No More Mashed Potatoes

Has your orthodontist suggested that you wear a mouth guard to protect your braces and teeth when you play sport? 

Perhaps you feel mouthguards are a little too uncomfortable or ‘daggy’ or just don’t want to have another thing put into your mouth! But, now that you finally have those beautiful, straight teeth (or perhaps you are still in the ‘metal-mouth braces phase of treatment!) you really and truly want to protect them from any possible damage during you sporting activities!

And, of course, there is the added cost – you can purchase a standard mouthguard from the shops that you merely heat in water, then model to your own teeth and mouth, for around $15 – or your can have one custom made by your orthodontist or dentist that will give you great protection, but will set you back rather a bit more – perhaps $200!

But, good news! You can actually get flavoured mouthguards, if you look around – how would you like your favourite yummy orange, mint, lemon, bubble gum or fruit punch?

Whichever one you chose, it appears that they may become mandatory in the near future, with the Australian Dental Association and Standards Australia calling on all schools and sports clubs to make wearing fitted mouthguards during sport compulsory.  Dr Peter Alldritt from the ADA is recommending a ‘no mouthguard, no play’ policy, which may even be extended to professional players of rugby league, union and AFL!

The truth is that playing sports or other contact activities increase your changes of damaging your teeth and braces…

So wearing a mouthguard may not be so ‘daggy’ after all, if your favourite footy star or hockey player has one as well!  Maybe you could even have one to match theirs or in your favourite footy colours!  So let’s get thinking about how funky your new mouthguard is going to be!

Finally….a glossary of Terms to help you understand what your Orthodontist is telling you…..

Adjustment:
An evaluation of your progress when your wires may be changes to keep your treatment on track and moving forward.

Appliance:
Anything the orthodontist attaches to your teeth to move your teeth or to change the shape of your jaw.

Archwire:
A metal wire that is attached to your brackets to move your teeth

Band: 
Bands are metal bands that are sometimes placed on the back molars and are used to anchor other orthodontic appliances to.

Banding: 
The process of cementing orthodontic bands to your teeth

Bonding:
The process of attaching brackets to your teeth using a special safe adhesive.

Buccal Tube: 
A small metal part that is welded on the outside of a molar band.  The molar band contains slots to hold archwires, lip bumps, facebrows and other things your orthodontist uses to move your teeth.

Bracket: 
Brackets are the small metal or ceramic modules attached to each tooth.  They serve as guides to move the teeth and hold the archwire in place.  The brackets used in orthodontics today bond directly to the teeth with a tooth-colored bonding adhesive.  They are much smaller and lighter than ever.

Cephalmotetric X-rays: 
An x-ray of the head that shows if your teeth are aligned and growing properly.

Chain: 
A stretchable plastic chain used to hold archwires into brackets and to move teeth.

Consultation: 
A meeting with your orthodontist where he/she discusses your treatment plan.

Debonding: 
The removal of cemented orthodontic brackets.

Elastics: 
During various phases of treatment, small elastic or rubber bands are used as a gentle but continuous force to help individual tooth movement or the aligning of jaws.

Fixed retainer: 
With permanent retainers, we can greatly enhance the stability of that beautiful smile and perfect bite. These “invisible” retainers are bonded or glues on the back side of the front teeth.  There is virtually no discomfort associated with eating and speaking.

Forsus: 
The spring like appliance creates an upward and backward force on the upper molars similar to a headgear, while at the same time pushing the lower teeth and jaw forward.  Typically, the Forsus Springs are worn for 6 to 8 months, with adjustments every 6-8 weeks.

Herbst Appliance: 
The Herbst appliance is used to correct skeletal imbalances where the lower jay is behind the upper jaw (Class 2).  This correction occurs due to a combined restriction of upper jaw growth and an enhancement of lower jaw growth.  In order to achieve the desired change in the skeletal pattern, the Herbst appliance is worn between 12-15 months.

Impressions:
The first step in making a model of your teeth.  You bite into a container filled with a rubber type material.  That material hardens to produce a mold of your teeth.

Invisalign: 
Invisalign is a technology developed using computer scanners and virtual reality to move teeth gradually using the construction of clear overlay retainer appliances.  Invisalign can only be used in minor cases.  More difficult cases require braces.

Lip Bumper:  
A lip bumper is a removable appliance used in growing children to create and save the space necessary to accommodate the adult teeth without extraction.

Ligating Module:
A small plastic piece, shaped like a donut, which is used to hold the arch wires in the brackets on your teeth.

Mouthguard: 
A device that is used to protect your mouth from injury when you are participating in sports.  The use of a mouthguard is specially important for orthodontic patients, to prevent injuries.

Palatal Expander: 
An appliance used to help widen your upper jaw or palate.

Panoramic X-rays: 
An x-ray taken by a machine that rotates around your head to give your orthodontist a picture of your teeth, jaws and other important information.

Phase 1 treatment:
Phase 1 treatment is oftentimes necessary for younger patients to establish the proper “foundation” for future dental and facial development as they become adolescents and permanent dentition erupts.  Narrow upper and lower jaws or situations where the back teeth are in a crossbite situation are typical.

Phase 2 treatment: 
The use of braces and or orthodontic appliances when all the adult teeth have erupted.

Photographs: 
Facial and intraoral photographs will be taken throughout treatment.

Records: 
These records, which include cephalometric and panoramic x-rays, digital photos and study models, help your orthodontist determine what treatment needs to be done.

Removable retainer: 
An appliance that the orthodontist gives you to wear after your braces are removed.  The retainer attaches to your upper and or lower teeth and holds them in the correct position while the bone around your teeth adjust to the new positions of your teeth.  At first, you wear the retainer 24 hours a day, and then only at night.

Separators: 
A plastic or metal part that the orthodontist uses to create space between your teeth for bands.

Wax: 
A clear wax used to prevent your braces for irritating your lips when your braces are first ut on, or at anytime irritation occurs.

Wax bite: 
A procedure to measure how well your teeth come together.  You bite a sheet of wax and leave bitemarks in the wax.  This helps the orthodontist relate the upper and lower models of your teeth together.

What is your favourite food at the moment?  Has your preference for foods changed from when you were a little tyke? 

Believe it or not, our ability to taste it vital for the survival of the species – it is an important part of learning to quickly determine which food is edible and which is not.  As babies we try to put just about anything into our mouths, at great risk to our health – but this is part of learning what we should – and should NEVER – put in our mouths again!

Over our lives we can learn to like new foods and overcome our objection to strong flavours – for example, coffee or tea, and some vegetables can have a subtle bitterness that we may learn to enjoy as we get a little older.

Food groups can be identified by their sweet or salty, sour or bitter taste, among others.  The ability to taste sweet is great as we have learned evolutionally that these foods can be nutritious and edible but the sour and bitter taste of some food is a clue that it could potentially kill you!

Taste receptors are located within taste buds, generally on the tongue, in defined areas. The Greek philosopher Aristotle created his own list of what the tongue can taste and his list is very extensive.  It includes bitter, sweet, succulent, oily, saline, pungent, harsh tastes and fat – and now Western science recognises ‘umami’, which is the savoury component of food – and maybe even fat.

It is very complicated, but tasting is the result of a chemical sensor in the taste receptors in the taste buds. These receptors are chemical sensitive – tasting then triggers a nervous response with a chemical in the mouth which travels to the frontal cortex of the brain, and, voula, we realise that we like – Broccoli! (well, maybe not…!)

Even saliva plays a part in our taste experience – that chemical sensor together with saliva plays an important role in dissolving the chemicals and keeping the tongue well lubricated – PHEW!

So, eating a sweet, delicious food is a combination of learning that it is safe to put in our mouths and chemicals and neurons that are affected by food – and the saliva – and the receptors – is that enough about taste?  Let’s just EAT!

It’s weird, isn’t it? That gap you feel in your gum when a baby tooth falls out!  Can you remember what that feels like? And how tricky was it for you to pronounce yours ‘T’s’ and ‘Th’s’?

Well, that little piece of enamel, pulp and other ingredients  is very special and it has played a very important role in your mouth – and in your life – so let’s take a closer look at how it not only has helped you eat yummy stuff but how it has actually helped you to talk!

Baby teeth

The first teeth that grow in our mouths are called ‘baby’ or ‘milk’ teeth – well, actually, their real name is ‘primary’ teeth and usually appear at about 6-12 months of age with your full set of 20 teeth complete by about the age of 3.

And just when have fully appeared, they seem to all then begin falling out again!  Oh, No!  But don’t panic – they don’t all fall out at once and leave you with no teeth to eat all that delicious food with – they fall out one by one – phew!

Your big, bright, spanking new permanent teeth have been gradually growing in your gums, waiting patiently behind each of your baby teeth, and as they grow, they will push out the no-longer-required baby teeth and take their place in your gums. So, by about age 12 or 13, most kids have lost all of their baby teeth and have a full set of 32 ‘second’ or more correctly, permanent teeth.

You may even have bonus teeth, called ‘wisdom’ teeth that appear when you are old and wise – around 17-25 years old – yep, it takes that long to become wise (just joking!)

What’s inside?

You know how white and shiny and tough all of your teeth are – the white part that you can see, this tough, white crown is made of enamel and protects all the other internal parts of the tooth. Yes, there is a lot going on under that amazing piece of white enamel.

Under your tough, white enamel, the next layer is dentin and it is not quite as hard as the enamel layer but it protects the innermost part of the tooth, called the pulp.

Have you ever had a brain freeze from ice cream? Or perhaps felt a tooth hurt when eating something super hot or cold? There is interesting stuff in here called pulp.

The pulp layer is where you will find nerve endings and blood supply to the tooth, that keep the tooth alive, just like blood that flows around the rest of your body, keeping it healthy as well.

The pulp goes all the way down into the root or cementum, of the tooth, which attaches your tooth to your gums and jaw bones.

Tooth Types

How many types of teeth do you think you have?  Well, but they are all a little different to each other as you need different types of teeth to perform different types of jobs…..

Your two front teeth and the teeth on either side of them on both the top and the bottom are called are incisors. These incisors are tiny chisels, sharp, with flat edges that can cut and chomp and crunch.

Next to these 4 teeth, one on either side both top and bottom, are canine teeth – your dog and cat have very big ones that are long and pointy…lucky yours are normal human teeth, but they do the same as your doggy teeth – they tear food apart!

Now for something completely different – your premolars or bicuspid teeth are next in line, with eight premolars in all, four on top and four on the bottom. These are great for crushing, grinding, mashing food as they are so very strong and bumpy.

Your Mighty Molars come next and you should have four fatties on the top and four fatties on the bottom – they usually sprout up at around 6 years old, then some more at 12 years old.

They are super tough – even tougher than those premolars – but most importantly they help you to swallow all that mashed up food as your tongue pushes food against them in the swallowing process.

But hang on – didn’t I say you would grow those weird sounding ‘wisdom’ teeth? Yep, your ‘third’ molars are the very back teeth – but, as I said you have to wait until you are very wise for them to grow – just kidding! Just wait till you are 17-25….

Othodontic miniscrews

You are part of the way through your Orthodontic treatment and all of a sudden, you have discovered that your Orthodontist is talking about putting screws in your jaw!  

But don’t panic – it is all good…TAD’s. or temporary anchorage devices in the form of surgical-grade titanium screws have been a part of modern oral surgery practices for quite some time, and these temporary anchorage devices have a very useful application in orthodontic treatment as well.

The difficulty of overcoming the movement of anchor teeth (usually the molars) can be eliminated with the use of TADs, by providing a secure, fixed anchor point in the bone. This can assist in eliminating unwanted movement elsewhere by their use as leverage.

For example, they can prevent front teeth from moving back but still allowing back teeth to move forward to close gaps.  Without the screws, there is potential for front teeth to overlap.

TADs can be placed with the use of just a small amount of topical anesthesia applied to the gums, making the procedure virtually painless for the patient. Once treatment is completed at a future date, the TADs are removed.

Inserting the TAD

An anaesthetic numbing gel is applied to the local area prior to insertion of the screws and, apart from some pressure, you will not feel any pain.

Several hours later, when the anaesthetic wears off, you will have a little discomfort and you may experience some intermittent discomfort over several days, particularly after brushing your teeth. Refer to No more mashed potatoes! for some recipes that you enjoy.

Avoid hot food while the anaesthetic is active, as your tongue, lips, cheeks and gums may not sense heat and you do not want to burn the area.

And be sure to keep up your dental hygiene, particularly in the area, to maintain healthy gums and be gentle with your brushing around the TAD’s.

Removing the TAD’s is even simpler and you should not even require any anaesthetic!