Expanding The Arch For Straight Teeth

At Corbett Smiles, our goal is to help our clients develop a pleasant, functional smile as effectively, inexpensively and as efficiently as possible.

There are almost as many crooked teeth problems in our society as there are people and we are here to help with your teeth/smile problem, no matter what it may be. We have "snaggle" teeth of all kinds, lopsided smiles, open bites, deep bites, cross bites, spaces between teeth, overlapping teeth, missing teeth, etc. These problems all have their treatment modalities, but each also needs to be customized to each individual person's needs.

When The Problem Is Skeletal

Braces oftentimes involve the correction of severely crowded upper front teeth. This crowding is sometimes caused by constriction or narrowing of the maxilla or upper jaw. This is a skeletal problem, presenting as crowding, and should almost always be corrected as quickly as possible, while the patient is young, to allow normal and unrestricted growth to proceed normally. This maxillary constriction (skeletal in origin) causes many other conditions that oftentimes go unnoticed.

Some of these conditions are posterior cross bite, high vaulted palate, constricted airway resulting in breathing difficulties, lateral incisors blocked out behind the other upper teeth, high blocked out canines or cuspids etc. Often when the patient presents with these circumstances, the treatment of choice is to simply expand the maxilla or upper jaw to a more normal size and shape.

At Corbett Smiles this procedure is painless, easy, effective and incredibly helpful to the relieving of the crowding in the maxilla. On some occasions this maxillary expansion is all that is needed to accomplish straight teeth, although further work is usually necessary.

Dr. Keith Corbett uses several different ways or appliances to correct the shape and width of the maxilla. These different appliances are custom-picked and made to meet the specific need of each individual.

As the appliance is activated by the patient, or in most cases the patient's parent since this procedure is almost always performed on younger people (boys usually before age 16 and girls usually before 13), the maxilla widens slowly and painlessly. In the young patients selected for this procedure, the two halves of the upper jaw bone are still separated and in the embryonic development stage of bone growth. As the activation takes place, these two halves simply move apart leaving as much as 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch of space between the halves.

There should be no discomfort during this process, but the patient should expect to see a large space open between his or her two front teeth (central incisors) as the process happens. Do not be concerned about this as the teeth will come back together all by themselves. Over the next few months the enlarged suture space in the roof of the mouth will fill in with bone and re-calcify. This takes about six (6) months to completely accomplish. Once the re-calcification is complete, the appliance is removed and a retention phase of treatment is commenced.

Braces made easier!

Most of the time braces will be needed to obtain the straight teeth, at Corbett Smiles look we want, however the "expansion part "of the treatment often makes the "braces part" of treatment much simpler. This simplicity translates into a shorter time in braces, lower cost, and perhaps even the elimination of surgical intervention. One of our goals at Corbett Smiles is to give our clients straight teeth and beautiful smiles at the best price possible and for the shortest treatment time in braces.