Love & Orthodontics
  • Love & Orthodontics
  • Online Courses
  • Enroll
  • Love & Ortho Blog
  • Love & Orthodontics
  • Online Courses
  • Enroll
  • Love & Ortho Blog

The Engineering of Orthodontics

10/21/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
Use of electronic games, phones, computers and pad computers can train children to poor posture and forward head position.
Picture
Open-mouth posture in a child (probable airway issues). 
Picture
Adenoid Facies
Picture
Low tongue position caused malformation of face and a Class III bite.
Picture
A severe open bite, resulting from forward tongue position.
Picture
Effects of thumb-sucking on a patient's bite. 
Orthodontics is a blend of engineering and art.  Engineering - design and mechanics - includes
• architecture (the plan),
• physics (movement),
• chemistry (body physiology),
• ongoing changes in the smile, and
• work to stabilize the results in a dynamic (changing) human body. 

How does the body change?


I tell the kids, “The toe bone is connected to the tooth bone,” like the old song.  Indeed, the teeth, the bone around the teeth, the muscles and ligaments attached to the teeth, bone and joints, are connected to the muscles that hold and move our heads. They are also connected to the muscles and bones of the neck which are connected to the muscles and bones of the back, and the shoulders and arms and the hips, and the legs, down to the toes.

Each part of the body affects the rest of the body. That's the reality of it. 

When a tooth is biting or chewing, ALL those connections are in play. Really. Then, we think about moving teeth orthodontically and “fixing” them.  But, the teeth are moving targets, like shooting a Nerf dart toward a slowly shifting target.


Wouldn’t it be nice if braces could put teeth into a nice smile and bite and you’d be done?  It doesn’t work that way. 

Even without braces, everything constantly changes under and around the teeth. Baby teeth go, permanent teeth come. Bones grow. Muscles respond.


And, then other stuff is going on in the mouth - chewing, biting, grinding, clenching, nail-biting, sucking habits, chewing on pens… These all create forces on the teeth.

The tongue, cheeks and lips should balance each other with the tongue inside and the cheeks and lips outside, so the teeth sit comfortably between.  Often they don’t.  

For example:


Conley breathes through his mouth - a lot.  Mouth open and the tongue pushing forward and down, so the lower jaw grows down. 

Agnes is a mouth-breather too -  her tongue pushes forward against her front teeth and jaw which grow more forward into a Class III. 

And Andre’s thumb habit keeps his tongue low and allows his cheeks to push in on the upper jaw. So, his maxilla is too narrow, and he needs expansion.  


Robbie slumps forward to play on his phone or iPad.  Robbie’s back neck muscles are pulled longer and as his head becomes used to that posture, the bones grow to where the muscles are pulling.

After a few brief years of this in his young life, Robbie’s head and neck now droop forward.  His teeth now bite differently (not in a good bite), than they would if his posture were more ideal.  


Before, during and after braces, the teeth and smile live with amazing ongoing forces, from every direction. 

But, while in braces, it is up to our engineering to work with, and “on”, and in spite of, these forces, to  “fix” the teeth.   The engineering of orthodontics.


Tomorrow -- the art of orthodontics. 
Text and images © 2016 Dr Chris Baker
1 Comment
Korab
8/30/2020 01:22:09 pm

Greetings Dr. Baker. I was wondering if I could have your permission in using your image of the patient with "adenoid facies" for my literature review bachelor thesis? I believe it gives a strong example of the typical morphological facial features that clinicians during that time attributed to mouth breathing in patients and my topic is the relationship between breathing and malocclusions. The picture will of course be referenced. Kind regards.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Dr Chris Baker

    America's most-trusted teacher of orthodontic continuing education, Dr. Chris Baker has practiced and taught for more than 30 years, and is a current or former faculty member of three U.S. dental schools.  She is a pediatric dentist, author, blogger, dental practice consultant, and mentor.  Dr. Chris is also Past President and Senior Instructor of the American Orthodontic Society.  She is based in Texas, USA, but lectures around the world.

    Categories

    All
    Abu Dhabi To Texas
    Dental Practice Freedom
    Life & Home
    L & O TV
    Orthodontics
    Pediatric Dentistry
    REAL Brief

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016

    RSS Feed

    Text and images
    © 2023 Dr Chris Baker