Most people do not need teeth pulled for braces. Extractions are considered only when there is truly not enough room for all the teeth, or when removing a tooth gives a better bite and profile. An orthodontist decides case by case after examining the teeth, jaws and face. It is
An underbite in a child means the lower front teeth sit in front of the upper front teeth when they bite. It can come from the teeth, the jaws or both. An orthodontist can usually tell which by about age seven, while there is still time to guide growth. Parents
Rubber bands with braces, called elastics, connect a hook on an upper bracket to a hook on a lower bracket. They pull the jaws and teeth into a better bite, which brackets and wires cannot do on their own. Most patients wear them most of the day for part of
For the first three to five days, eat soft foods that need no real chewing: eggs, yogurt, pasta, soup, smoothies. After that, most of your usual diet comes back, minus hard, sticky and crunchy foods for the length of treatment. Why does eating change when you get braces? Two different
Most braces problems are not true emergencies. A loose bracket, a poking wire or a lost elastic can wait for office hours with a little wax and care at home. Call right away for facial swelling, trauma to the teeth, or pain you cannot control. What counts as a real
Most people wear braces somewhere between 18 and 24 months. Simple crowding can finish in under a year, while bite correction in a growing child can run longer. Your own estimate comes from records taken at your first visit. What decides how long braces take? Treatment time is set by
Debonding day is the appointment everybody counts down to. It is also the one nobody explains in advance, so patients arrive braced for something painful. It is not. Here is exactly what happens, from the moment you sit down to the retainer you leave with. How We Know You Are
A palate expander is a small appliance that widens a child’s upper jaw a fraction of a millimeter at a time. It sounds dramatic. In practice it is one of the most routine, best-timed things orthodontics can do – and the window to do it easily closes as a child
Almost every teen and adult who sits in our consult chair asks some version of the same question: can I get braces that do not look like braces? The honest answer is that you have real options, and the right one depends less on style than on your bite, your
