Your Ottawa Invisalign® Provider
Treatable conditions can cause orthodontic issues and painful symptoms for patients. At Manor Park Dental, our Ottawa dentists can help find solutions to alleviate symptoms.
Treatable Dental Conditions in Ottawa
At Manor Park Dental, we are passionate about helping our patients resolve their orthodontic issues and achieve straighter smiles.
Patients come to us with many treatable conditions that must be corrected to help them achieve their goals.
Every patient is different, and so is every case. These conditions can be anything from a misaligned bite to facial asymmetry, crowding, or painful symptoms such as headaches and earaches.
With the right diagnosis and treatment plan, many conditions are treatable. Given time, we may be able to alleviate your orthodontic issues and symptoms.
How can treatable conditions be corrected?
Depending on the condition and the patient, we may be able to correct treatable conditions with early intervention and/or a customized orthodontic treatment program involving braces, a retainer, and/or other measures.
Overjet and Open Bite
Overjet
Do the upper front teeth seem to be more noticeable and stick out quite a bit, compared to the lower front teeth? While the upper front teeth sit about 2 millimeters in front of the lower teeth, overjet refers to a condition in which this horizontal separation exceeds the regular 2 millimeters. Depending on the severity and stage of the condition, options may include orthodontic treatment.
Open Bite
Do the upper and lower teeth not meet in the front when your child bites together? Though it can sometimes be hereditary, an open bite can also be caused by missing, impacted, or extra teeth, habits such as thumb sucking, prolonged bottle feeding, poor-fitting dental restorations and other things. Treating open bite may correct alignment issues, decrease risk of gum disease, and more.
Cross Bite
When you look into your child’s mouth are the upper teeth on the inside of the lower teeth? If you think of the upper jaw as the garage and the lower jaw as the car, the garage should be bigger than the car.
The cross bite can be caused by the position of teeth, jaw, or both. They can occur in the front teeth or the back teeth. Left untreated, this condition can be linked to a narrow upper palate, which may cause breathing and bite issues. It can also affect jaw and facial development.
Cross bite can be treated with braces, special retainers, Invisalign (for some adults or teens), or in severe cases, surgery. Early intervention is important as a cross bite can cause severe pain in your jaw and supporting muscles as you grow older.
For adults, treating cross bite can positively contribute to better overall health and prevent complications in the future.
Deep Bite
Do the upper teeth completely hide the lower teeth when you bite down, or does your child bite on the roof of their mouth? This may be a deep bite. A deep bite (over bite) is often caused by a small lower jaw or a missing lower tooth. It is important to fix as over-erupted lower front teeth can wear down more quickly, which can lead to loss of tooth structure.
Facial Asymmetry
When looking at your child from the front does it appear that their face, or chin are shifted to one side. Are they growing crooked? While no face is perfectly symmetrical, some types of asymmetry can impact the way we eat and speak, and even cause jaw pain or headaches. Braces may be able to fix the problem, and surgery is another option.
Habits
Does your child suck their finger or their thumb? Do they breathe through their mouth instead of their nose? Do they stick their tongue between their teeth when they swallow? These can cause orthodontic conditions and should be corrected with early orthodontic treatment. This can include using a device similar to a retainer.
Crowding
Are the permanent teeth starting to come in crowded? This is a common type of malocclusion which requires orthodontic treatment. Teeth crowding happens when there is a disproportion between jaw size and tooth size, which can cause misalignment of the teeth. Treatment may include braces to correct position of the teeth.
Headaches
Does your child complain frequently of headaches? If your child grinds their teeth, or has a deep bite, the muscles may be over-worked and can contribute to headaches in children. Braces and orthodontics may help reduce the frequency of headaches caused by poor bite or TMD (Temporomandibular Joint Disorder).
Earaches
Sometimes a bad bite or a deep bite can cause undue pressure on the small membranes of the ear, contributing to earaches. Your chronic earaches could also be a TMJ (temporomandibular joint) issue. Depending on your diagnosis, it may respond to orthodontic treatment or wearing a mouth guard at night.