Many patients come to our practice looking for a solution to a dental problem that, in many cases, keeps them awake at night. These are patients with cases that are very difficult to resolve who have often been told that surgery is needed to correct their oral problems. The thought of surgery and of the recovery time leads many of these people to shelve the problem and leave it unsolved, because their fear of going into the operating room outweighs their wish for a healthy, beautiful smile.
Whether an orthodontic case can be resolved without surgery is something many patients ask me. You see, some very difficult cases do call for orthognathic surgery to be resolved: in cases with a serious problem of appearance, health and bite, we may need bone surgery to correct the problem. But if you are reading this and think that might be your case, do not worry, because in all likelihood it is not: only 1% of the cases treated at Clínica Peydro have needed this surgery.
One of the guiding principles at Clínica Peydro is to resolve clinical cases in the least invasive way possible, and we do that by resolving cases with orthodontics and no surgery involved.
There are four basic aims I pursue in resolving an orthodontic case:
- Achieving a beautiful smile. This is often the main goal that leads people to start orthodontic treatment, so for me it is essential that the smile looks first class.
- Making the smile work. The mouth is an organ that has to let us eat properly, so it is essential that it works correctly and lets us chew in an orderly, balanced way.
- A correct bite. The teeth have to fit together in a very specific, unique way, meaning there are not two ways in which teeth fit together well: there is only one, and that is the one we have to look for and achieve. With a correct bite we give stability and balance to the mouth and to the oral tissues, and at the same time we give stability to the jaw joint.
- We aim for good health. We look for optimal health of the teeth and of the tissues that hold them in place. Not having a correct bite can cause problems in the oral tissues, keep us from brushing normally, or put strain on our gums, bone and jaw joint.
When is it not possible to resolve an orthodontic case without surgery?
We have to turn to surgery in cases where the malocclusion is so severe that it cannot be achieved by moving the teeth alone.
Many years ago, because of the techniques we used and the materials available to us, tooth movements were very limited. In recent years everything has advanced enormously: the technique, the materials, and our training too. We now have a great many tools that let us resolve with orthodontics and no surgery cases that once had to be treated with orthognathic surgery without exception. The proportion of cases that used to need an operation was around 15% at our practice. We have now brought that down to under 1%.
What does surgery achieve?
- We change the position of the bones, often in terms of width.
- We widen bone.
- We change the vertical plane (up and down) and the sagittal plane (front to back). When we follow a course of orthodontics with surgery we can change the jaws in all three planes of space in order to achieve those four goals I mentioned above, which orthodontics without surgery cannot achieve.
I hope today’s article on how we can resolve an orthodontic case without surgery has been helpful. If you have any questions or would like us to look at your case, you can fill in the form below and we will get in touch with you.
