Before & After Pictures

Open bite, Anterior

Pre-treament:
Open bites are often caused by a strong forward tongue thrust.

Post-treatment:
Maintaining closure of an open bite often requires ongoing retainer wear to prevent the tongue from pushing the teeth open again.

Open bite, Posterior

Pre-treament:
This patient had a strong sideways tongue thrust preventing the back teeth from touching.

Post-treatment:
Retainers are critical in maintaining this orthodontic correction.

Open bite, Surgical Closure

Pre-treament:
In non-growing adult patients, open bite correction often involves a surgical closure.

Post-treatment:
This patient, in conjunction with orthodontic treatment, had a surgical procedure to reposition his upper jaw and close the open bite. This treatment greatly improved his ability to function and provided a very nice esthetic result.

Overjet (Class II, Division I Malocclusion)

Pre-treament:
A big overjet greatly increases the risk of injury to the upper front teeth because they are so prominent. Shortly after this picture, this patient fractured his upper left incisor.

Post-treatment:
Fortunately, the upper left incisor was repaired nicely and did not require a root canal. Risk of future injury was greatly reduced as the teeth now have the proper overjet and are much less prominent.

Overbite (Class II, Division II Malocclusion)

Pre-treament:
Deep overbites not only can compromise the appearance of a smile, but can cause excessive wear of the lower anterior teeth and impede proper TMJ (jaw joint) function.

Post-treatment:
Correction of the overbite allows for more normal function as well as a full, balanced, beautiful smile.

Underbite (Class III Malocclusion)

Pre-treament:
An underbite poses a significant functional and cosmetic problem. Tooth wear and TMJ (jaw joint) injury are common consequences.

Post-treatment:
Correction of the underbite makes for a handsome smile and great functional improvement.

Crowding (Class I Malocclusion): Arch Development

Pre-treament:
Moderate-severe crowding can be addressed in growing patients by encouraging development of the upper and lower jaws.

Post-treatment:
Keeping all the permanent teeth allows for nicely balanced facial features.

Crowding (Class I Malocclusion): Extraction

Pre-treament:
Severe crowding caused by excessively large teeth often is best treated with the removal of some permanent teeth to make room for the ones we want to keep.

Post-treatment:
Due to this patient's large tooth size, even with the removal of four permanent teeth, there is still a full handsome smile with a very balanced bite.

Missing Teeth: Lateral Incisors, Canines Substituted

Pre-treament:
This patient was missing both of her upper lateral incisors, indicated by the arrows on the radiograph. Her canine teeth had drifted forward into the position of the lateral incisors.

Post-treatment:
We reshaped the cuspid teeth and substituted them for the missing lateral incisors. Hard to tell she's missing permanent teeth and we avoided the need for artificial replacements.

Missing Teeth: Lateral Incisor, Replaced with Artificial Tooth

Pre-treament:
This patient was missing her upper right lateral incisor indicated by the arrow and the upper left lateral incisor was malformed into a pegged shape. It's not always possible to close the space left by missing teeth.

Post-treatment:
We corrected imbalances in her bite, then opened up space to have the upper right lateral incisor replaced with a temporary bonded bridge (indicated by arrow) and a veneer on the upper left lateral incisor to improve it's shape. The upper right lateral incisor will eventually be replaced with a permanent implant.

Missing Teeth: Lower Premolars, Spaces Closed

Pre-treament:
This patient was missing both her lower second bicuspid teeth indicated by the arrows.

Post-treatment:
Because she was so crowded, we decided to remove her upper second bicuspids to balance the number of teeth in the upper and lower jaws. We closed the spaces left by the missing teeth and were able to provide her with a beautiful, balanced bite without the need for any teeth to be artificially replaced.

Crossbite: Anterior Crossbite

Pre-treament:
An anterior crossbite not only creates a cosmetic blemish, but the tooth in crossbite is at great risk of injury or excessive wear.

Post-treatment:
A full, healthy, balanced smile.

Crossbite: Posterior Crossbite (Interceptive)

Pre-treament:
A posterior crossbite, where the upper back teeth fit inside the lower back teeth is often caused by under-development of the upper jaw. It can result in a shifting bite and asymmetric facial form as well as crowing of the permanent teeth.

Post-treatment:
A preventative course of orthodontic treatment (without braces) was able to develop the upper jaw to its proper size, eliminate the shifting bite, eliminate the crossbite and generate room for the permanent teeth. The need for braces was greatly reduced.

Spacing

Pre-treament:
Spacing of permanent teeth, while not posing a significant functional concern can have a big impact on the appearance of a patient`s smile and their self-image.

Post-treatment:
A beautiful, healthy smile can be a big boost to our self-image.

Impacted Teeth

Pre-treament:
Due to their late eruption, canine and second bicuspid teeth are notorious for becoming impacted (stuck), see arrow on radiograph.

Post-treatment:
With orthodontic treatment and a minor surgical exposure of the impacted teeth, we were able to get these down into their ideal functional and aesthetic position.

Impacted Incisor

Pre-treament:
This incisor was impacted due to a traumatic injury in young childhood. Since the injury occurred so young, the space for the permanent tooth was lost.

Post-treatment:
With orthodontic treatment and a minor surgical exposure of the impacted incisor, we were able to bring it down into a very healthy and beautiful position. There was a little loss of the gum attachment due to the severe impaction.

Crowding without Extractions

Pre-treament:
Adult Treatment: (It's never too late for orthodontics treatment, but some techniques are different for adults)

Adult orthodontic treatment is becoming more popular and with the advent of new techniques, we are able to address problems that in the past could only be addressed in adolescence.

Post-treatment:
A beautiful, balanced healthy smile.

Crowding with Extractions

Pre-treament:
Due to the lack of any remaining facial growth, addressing crowding in adult patients is more likely to involve extraction of permanent teeth.

Post-treatment:
A beautiful result. Difficult to tell that two permanent teeth were removed to address this patient`s crowding.

Surgical Overjet/Overbite Correction

Pre-treament:
In non-growing adult patients, correcting a large overjet/overbite requires orthodontic treatment in conjunction with orthognathic (jaw) surgery.

Post-treatment:
This patient had a surgical procedure to lengthen his lower jaw, allowing for an ideal, functional result and a handsome smile.

Surgical Under-bite Correction

Pre-treament:
Under-bites are one of the most destructive occlusions and pose a considerable imbalance to facial form and function.

Post-treatment:
In conjunction with orthodontic treatment, this patient had a surgical shortening of his lower jaw and lengthening of his upper jaw. Very functional and attractive result.

Complex

Pre-treament:
Some adults have postponed orthodontic treatment because they weren't thrilled with the idea of wearing visible braces.

Post-treatment:
New techniques like Invisalign and Lingual appliances allow us to correct even complex malocclusions like this patient's, without the need for fixed, visible braces.