When most people hear of dental care, they often visualize the treatment of various conditions that affect oral health. Curative care is, no doubt, the leading one in dental clinics. Even so, dentists are now also very focused on preventive care. This is in a bid to lower their patients’ medical care expenses and decrease the time needed to reverse the effects of different dental conditions.
Dental implants in Townsville are among the leading orthodontic appliances used for preventive care. These will fill a gap in your jaws after the curative extraction or accidental loss of a tooth. In so doing, they keep the other teeth from shifting towards the gap to fill it or the jawbone from shrinking because of lack of use. Other than implants, here are the other preventive orthodontic appliances a dentist might recommend.
Space Maintainers
Your child should start shedding his/her milk teeth when he/she turns about six years old. Some, however, lose their baby teeth before this time because of severe dental caries or trauma. In this case, a space maintainer is crucial. This is placed in the gap until it is time for permanent dentition. Without the space maintainer, crooked permanent dentition is often the case as teeth grow towards the gap. Crowding is also a consequence of lack of space maintainers since the jawbone shrinks and cannot accommodate all permanent teeth.
Headgear
At times, children naturally do not have enough space on their jaws for permanent dentition. This causes the growth of overcrowded and crooked teeth that would need braces and other extensive treatments to correct. Reverse headgears are the ideal preventive solutions in this case. These will reposition the jaws and support the proper alignment of teeth. Headgears are ideally used in kids whose jaws are still growing.
Mouthguards
Customized mouth guards are the ideal choices for those playing contact sports. These protect their teeth from traumatic injuries that might chip or dislodge them. Mouthguards are also essential protective appliances for those who grind their teeth or have temporomandibular junction disorders. These often cause small chips on the surfaces of teeth and weaken teeth.
Sealants
These are often used on the back teeth in children. This is because these teeth have deep pits that form a perfect breeding ground for bacteria since they are hard for children to reach effectively. Sealants cover the pits in these teeth and avert the accumulation of food particles and bacteria in them. They are often used on kids at considerable risk of dental caries.
Palatal Cribs
These are used in kids that continue sucking their thumbs past three years. The sucking will cause the shift of the teeth at the front of the mouth and sometimes overbites. A palatal crib will be placed behind the front teeth to reduce the gratification that children get from thumb sucking.
Most people assume that dentists are only out to milk their insurance dry with unnecessary treatments. Even so, the above orthodontic appliances are surprisingly cheap. Moreover, they will eventually save you a lot of cash spent on curative orthodontic appliances and multiple follow-up dental visits.
