead of a upward forward position, helping their oral development in the long run.

Bionator

A bionator has a limited period of effectiveness. It affects the growth of the bone, which means that it can only be used on children who haven’t reached skeletal maturity. Before that point, this appliance promotes lower jaw growth to correct and overcome an overbite.

Bite Plate

Generally, a bite plate is used toward the beginning of treatment, specifically when the upper teeth significantly overlap the lower teeth. The primary challenge with this appliance is that it prevents the back teeth from touching, which means that the front teeth need to be used for chewing.