Orthodontic treatment in adults
Orthodontic treatment in adults is done if there are: some crooked teeth, the crowding of the teeth of the jaw, the spaces between the upper teeth too large, before inserting the prosthesis or the dental implant, disorders of the temporomandibular joint or orthodontic treatment or mixed maxillofacial surgery. If there are healthy teeth and sufficient bone structure, there is no age limit.
The treatment can be carried out even at the age of 60 or 70 years. There are also invisible orthodontic appliances for the correction of the malposition of teeth in adults. A series of invisible, subtle and elastic special synthetic aligners allow you to move your teeth carefully to the desired position. According to the degree of difficulty, the patient receives 3 to 6 elastic aligners.
After 2-3 weeks of treatment the patient receives another device. The aligners are practically invisible in the mouth, do not bother to speak and are taken only to eat and to clean the teeth. A fixed orthodontic appliance can also be placed behind the dental arch, which is also invisible in this case. However, this type of device can only be used by patients whose teeth are long enough and its surface is large enough to be able to fix the appliance on the inside of the teeth.
The tooth can change its position due to the growth or reduction of the alveolar bone. The part where the apparatus exerts pressure is the direction in which the tooth should move. One of the characteristics of alveolar bone is its tendency to retreat if it is exposed to a constant pressure. The fibers that hold the tooth in the opposite part to the part where the pressure is exerted are lengthened and therefore the alveolar bone reacts with the bone formation in this place. Only then can the tooth move in the desired direction.
The reduction of the alveolar bone usually takes less of its growth and that can produce a temporary loosening of the teeth during the orthodontic treatment. The tooth is again fixed when the growth of the alveolar bone is finished. Because of this reduction and growth of the alveolar bone the teeth move throughout life. That is why in the case of a healthy denture, orthodontic treatments can be performed even in advanced age. But since teeth have a tendency to move to return to the previous position, the retention phase after orthodontic treatment is particularly important. In some cases this phase can last a lifetime.