Palate Expanders, Retainers, and More
Orthodontic Appliances can be used alone or in combination with comprehensive orthodontic treatment. We utilize many different orthodontic appliances and we have highlighted a few that we use most often. Some orthodontic appliances actively move teeth and other will hold teeth to prevent unwanted movements or maintain space for other teeth to come in. Each appliance has a different function and it therefore customized to each individual patient.
Palatal Expanders
Palatal Expanders can increase the width of the upper jaw and teeth. If used before the palate fuses (approximately Age 10) the expander can widen the upper jaw bone and teeth but if the palate has already fused then it can be used to widen only the teeth. The hyrax expander is shown here and the instructions for activating the expander are available by clicking the hyrax instructions link below.
Hyrax Expander
Habit Appliance
Thumb or finger sucking can be very detrimental to the proper development of the teeth and jaws. We recommend stopping the habit as soon as possible. We know that parents try everything to stop the habit from taping the fingers to applying something spicy on the fingers. It can seem like a never ending battle but we are here to help and take that worry away. We offer different style habit appliances and can personalize it with your kid's initials. The best habit appliance is one that is cemented to the upper back teeth and therefore is meant to stay in the mouth until the habit is stopped.
Space Maintainers
The loss of a baby tooth early can lead to shifting and drifting of the other nearby teeth which can block the path of the adult tooth from coming into the mouth. A space maintainer can do exactly what it sounds like; maintain the space necessary for the adult tooth. We make space maintainers for an individual tooth and for multiple missing baby teeth. The space maintainers are customized to your specific needs.
Band and Loop
Lower Lingual Arch (LLA)
Trans-Palatal Arch (TPA)
Nance Appliance
Bite Planes
Bite planes can reset the bite to a more advantageous position. We use them to correct the bite in the back (posterior) and in the front (anterior). Bite planes can be used to separate the teeth during correction of a crossbite to opening of a deep overbite.
Anterior Bite Plane
Retainers
Retainers hold your teeth to prevent relapse and unwanted movement of your teeth following orthodontic treatment.
Essix Retainer
Hawley Retainer
Fixed Retainer