
Two Phase Treatment
The preventive approach typically requires two separate phases of treatment,
with each phase lasting about one year. Phases I and II are usually
separated by a 12-18 month interval where patients are free of appliances and
can enjoy all the foods they had to give up during active orthodontic treatment.
Phase I Treatment (Preventive)
The
goals of Phase I treatment are:
1) to widen the jaws to accommodate all of the
permanent teeth, and
2) to correctly relate the upper and lower jaws to each other
A great variety of appliances may be used to accomplish these goals. A
comprehensive examination and diagnostic workup allows the
orthodontist to choose
the correct ones for each patient. Active treatment typically takes about
12 months, followed by a year or two of observation time while permanent
teeth are erupting. Some examples of preventive appliances are palatal
expanders and lip bumpers which are shown here.
Preventive treatment greatly reduces:
1) the need to extract permanent teeth to correct crowding,
2) the need for jaw surgery to correct misaligned jaws, and
3) the time a patient will need to wear full braces
Phase II Treatment (Corrective)
Each permanent tooth has an exact position in the mouth where it is in harmony
with the cheeks, tongue, jaws, jaw joints, and other teeth. The goal of
Phase II treatment is to get each tooth to this ideal position. This
phase of treatment is initiated when all the permanent teeth have erupted,
usually requires full braces, and typically lasts one year.