.
BRACES

Before & After

Getting a healthier, more beautiful smile is the reason most patients turn to orthodontic treatment. Whether you are self-conscious about your smile. Whether you are self-conscious about your smile, concerned about damage being caused by a bad bite or need alignment to enable other dental work or surgery, Dr. Estes and her team can help you.

Crowding of the teeth

Treatment began at age 11 for this patient using braces. He loves his new smile!

Open bite – Front teeth don’t touch

This patient began treatment at age 13. After years of thumb sucking, we used clear aligners and had her work with a myofunctional therapist to retrain her tongue. Now, she can bite the lettuce out of a sandwich!

Deep overbite – Lower front teeth bite into palate

This patient didn’t begin treatment until the age of 25. Treatment included jaw surgery and braces to correct a severe overbite. If treatment had been done at a younger age, the issue could have been corrected without the need for surgery.

Missing lateral incisors

This patient had lateral incisors that were congenitally missing. Braces moved the teeth into their ideal locations while missing teeth were replaced with bonded bridges, called Maryland bridges.

Underbite – Lower front teeth in front of upper teeth

This underbite caused the patient much discomfort and excessive wear on her teeth. She began treatment at the age of 32 and now finds chewing much easier and is happy to show off her smile.

Spacing of teeth

We used braces to close the spaces this patient didn’t like in his smile. This created a more ideal bite. We used special bonded retainers to ensure the spaces remain closed.

Overjet – Protruding front teeth

This patient began treatment at the age of 10, taking advantage of two-phase treatment to get the most ideal smile. The first phase guided the growth of her jaws while the second then aligned her teeth and perfected her bite. Now at age 13, she proudly shows off her smile.

Non-braces treatment

In some cases, we may not need to use braces to make improvements to the smile. This patient saw us at the age of seven because of crowding in her lower permanent teeth. We performed a procedure to reduce the width of the adjacent baby teeth, allowing the permanent incisors to align on their own.

Phase-One

This patient came to us with concerns from the parents from both a cosmetic perspective and the health of the erupting permanent teeth. We began treatment at age 8 for lower front teeth that were crowded and damaging the palate (roof of the mouth), and upper teeth that were very displaced from their ideal position. After we completed the first phase using partial braces and an expander, the patient’s appearance, and functionality greatly improved. Once the rest of the permanent teeth have erupted, we will evaluate if phase 2 treatment is necessary