McAllen Orthodontist providing Braces & Invisalign
Here’s another video from someone who just completed their Invisalign program, describing overall what her experience was like. It’s only 7 minutes long, but very informative. She provides a lot of practical insight into day to day life with Invisalign Teen.
Bite Problems or problems with how your teeth fit together can occur in different ways. Some bite problems can cause quite a bit of discomfort or pain. You may not even realize that the pain you are experiencing has anything to do with your teeth or bite alignment.
You should be able to bite hard and grind your teeth together in all directions without feeling discomfort in any tooth or jaw area if your bite is good.
Some bite problems can cause pain in the jaw area or your ear, it can cause headaches and even sinus pain. It can at times result in clenching your teeth or grinding your teeth at night. You can even do some serious damage to your teeth if your bite is not properly aligned.
Teeth that are sensitive to cold often get that way by taking an extra pounding if any part of that tooth strikes before the rest of the teeth contact during closure.
If a new filling or crown is too high, it may hurt when you clench your teeth, in which case it is probably not in perfect harmony with a correct bite.
Biting on a “high” filling or crown can cause the tooth to become tender or sore, and often also causes the tooth to be sensitive to cold. In addition to the sore tooth, the jaw muscles may also become sore as they try to avoid striking the high tooth.
Look for severe wear on your teeth, as this is likely another sign that your bite is not in harmony. If you have worn all the enamel off the edges of your teeth, you will see a darker colored surface. This is dentin and it will wear down seven times faster than the much harder enamel that you’ve already worn through. If you come in, we can evaluate what is causing this wear. It can be especially damaging when it is on your front teeth, so if you notice your lower front teeth have worn down to dentin, have your bite checked. Better yet, don’t wait till all the enamel is gone. Correcting your bite may stop or at least slow down the wear process.
If the wear on your lower front teeth continues the nerves will be exposed and the teeth can become abscessed. Wear that is this severe requires expert correction of the bite as well as restoration of the severely damaged teeth.
There are simple ways to detect when a problem with the bite is causing or at least contributing to pain or discomfort. You can come in to A Perfect Smile Orthodontics for a free consultation or, better yet, an examination and we can determine look into any bite problems and assess the degree of any malocclusion. And we can discuss all options with you to correct the problem.
Although teeth grinding, also called bruxism, can be caused by stress and anxiety, it often occurs during sleep and is all too often caused by an abnormal bite, misalignment of your teeth, or missing or crooked teeth.
Because grinding often occurs during sleep, one can easily be unaware that they grind their teeth. However, a dull headache or sore jaw when you wake up can be a telltale symptom of teeth grinding. Many times people learn that they grind their teeth by their loved one who hears the grinding at night.
In some cases, chronic teeth grinding can result in a fracturing, loosening, or wearing down of your teeth. The chronic grinding can even wear teeth down to stumps over a period of years. Not only can severe grinding damage teeth and result in tooth loss, it can also affect your jaws, cause or worsen TMD/TMJ (short for temporomandibular joint disorders) and can result in considerable discomfort.
Abnormal alignment of upper and lower teeth (malocclusion) is the primary cause of nighttime teeth grinding. The teeth don’t fit together. During the day, the brain overrides the teeth that don’t fit. But at night, the brain keeps trying to make the teeth fit together properly, grinding the teeth together in the process.
This can be caused by something as simple as a filling or crown that is not fitted perfectly to one’s bite, throwing your entire bite out of alignment. Or it can be something a bit more extensive regarding how the two arches of your upper and lower teeth fit together.
The good news is that there are ways to handle this.
There are acrylic guards that you can wear when you sleep that will protect your teeth. You can come in and we can make one that fits your teeth. But this is just a temporary fix.
If teeth are only slightly misaligned, we can often fix that in one office visit. Casts are made of the teeth and areas of malocclusion are identified. Sometimes, just grinding down a small part of a filling, a crown or a molar is enough to fix the problem.
For more severe cases of misalignment, more adjustment is needed. Braces are another way to change and correctly align your bite. Over time, braces change the teeth in relation to each other and are a permanent means of correcting the proper alignment of your teeth.
Teeth grinding is a relatively new area of study. The good news is that we can repair any damage done and most likely handle the problem for good by addressing the root cause of teeth grinding, through proper alignment of your teeth and bite.
Recently, I have had a couple of new patients come to me that have had “Fast Braces” and “Six Month Smiles” treatments in another office.
They accepted this “fast orthodontics” because they were promised shorter treatment times and slightly less expensive fees.
All of these patients came to me for a consultation because they were unsatisfied with the results. Many now have flared front teeth and an uneven occlusion (or bite) that felt worse following “fast orthodontic” treatment.
Short term orthodontic treatment generally focuses on only the front teeth and does not correct malocclusion or how the upper and lower arches come together. The proper fit of the teeth is one of the most important factors for good oral health.
So, if you haven’t tried “fast orthodontics” but maybe you have heard about it, let me give you the straight story on what it is and what it isn’t.
Six Month Smiles is a kind of “braces in a box” kit provided to general dentists with all of the parts included. This service is primarily only offered to general dentists who want to add orthodontic services to their practices. To prepare to be a Six Month Smiles provider, a dentist attends a two-day seminar, after which he can then submit models and begin providing treatment.
As a Board Certified Orthodontist, I have dedicated my life to creating the most beautiful and healthy smiles possible for each and every one of my patients. I always provide the highest quality treatment for my patients and strive to also minimize the treatment time. Healthy, quality orthodontic treatment generally takes between 18-24 months depending on the patient. “Fast Orthodontics” is really just short, incomplete treatments that do not address many of the primary issues of orthodontics. In some cases, just moving the front teeth can actually cause significant problems in the bite and the way the teeth fit together. The result will be uneven wear, grinding or even painful cases of TMJ or TMD.
You should also be aware that “fast orthodontics” often cost almost as much as a very complete, comprehensive, and well planned orthodontic treatment that includes bite correction. The patients who have come to me are often frustrated because they now have to pay for full orthodontic treatment (after Fast Braces) to get things right. The only situation where “fast orthodontics” might be appropriate is for retreatment, where a patient has had a very slight incidence of relapse after full orthodontic treatment and they desire small corrections in alignment or to close a small space.
If you are considering “fast orthodontics,” my best advice to you is something I have always followed: If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right the first time. If there are any real ways of making your treatment shorter without compromising the quality of your results, we will do everything we can to streamline things to get you your beautiful, healthy smile as quickly as possible!
Here is another impartial review of their Invisalign experience. This is again just the straight dope about this woman’s Invisalign treatment.
It isn’t a walk in the park to do the Invisalign, invisible braces, program. But…
We hope you are finding these helpful. Since Invisalign treatment can take as long as a year, it is important to understand what this treatment entails and what your own invisalign experience might be like before diving in.
There are definite advantages to Invisalign, but there are also aspects of the treatment that you should know before hand.
Traditional braces likewise have advantages and disadvantages, but for some, traditional braces may be a better way to go.
Either way, keep in mind that you will have straight teeth for your lifetime if you follow the protocols correctly. That is worth some suffering if in the end you have a beautiful smile, a more professional look and increased self-confidence. So please keep this in mind as you watch.
There are a lot of people who have done short videos on their own about their personal Invisalign experience.
These are unbiased, straight dope about the pro’s and cons of what they experienced while going through the treatment. I think it helps to hear from others exactly what they went through with their Invisalign treatment. It helps you to know what to expect if you are starting or considering Invisalign.
I’m going to put a few here and will add more later. Hope this helps to give you more information about this treatment!
And another one.
For more information about what dental problems Invisalign treats, you can go to our What Invisalign Treats page.
And you can check out our current special offer for Invisalign here.
Trick-or-treat! In the spirit of this sweet and spooky holiday, Dr. David Taylor and his team at A Perfect Smile Orthodontics, have some sweet tips for you on your Holiday treats.
Here’s the lowdown — the Good, the Bad and the Ugly lowdown.
While our highest recommendation would be no sugar at all, we realize that this might be a little unrealistic. So, to not be a downer on this fun holiday, here’s what we suggest.
Dark chocolate, peanut butter cups and other soft chocolate bars such as milky way or twix are probably going to be easiest on your braces and the after-indulging clean-up. So load up on these and have at it. But remember to brush, floss and rinse well afterwards.
Bubblegum, hard candies, chewy candies, caramels, taffy, nutty bars or candies, jelly beans, licorice, tootsie rolls and suckers can wreak havoc on braces. They can damage teeth and even break your braces, as well as possibly prolonging your treatment time.
If you are using Invisalign(r) invisible braces, this type of candy can still get stuck in your teeth and even if you brush after eating it, you might now be able to get it all out and it can get trapped under the aligners when you put them back in. Not a pretty scene.
We hope this is helpful to you. All of us at A Perfect Smile Orthodontics would like to wish you and your family a happy, safe and healthy Halloween!
Many a mother (or father) has worried that their teen might not have enough discipline for the Invisalign® program. Since you have the option to take out the clear plastic aligner, maybe traditional braces would be a better option? Removable aligners, as with Invisalign Teen, have to be put in and kept in and can also be lost.
Align Technology (the makers of Invisalign) have completed a very interesting series of studies of teenagers needing orthodontics, some treated with traditional braces and others using Invisalign technology.
Isolation: 92% of teenagers say that traditional braces make them feel isolated from their peers.
Self-esteem: Twice as many teens using Invisalign experience a rise in self-esteem compared to teenagers wearing braces.
Effectiveness: Invisalign treatment is usually as effective as braces for treating orthodontic conditions.
Cost: Invisalign treatment costs about the same as braces.
Bullying: Teenagers are 68% less likely to be teased by other young people when wearing Invisalign.
Reliability: Teenagers are more reliable than adults in following the Invisalign treatment protocol.
Confidence: 40% of teenagers say braces would have a negative impact on their self-confidence, but only 13% of Invisalign Teen users come to the same conclusion.
There are other advantages to using Invisalign that you may want to take into account.
With Invisalign Teen, if one does lose an aligner, the parents receive up to six replacements for free throughout the course of treatment.
Invisalign Teen is much safer than braces for athletes, since there are no wires or brackets to cause injury in the event of collisions.
Eating many different foods becomes difficult or forbidden with braces, but Invisalign is removed to eat.
For wind instrument musicians, playing is no different than usual, again because the aligners are removable.
Invisalign needs to be worn for twenty hours a day, leaving time for eating, playing and the usual daily dental hygiene.
There is an additional safeguard and reminder, if a teenager doesn’t wear their aligners regularly. Invisalign Teen includes a “wear indicator” — a blue dot that fades when worn. This lets parents and dentists check for compliance.
In our experience at A Perfect Smile Orthodontics, teenagers look forward to a new smile, so wearing Invisalign consistently is usually not a problem.
For more information about treatment with Invisalign Teen, we offer a free consultation to answer all of your questions.
