Patients often ask us whether or not tooth extractions are really necessary to get their braces treatment started. As part of the consultation, your orthodontist will thoroughly examine your teeth, your X-rays and the models to come up with the best treatment plan.
Crowding – when the dental arches don’t have enough space to accommodate all teeth in their proper position, either the size of the arches should be increased or the size or number of teeth should be reduced. Mild to moderate crowding can be treated by expansion of the arches, but that is also limited to the bone structure, facial aesthetics, and supporting tissues. This means that there’s only a certain limit that the doctor can expand the arches forward and sideways. Beyond that, the treatment will not be stable and the facial aesthetics might deteriorate.
Protruding teeth – the position of the lips is determined by the position of underlying teeth. When the front teeth are already pushed out, there is less support for the lips. While aligning the teeth, it is necessary to to remove some teeth on the sides so the front teeth have space to move backwards to improve lip posture.
Correcting the bite – when the upper and the lower jaw sizes are mismatched but not to the extent that is indicated for surgery, then extractions are needed to compensate for the problem and to camouflage the existing underlying jaw discrepancy.
Other reasons such as asymmetry, impacted teeth, extra teeth, midline shifts.
If you have any concerns, don’t hesitate to ask one of our specialist orthodontists at Dr Michael’s Orthodontic Center in Dubai. We’d love to help you out!
