Dental Appliances
Your orthodontist may recommend a mouthguard to protect your jaw, teeth, and orthodontics from high-impact sports and retainers to help you maintain your straight, new smile.
Why We Use Dental Appliances
Orthodontists use dental appliances for several reasons:
Correcting Malocclusions: Dental appliances help correct bite issues, such as overbites, underbites, crossbites, and open bites, ensuring proper alignment of the jaws and teeth.
Teeth Alignment: Appliances like braces and aligners straighten crooked or misaligned teeth, improving the appearance and function of the smile.
Jaw Alignment: Certain appliances, like the Herbst appliance, address jaw alignment issues, guiding the growth and positioning of the jaw to achieve a balanced facial structure.
Space Maintenance: Space maintainers prevent adjacent teeth from shifting into the space left by a lost tooth, ensuring proper alignment when the permanent tooth emerges.
Preventive Treatment: Early use of appliances can prevent more severe orthodontic issues from developing, reducing the need for more extensive treatment later on.
Functional Improvement: Appliances can improve the overall function of the mouth, including chewing, speaking, and breathing.
Aesthetic Enhancement: Properly aligned teeth and jaws contribute to a more attractive smile, boosting the patient’s confidence and self-esteem.
By addressing these issues, orthodontic appliances play a crucial role in maintaining oral health and enhancing the quality of life for patients.
Herbst Appliance
What is the Herbst appliance?
Benefits of the Herbst Appliance
Orthodontists often recommend the Herbst appliance for children to ensure long-term dental health into adulthood. This appliance is highly effective in correcting various bite alignment issues, including:
- Extreme overbite
- Narrow arch
- Posterior crossbite
- Upper jaw protrusion
Beyond enhancing dental health, the Herbst appliance provides a more attractive alternative to traditional headgear. When paired with Invisalign clear aligners, the aesthetic and functional benefits of the Herbst appliance are significantly enhanced.
What patients get the Herbst appliance?
Made from metal, acrylic, and springs, this appliance effectively moves the lower jaw forward. It is typically recommended for younger patients to ensure long-term dental health. The Herbst device also offers significant aesthetic improvements over traditional headgear. It is often used in combination with conventional braces or removable, transparent aligners like Invisalign. For more information on how Invisalign can treat malocclusion, contact our team.
How does the Herbst appliance work?
During your consultation, our dental team will evaluate your jaw and teeth to determine if you or your child are a suitable candidate for the Herbst appliance. Once that’s determined, we will schedule an appointment to apply the device. The Herbst appliance is usually placed on the molars, a straightforward procedure that may involve a local anesthetic to ensure comfort.
When combined with orthodontic treatment, this appliance can simultaneously move the jaw and straighten the teeth, effectively working as a crossbite aligner. Typically, the Herbst device is worn for 12 to 15 months, though this timeframe can vary based on each patient’s specific needs and treatment goals.
Athletic Mouthguards
Orthodontic mouth guards offer a variety of benefits to patients who engage in high-intensity physical activity and athletics and need to protect their braces or other orthodontic appliances. Some of the most common advantages of orthodontic mouth guards include:
- Prevent serious injury
- Protects dental restorations
- Protects your natural teeth
- Protects the soft tissues in your mouth