Orthodontics is a branch that corrects tooth crowding, jaw development disorder and occlusion problems. Properly aligned teeth positively affect the physical appearance as well as biting, chewing and speaking functions. Healthy gums and ideally aligned teeth constitute the basis of dental aesthetics.
As a result of orthodontic treatments;

• As your teeth and jaw relationship improve, there will be positive changes in your facial aesthetics, the contours of your lips and your profile.
• Your chewing ability improves. Your digestive system becomes healthier.
• Aligning the teeth along the required line allows you to clean more easily and accessible.
• Toothbrush touches tooth surfaces more comfortably and your floss use becomes more practical. As a result, you’ll achieve a more ideal oral health.
• The incidence of gum problems decreases after orthodontic treatment. If the patient is taking ideal care, gum diseases, dental calculus and plaque formation are not observed.
• The First Step of Orthodontic Treatment
• A general examination for oral health and hygiene is performed during the first checkup. Your teeth and gums must be healthy before initiating orthodontic treatment. If you have cavities and gum problems in your mouth, they are recorded in the treatment plan.
• Afterwards, a few X-rays, such as cephalometric, hand-wrist films are requested upon request of the orthodontist, especially the panoramic film.
• All your medical and dental records are taken and your mouth and face-profile photos are taken. These records are essential information for your personal treatment plan and are data to be retained for the long term.

Orthodontics for Adults
Orthodontic treatments can be performed on all age groups. The point that the orthodontist should pay attention to in an adult patient is that the periodontal tissues around the teeth are healthy. Then again, this rule is also necessary for child or youth orthodontics.
Orthodontics alone is not an adequate treatment method in adult patients, when the lower or upper jaws, which we call skeletal problems, are incompatible with each other, for example, when the lower jaw juts out further than normal. In such cases, jaw operations are also required.

Orthodontics for Children
Orthodontic treatments in children don’t only begin after all deciduous teeth have been replaced. Orthodontic treatments are also performed during the periods when deciduous teeth are in the mouth. Your orthodontist will decide when your child should start orthodontic treatment. However, in order not to miss these critical periods, it’s beneficial to take your child to the dentist every six months. Early measures are effective in preventing major problems that may occur in the future. At the age of seven, at the time of first molars emerge, an examination is generally performed to see if your child will have problems stemming from jaw development or closing. When treatment needs to be started, the treatment guides the development of the jaw or permanent teeth from beneath.

The Importance of Orthodontic Treatment in Early Years

• Intervening with the width of the lower-upper jaw arch.
• Gaining space for permanent teeth.
• Avoiding the need for permanent tooth extraction for future orthodontic treatment. (May not be possible in all situations)
• Reducing the possibility of permanent teeth impacted in the future.
• Resolving finger, tongue sucking, or incorrect swallowing problems.
• Simplifying future orthodontic treatment.
• As the treatment progresses, positive changes in appearance play a role in the development of your child’s self-confidence.
• What’s Two-Stage Treatment? What’s the Importance for Children?
• Preventive or functional treatments are commenced in the mixed dentition period, where children’s deciduous and permanent teeth are together. The first stage is done with mobile appliances. At this stage, treatments such as placeholders can be performed, as well as interventions related to jaw development. Your orthodontist decides when to intervene on the jaw. Finger sucking or wrong swallowing problems are also solved during the first stage of treatment.
• When your child gets all their permanent teeth in, the treatment with braces, which we call stationary treatment, commences. In this second stage, braces are attached to the teeth, as in adult patients, and wires are passed over the braces. Since your child previously received the so-called phase 1 treatment with mobile appliances, the second treatment period is shortened.
• Two-stage orthodontic treatments affect your child’s jaw and facial development in a positive way, not only for the perfect alignment of teeth.

What Happens If I Don’t Have My Child’s First Stage of Treatment?
The orthodontist will decide if your child needs two-stage treatment or not. Not every child is given two-stage treatment. However, if he/she needs two-stage treatment and your child missed the first period, interventions related to jaw development are very limited in the future. Orthodontic treatments at advanced ages are aimed at tooth alignment. If your child has a problem with jaw development, first-stage treatments are crucial since the jaws are only operated in adulthood.

The period of intervention on the jaws is usually before puberty, at the peak of growth development or just before it. Your orthodontist will require a hand-wrist X-ray to tell you which period will interfere with jaw development. This X-ray informs your orthodontist about the stage of your child’s growth and development.
Referred to as ‘early orthodontic treatment in children,’ the purpose of the first phase orthodontic treatment is; To ensure the harmonious development of the lower and upper jaws with each other, with the facial skeleton and with the permanent tooth alignment.

During the growth period of children, jaw development disorders can be viewed as a result of genetic, congenital or some wrong habits (such as thumb sucking, long-term pacifier sucking, wrong swallowing). The lower and upper jaws may grow too large or show little development, either individually or together. Jaw development problems or differences can be understood at an average of 6-7 years of age.
The first phase treatment is carried out with mobile appliances. Treating jaw development problems early on prevents the need for surgical intervention during adulthood.

Measurements, X-ray records and photographic records are evaluated together with the clinical examination, whereas it’s determined at what ages the jaws should be intervened.

Even though there’s no apparent problem, it’s beneficial to take your child to an orthodontist every six months to track the development of deciduous teeth, to ensure that the deciduous tooth remains in the mouth, or to extract the deciduous teeth that doesn’t fall out on time, and to track all other jaw developments.

Observation of Tooth Development After the First Phase
After the first phase in which jaw development is dealt with, your child is taken in for observation. Whether your child will need phase 2 treatment is checked at regular intervals. The second phase is done during the eruption of permanent teeth. If your child’s teeth are crooked during this period, fixed orthodontic treatment is started. Transparent or metal braces are attached to the teeth and a transparent or gray wire is passed over them.

What Is My Child’s Second Stage of Treatment?
Your child’s desired jaw-face relationship has been achieved with the first-stage mobile appliance treatment. Now is the period of aligning the teeth in harmony with the lips, cheeks, tongue and each other. During this period, the teeth must be aligned for a suitable aesthetic and beautiful smile and function. It’s the treatment applied to permanent teeth with transparent or metal fixed braces or transparent mobile plates (such as clear aligner, invisalign methods…).
After this stage, as in all orthodontic treatments, we pass into the final stage called the ‘consolidation’ stage. Your child’s orthodontic treatment is now over. During the reinforcement phase, thin fixed wires are made on the inner side of the teeth facing the tongue or mobile transparent plaques are provided. In some literature, the reinforcement phase should last twice as long as the treatment period, and the latest information is that this period is unlimited.

Orthodontics (Clear Aligner) Without Wires
Orthodontic Treatment with Transparent Plaques is a technique in which teeth are corrected with transparent plaques. Clear-aligner technique is generally good for;

• Correcting the crowding of the group of lower front teeth,
• Correcting the not very advanced crowding of the upper jaw group of the front teeth,
• Cases called simple crossbite,
• Simple cases with less confusion,
• Patients who don’t accept wire therapy. (It’s not a suitable technique for every case)
• Treatment is as follows;
• Your classic orthodontic examination is conducted to decide whether you’re suitable for Clear-Aligner. All your X-rays will be examined.
• Measures are obtained from you. Your intraoral model is obtained.

• On this model, it’s decided how many sets of plates will be used during the treatment phase. Each set consists of three plates. These plaques are prepared with a special computer program.

• The patient will wear a single plate for an average 15 days. It’s an ideal treatment method for patients with mild space limitations.
• It provides an average 0.5 mm of movement for each transparent plaque on the teeth.
• During plaque treatment, abrasion processes called stripping are performed to save space on crooked teeth.
• The result depends on many factors, such as the shape of the teeth, the amount of movement, the position of the roots, the regular wearing of the patient…

• After the treatment is finished, your orthodontist may recommend you continue to wear the endplate as a retaining appliance. Or, he or she may wear a fixing wire called a fixed retainer behind your teeth.
• You take it off while eating and brushing your teeth. You brush your teeth after meals, floss and put on your clear plate again. It’s recommended to wear it for at least 22 hours a day.

Orthodontics with Internally Inserted Wires
Since they’re inserted from the inside, it’s not obvious that you have had orthodontic treatment. Braces prepared in special laboratories using computer technology are placed on the surfaces of the teeth facing the inside of the mouth. It’s not a very common practice in our country. The treatment fee is twice that of the externally attached braces. As an ideal treatment method in suitable cases, they’re ideal for patient groups with high aesthetic expectations with individually applied braces.