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What is Two-Phase Treatment?
"First get the jaws right - then get the teeth right."
Two-phase treatment is a two stage process. The first phase is skeletal correction. Dentofacial orthopedic appliances are worn to optimize jaw relationships and facial esthetics.
The second phase is orthodontic correction. Braces or aligners are worn to align the teeth, establish a normal healthy bite, and insure a wide attractive smile that will remain stable for a lifetime.
What If I Delay Treatment?
Treatment delay can result in the need for more extensive, costly, and invasive treatment later; treatment that may not completely fix your smile. The "window of opportunity" to avoid extractions of permanent teeth and optimize facial esthetics narrows and may close. Early treatment provides the best opportunity to achieve an uncompromised lasting result.
Phase-One Dentofacial Orthopedic Treatment
Your foundation for a lifetime of beautiful smiles
The goal of phase-one treatment is to insure the jaws develop normally in size, form, and positions relative to each other and the cranial base. Normalization of jaw size and form insures room for all of the permanent teeth. Normalization of relative jaw positions insures the upper and lower jaws relate to each other properly and the face will look its best. Normal skeletal and dental relationships are the foundation for a beautiful face and smile.
Children Often Exhibit Early Signs That Jaws Are Not Growing Properly.
Jaws that are asymmetric, too far forward, too far back, or too narrow, and jaws with insufficient room for all the permanent teeth can be recognized by Dr. McAnnally at an early age.
Children over the age of six exhibiting jaw problems are candidates for phase-one treatment. Children around age eight with crowded front teeth are also candidates.
Benefits of Phase-One Dentofacial Orthopedic Treatment
Enjoy a great smile - Mouth breathing can cause narrow dental arches and unattractive smiles. By expanding the dental arches while your child is actively growing, we can insure a broad, beautiful smile.
Reduce headaches and listlessness - Mouth breathing can lead to a narrow upper jaw, constricted nasal airway, and poor sleep. This can leave your child prone to headaches, daytime fatigue, and an inability to concentrate in school.
Avoid TMJ disorders - Many children with narrow jaws, deep overbites or receding lower jaws have unhealthy jaw joints which can cause headaches, neck pain, dizziness, earaches, clicking or locking jaw joints, difficulty opening the jaws, and ringing in the ears. Phase-one dentofacial orthopedics can prevent or eliminate these problems.
Minimize ear problems - Deep overbites and receding lower jaws may cause earaches, stuffiness or ringing in the ears, dizziness, and vertigo. If not due to infection, dentofacial orthopedics can usually eliminate these symptoms.
Improve speech - Narrow jaws confine the tongue and may interfere with normal speech. Dentofacial orthopedics insures normal jaw growth and a child's ability to speak normally.
Enhance facial development - Ninety percent of a child's facial growth is completed by age twelve prior to the pubertal growth spurt. Surveys show that seventy-five percent of twelve year olds will benefit substantially by dentofacial orthopedic and orthodontic treatment. For many, waiting until age twelve is too little - too late. The window of opportunity to obtain ideal results passes. By guiding facial development early, between the ages of seven and eleven, with dentofacial orthopedic appliances, eighty percent of treatment needs can be corrected before the adult teeth are present!
Obtain greater treatment cooperation - Young children between the ages of seven and eleven are often much more cooperative during treatment than children twelve to fourteen years of age.
Shorten treatment times - Early phase-one treatment reduces the time children will need to wear braces or aligners to straighten their adult teeth.
Simplify treatment - Early phase-one dentofacial orthopedic treatment simplifies phase-two orthodontic treatment. Parents want the best for their children; straight teeth, properly sized jaws, attractive facial profiles and beautiful smiles. By treating problems early, you avoid the need for more complex and costly treatment later. Surgical procedures are avoided.
Avoid extraction of permanent teeth - Dentofacial orthopedic jaw expansion can usually prevent the need to remove adult teeth. Jaw expansion also avoids a vampire or fang-like tooth appearance, lengthy use of braces, speech difficulties, and crowding,
Eliminate crowding - Crowded teeth are caused by narrow or shallow dental arches. Early normalization of jaw width and depth eliminates crowding and minimizes the likelihood of impacted permanent teeth. The need to extract permanent teeth to eliminate crowding is avoided.
- Skeletal correction enhances facial appearance; a benefit that lasts for a lifetime.
- Skeletal correction can eliminate the need for jaw surgery to align the jaws properly.
- Jaw expansion almost always eliminates the need to remove permanent teeth.
An Interim Maintenance or Rest Phase May Follow Phase-One Treatment
- We monitor the eruption of permanent teeth at periodic intervals during the maintenance or rest phase
- When permanent teeth are fully erupted a second orthodontic phase of treatment is undertaken to definitively align the teeth, correct the bite, and insure a great smile.
Phase-Two Orthodontic Treatment
"Stay healthy - look great"
The goal of phase two orthodontics is to align the teeth in harmony with the lips, cheeks, tongue, and both adjacent and opposing teeth. When this equilibrium is established, the teeth will look their best, function their best, and remain the most stable. Wear of teeth is minimized. Longevity of teeth is maximized. The teeth are easier to clean. Food impaction and decay are minimized. Phase two orthodontics usually involves full upper and lower braces or invisalign.
Above: Phase-One Dentofacial Orthopedics - Phase-Two Orthodontics video