Who should be treating you with braces?

Although dentistry has seen tremendous developments in treatment techniques and materials in the last few decades, public awareness exercises have somehow not been able to keep pace with its rise. As a result most people today will be surprised if they are told that dentistry has nine different specialties.

Orthodontics happens to be the first specialty in dentistry. It deals with prevention, interception & correction of malocclusion (improper bite). Common problems like spacing between teeth, crowding of teeth due to lack of space, protrusion of teeth, un-aesthetic smile etc. Can be easily corrected by timely orthodontic intervention.

A malocclusion can result either due to abnormal position of the teeth or lack of harmony between upper & lower jaws. The best person to treat problems of such nature is an orthodontist. An orthodontist undergoes three years of rigorous training during his postgraduate program wherein he treats hundreds of patients having malocclusion of varying severity. After successful completion of the course he is awarded with the degree of mds orthodontics.

However as a consequence of lack of awareness, a lot of patients still do not seek the advice of an orthodontist for their problem. As a result such patient do not get the desired treatment outcome which predisposes their dentition for relapse after treatment. In addition such patients may also experience harmful effects on their occlusion (chewing efficiency) and may develop tmj (temporomandibular joint) related disorders in the long run. It is recommended that an orthodontic specialist be consulted before undergoing treatment of such nature.