At Sonshine Dental Care,
we work hard to offer the very best in orthodontics.
We strive to offer a very special orthodontic care
that is extremely progressive,
comprehensive, and effective, but is still very
natural, practical, and affordable. We believe that
you can have all of these qualities in your orthodontic
care, and that is why we have chosen to offer an
orthodontic care alternative called "full face
functional orthodontics".Full
face functional orthodontics is very different from
traditional orthodontics, particularly in its approach.
Traditional orthodontics has been practiced since
the 1950's and has continued into the new millennium
with only moderate advancement, remaining rather...well,
traditional. Meanwhile the
functional orthodontics movement is one very much
on the rise due to its common sense and creative
approach. It is constantly looking for improved
treatment methods that work better more quickly,
but remain more natural and are far more practical
for the patient and doctor.
Full face functional orthodontics is not mainstream,
but it is growing significantly in popularity with
a great number of both general dentists and orthodontists.
Click
any of the links below to find out more!
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There are three
basic factors that must be considered in effective
and successful orthodontics: muscles, bone, and
teeth. The order and magnitude of influence of these
factors is the same: muscles, bone, and teeth. Muscle
forces will always over rule bone and teeth. Our
orthodontic treatment is divided accordingly into
three phases: Phase
I (myofunctional) deals
with improper muscle forces. Phase
II (orthopedics) deals
with improper size, shape, and position of jaws.
Phase III
(orthodontics) deals with improper
teeth positions.
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The vast majority of orthodontic
problems we see in almost all of our patients are
caused by improper muscle forces that occurred during
their childhood. It actually
takes very little force to move teeth or effect
bone development, especially when we are young and
our bodies are still developing. The forces
applied in orthodontics are very mild, but the key
is that they are constant. There
are natural forces in a child's mouths that are
created by their own muscles, habits, and activities
that easily exceed the force needed to move their
teeth or influence bone development. Children
are very vulnerable to these forces as their habits
and activities frequently tend to disrupt proper
bone development and tooth position.
The
primary muscles creating forces that effect the
development of the jaws and the position of teeth
are the tongue, lips, and cheeks. The chewing
muscles will also influence teeth position. The
following are some of the most common destructive
myofunctional habits: mouth breathing (often occurs
at night while patient is unaware), thumb sucking,
tongue thrust, lip biting, over active lip muscle.
Once again, if these muscular forces are out of
balance (exerting too much or too little force in
the wrong direction), the occlusion(bite) will not
develop properly. Identifying
and addressing these problems early with this myofunctional
trainer can correct damaging habits, repair most
of the damage done already, and prevent any further
damage from being done. This treatment is for
children 6 - 10 years old and is extremely natural
because it simply assists the natural bone growth
and development that occurs at this age.
The
benefits of the T4K include straighter teeth, a
properly sized and positioned jaw, prevention of
TMJ later in life, not to mention the T4K can save
families thousands of dollars in family orthodontics
and keep time and energy invested in orthodontics
to a minimum. It's a dream come true!
Click
here to view an objective
comparrison of the results of traditional orthodontics
and the results of our far more advanced functional
orthodontics that began with the T4K
or
Click image below to see
the results in some of our patients. We think you'll
be impressed!
IMPORTANT!: All images used in the
"Success Stories Pages" are Sonshine Dental
Care Patients ONLY!.
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Functional orthodontics
is not only about moving or straightening teeth
(orthodontics), but it is also about promoting bone
growth (orthopedics). Functional orthodontics
primarily uses a variety of removable appliances
(not fixed brackets and wires or "braces")
to essentially expand the jaws, move teeth, and/or
reposition the jaws. Most orthodontic cases involve
crowded teeth. The key
to successful orthodontics is to make space for
the teeth. This minimizes the potential for relapse
(recrowding). Therefore, it also minimizes
the need for retainers to hold the teeth in place.
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Brackets
and wires are usually needed to finish an orthodontic
case properly, especially in older patients or moderate
to severe cases.
We use a more advanced
bracket and wire system. The arch wires are bioefficient,
thermally activated with memory. The brackets are
triangular shape, providing better orthodontic forces
for true straightening and not just tipping of the
teeth. The elastic ties also provide better orthodontic
forces that are kinder to the teeth.
We also often have the
patient use a special removable soft rubber appliance
called the T4B(trainer for braces) ,which is very
similar actually to our T4K(trainer for kids) and
works on the same principle, only it works in conjunction
with the brackets and wires to provide a little
extra orthopedic force. This
allows faster and more effective than if treated
with the orthodontic forces of the braces alone.
This combination of factors provides orthopedic/orthodontic
forces that are more gentle, more natural, and more
in harmony with God's design.
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The benefits of Full
Face Functional Orthodontics are absolutely immeasurable!
Unfortunately, outward appearance does have a definite
impact on success in this world. A pleasant smile
also has a definite positive impact on everyday
life in general. In addition, there are also many
health benefits to Full Face Functional Orthodontics,
such as:
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Full Face Functional
Orthodontics is far more stable and successful than
traditional orthodontics because of its comprehensive
approach. This is because
Face Functional Orthodontics first trains muscles
and then aligns and sizes the jaw properly before
even approaching the teeth. Why does this make
a difference? Well typically
when the teeth are just straightened without correcting
the improper muscular forces or the jaw proportions
and alignment, the teeth simply return to near to
their original positions.
Its like parking
a car. Now if you are driving on a steep hill (straightening
teeth in an improperly sized and positioned jaw),
while your foot is on the accelerator (orthodontic
forces, i.e.. braces, are being applied to the teeth),
your vehicle will proceed up the hill (your
teeth will begin to straighten).
Now if you just want to park your vehicle (keep
those teeth in their new proper position),
as we all know when you remove your foot from the
accelerator (remove
the orthodontic force),
the car begins to roll back down the hill
(the teeth begin to return to their original position).
Now you could permanently keep your foot on the
accelerator(wear
your braces for forever),
or put on the parking break and turn the front wheels
toward the curb for the entire time you are parked
(wear the infamous
retainer for as long as you want to keep your straight
teeth). But there is one
other option, probably the most obvious but most
easily overlooked: Don't park on a steep hill where
the car tends to roll! (don't
straighten teeth on an improperly positioned and
proportioned jaw where the teeth tend to relapse).
Instead, drive to the top of the hill where it is
flat and the car won't roll! (properly
align and size the jaw so the bone is more accepting
of the new tooth position and won't push the teeth
back into their old position.)
This way we can almost always avoid the inconvenience
of that annoying parking brake... I mean retainer!
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All of these
treatments and attributes result in one precious
reward:
