What Are The Lesser Known Orthodontic Appliances Your Child Might Need?

It is recommended to take your children for their first orthodontic visit when they are seven years old. Did you know that? For orthodontics to detect misaligned teeth, jaw, and bite of your child early consultations are a great way. At this age, your child has a mix of baby teeth and permanent/adult teeth. As part of your child’s larger orthodontic treatment, orthodontists often suggest other functional appliances. In ensuring that your child has a healthy and beautiful smile these appliances fulfill an important function. Here are these few appliances:

1. Nance Appliance-

It is often described as a space maintainer and is an oral appliance. The first permanent molars might begin to move forward if your child loses their upper baby teeth too early. To ensure that they remain in their correct position, the nance appliance acts as a holding arch that prevents the permanent/adult molars from shifting. To fit comfortably on the palate, this orthodontic device has a u-shaped acrylic plate. Until the other adult teeth erupt it has two metal bands attached to the upper back teeth keeping them in place.

2. Lower Lingual Holding Arch-

It is specially designed to fit the lower teeth. The lower lingual holding arch is also a space maintainer like the nance. It sits behind the lower teeth. The lower holding lingual arch is a u-shaped appliance. It consists of two metal bands that are placed on the two molars and this will prevent the teeth from moving forward. If your child loses their baby teeth prematurely then your orthodontist may suggest a holding lingual arch.

3. Palate Expander-

It is a device used to treat bite problems in kids. By gradually widening the upper jaw, palate expanders create more space in a child’s mouth. Both to do and to tolerate it’s really quite easy although this may sound scary. Until sometime after puberty, the upper jaw actually develops as two separate halves that don’t completely fuse together. Over a period of several months, the two bones can gently be separated and stabilized before that happens.

How do palate expanders work?

This appliance is connected in the middle with a screw and has two halves. You simply turn the screw a very small amount each day with a special key to activate this device. At the junction of the two palatal bones, this induces tension causing them to gradually move apart. We will leave the appliance in for a few more months to allow new bone to form in the gap and stabilize the expansion once the desired expansion is achieved. Expanders are worn for 3-6 months altogether generally.

4. Bite Turbos-

Small acrylic pads, ramps, or mounds that are bonded on the chewing surface of any of the back teeth or to the tongue side of the upper front teeth are Bite Turbos. They are made of metal or maybe in a natural color, blue color, red. To open your bite, orthodontic turbos are temporarily bonded.