Orthodontic Dentistry – Beautiful Smiles for Your Entire Family In East Lansing, MI

The Schaefer Dental Group – East Lansing  uses cutting-edge technology and customized treatments to help families develop healthy, sparkling, and life-changing smiles. We provide clear braces and aligners for children, teens, adults, and senior citizens in the comfort of our East Lansing, MI, dental office. 

After a thorough evaluation of a patient’s occlusal system to detect any signs of dysfunction in the bite, teeth, or jaw, we build a personalized treatment plan to meet the patient’s unique needs.

An orthodontist at our state-of-the-art dental office will evaluate the position of teeth and the density of the bone in which those teeth lie. 

What Is Orthodontics?

Orthodontics is a branch of dentistry that deals with correcting and developing the teeth and jaws which are not positioned properly. Treatment often aims to improve oral function, but it can also be cosmetic to improve a person’s appearance.

An orthodontist in East Lansing, MI can carry out work that aims to achieve the following:

• straightening crooked teeth,
• treating an improper bite,
• improving speech,
• wide closing gaps between the teeth,
• aligning the tips of the teeth,
• improving ability to chew,
• preventing diseases of the teeth,
• boosting the long-term health of gums and teeth,
• preventing long-term excessive wear or trauma of the teeth, and
• providing cosmetic correction and improving appearance.

Preventive Orthodontic Treatment

An orthodontist will take measures to prevent or reduce the severity of developing malocclusions by maintaining the quality of an otherwise healthy developing oral structure.

Preventive orthodontic treatments may include:

Space Maintainer

A space maintainer is an orthodontic appliance that keeps the space open so that the permanent tooth can erupt into its natural position. It is a simple device that can save your child many months of future orthodontic treatment.

Guided Eruption

Teeth crowding may be prevented or reduced if treatment begins while the permanent front teeth erupt. This can be done by creating more space for the teeth and allowing natural alignment to occur.

Early Extraction

When primary teeth do not fall out on their own, the permanent tooth can grow in the wrong location.

An early extraction may be deemed necessary to help make room for the eruption of the permanent teeth.

Thumb Sucking

Thumb sucking can lead to teeth development issues and can even lead to an overbite that requires complex orthodontic treatment. An orthodontic appliance may be recommended to help reduce thumb sucking and foster a healthier smile.

Dental Headgear

Dental headgear is a preventive option used to correct the way the upper and lower molars fit with each other. It can also be used to create additional space for permanent teeth alignment. Headgear is primarily worn at home and at night during sleep.

Two-Phase Orthodontic Treatment for Young Children

To create a healthy smile that lasts a lifetime, your child’s teeth need to be straight, and the jaws need to be appropriately aligned. It’s ideal to have an orthodontist examine your child while still having some baby teeth. By age seven, enough permanent teeth emerge for a East Lansing pediatric dentist to evaluate relationships between the teeth, jaw and bite patterns to ensure everything in the mouth will continue to develop as it should. 

If a pediatric dentist or orthodontist concludes that early treatment is necessary, then such treatment takes place in two phases. The first phase will begin right away while baby teeth are still present. We may recommend using certain orthodontic appliances to help foster a healthy space for the emergence of permanent teeth. After this stage is completed, the child enters a “resting period,” in which the permanent teeth are allowed to emerge.

Once the permanent teeth have emerged, your child may need braces. After the braces are worn for the recommended amount of time, your child may receive a custom retainer to reduce the risk of his or her teeth shifting. At Schaefer Dental Group, we provide excellent and well-coordinated pediatric dentistry and orthodontic care at our dental offices. 

Early treatment will help prevent more significant oral issues later and thus prevent more invasive orthodontic procedures when the child gets older. Early prevention and intervention make orthodontic work as a teenager or an adult much more comfortable and successful. 

Partial Orthodontic Treatment

Depending on your case, sometimes just one, two, or a few teeth need to be realigned for aesthetic purposes or to prepare for other dental treatments such as dental implants, restorations, or periodontics. In such cases, an orthodontist may recommend partial orthodontic treatment, also called limited treatment. Because this treatment corrects a more isolated mouth area, it usually requires less treatment time and fewer complicated procedures.

Orthodontic Appliances

Orthodontic appliances are devices to correct jaw alignment irregularities and reposition the teeth.

Orthodontists use traditional fixed or removable braces in conjunction with another type of orthodontic appliance to fulfill one of the following functions: 

• Closing large gaps between the teeth
• Correcting irregularities, such as an elongated mandible (lower jaw) bone or a short maxilla (upper jaw) bone
• Expanding the palate to create space
• Alleviating crowding in the upper or lower jaw

Types Of Orthodontic Appliances

• Braces

As an orthodontic treatment appliance, braces are used to correct or guide the teeth into the absolute position.

Types of Braces include metal braces, ceramic braces, lingual braces, self-ligating braces, and Invisalign.

• Palatal Expanders
• Headgear
• Face Masks (reverse headgear)
• Andresen appliance to reduce overbite
• Biobloc to posture the lower jaw forward, and 
• Bass Dynamax, which corrects malocclusion

Leading Orthodontic Care For Children And Adults in Lansing, MI.

Crooked, crowded, or misaligned teeth can cause issues with smiling, chewing, and overall health. These conditions can also place excess pressure on other teeth, gums, and jaw joints, leading to conditions like Temporomandibular disorder (TMD) and severe migraines.  

Schaefer Dental Group – East Lansing offers comprehensive orthodontic care for patients of all ages.

Book a free consultation to discover orthodontic treatment options for yourself and your children.