Beautiful even teeth, a correct bite – many adults dream of it, and dream of it, because for special orthodontic procedures and braces in adulthood, you have to pay a tidy sum. This can be avoided if you do bite and other problems with improper growth of teeth and jaws in childhood. When the maxillofacial bones are not yet formed, the gums are soft enough, and the alternating molars can be easily corrected, that is, between the ages of 6-7 to 12 years old, children’s plates for teeth are used. Periodically, they must be tightened and tightened, but these simple procedures will provide the child with a perfect smile in adolescence and adulthood.
Types and features of plates
For straightening teeth and correcting bite in children, different types of plates are used. They can be divided into several groups. So, by type of design, all correction plates are divided into:
- removable;
- fixed;
- on the upper jaw;
- on the lower jaw.
Also distinguish devices Andresen Goyplya, Brückl, and Fraenkel. To change the size of the plate, the correction of pressure exerted on the sky, gums, teeth, jaws, use the Bertoni screw. From time to time it is necessary to twist it with a special key.
Wearing removable plates is much easier for children to carry since, in case of severe discomfort, they can be temporarily removed or stopped twisting. Discomfort (minor pain, problems with diction, and unusual sensations in the oral cavity) is inevitable at first but passes literally within a few days. The advantage of being able to remove the plate is twofold: if the child constantly does this, then there will be no effect from wearing it, because usually, according to the indications, the device should be worn around the clock, taking a couple of hours a day, nothing more. An exception is the activators of Andresen Goyplya, which are worn exclusively at night. These designs do not allow talking and breathing through the mouth and are used to treat distal bite in children. This category can include a variety of caps,
Most often, the Bruckl apparatus is used to correct various dentofacial anomalies, including correction of the mesial bite in children and even in adults. No less effective is the Frenkel apparatus. Removable plates fitted with Bertoni screws can be tightened by the patients themselves or their parents, and fixed plates are tightened only by the orthodontist himself during the routine examination.
Indications for wearing
Assign the wearing of children’s dental plate can only be an expert for certain indications. This usually occurs during the period of active growth and change of milk teeth, until the jaw bones are finally formed until the child reaches the age of 12-14 years. In some cases, doctors recommend putting the plate at 7-8 years. They wear it from 1.5 to 2 years, periodically twisting and tightening, depending on the severity of the curvature, improper bite, overcrowding, with improper growth of teeth. Braces at this age are not set, but after 14-15 years, the bite can be corrected and the teeth can be adjusted only with the help of braces and surgery, and then each tooth will have to be tightened many times.
Proper use of the plate will help:
- adjust the shape of the jaw;
- regulate jaw growth;
- increase or decrease the size of the sky, tightening the screw;
- align the dentition, eliminate crowding.
Installation and use of the device for correcting bite
Before installing a full examination and dental treatment. The doctor then makes a plaster cast of the jaw to be adjusted. Within a couple of weeks or a little faster, the wizard clinics make a record. As a rule, it consists of a hypoallergenic, safe, moderately hard plastic, which exactly repeats the shape of the palate and gums and adjoins the child’s incisors from the inside. The plastic part, in the center of which the cut is made and the screw, is installed (it will be necessary to twist it later), is drawn around a wire arc with special bends of individual shape and size. The arc will tighten and align the teeth from the outside.
For children, the plates are made of bright, colored plastic to make it easier for kids to get used to the new accessory. Removable devices are easily put on and removed, attached to the back teeth with the help of wire hooks (clasps). It is only necessary to hook the hooks correctly, and slightly press on the plastic part so that the construction will snap into place.
It is necessary to carry the plate to the child constantly, even while eating, removing only for brushing teeth twice a day. So the owner of the plate will get used to it, having ceased to experience discomfort, and the effect of the correction will appear faster. The plate is cleaned simultaneously with the teeth with special gels. The doctor himself appoints the time of the next visit, during which he tightens the wire parts depending on the type of teeth deformation and bite.
How and when to tighten the plate for the teeth?
The orthodontist explains how, when and why to twist the children’s plate to correct the bite, at the first admission. Thanks to this adjustment, the width of the apparatus changes, the gums are gradually moved apart, the palate, the growing jaw is formed correctly. After installing the device, the child should get used to it, and only when this happens will the pain or discomfort disappear, can one begin to tighten the screw? The doctor assigns a schedule for twisting the plate individually and at each subsequent intake, controls the result. The process is so simple that the little patient himself will cope with it, but it is better for parents to keep it under control.
To tighten the screw in the center of the plate, use a thin wire key. It is inserted into a special hole in the area of the screw and turns it forward, in the direction of the arrow drawn on the device. The number and frequency of turns depending on each specific case and pathology, but usually, it is necessary to tighten the screw in the plate no more than once every two or three weeks. One turn of the key forward is equal to one full turn of the screw. Do not be afraid to do something wrong or turn the screw once again: you can always return it to its original position by twisting the key in the opposite direction.
With proper handling, careful care, cleaning, timely screwing up of the screw and following all the doctor’s recommendations, the children’s dental plate will help the child to form an even dentition, jaw and correct the bite. The use of an orthodontic appliance is ineffective with inconstant wearing, serious anomalies and in adulthood.