Adult Braces in a Specialist Dental Practice
It is quite common to believe that braces are only suitable for children and adolescents. People tend to think “It’s too late for me anyway”, but they are often mistaken. The process involved in moving teeth is the same at any age. In fact, about one in every five orthodontic patients is an adult and it’s never too late to correct the problems.
Teeth are still movable in the adult population because the biological process allowing tooth movement is the same as in children, although adult treatment takes longer than a child’s treatment.
There are a few differences in adult and children’s orthodontic treatment. The lack of growth of facial bones in adults inhibits some of the corrections possible in children and also adult’s teeth need to be moved more slowly. If the adult patient’s problems are largely due to a discrepancy in the jaws, a combined approach including orthodontics and orthognathic “jaw” surgery is possible. This treatment option can achieve very dramatic improvements in the appearance of the face and function of the jaws and teeth.