Orthodontic caps for bite correction

Many have heard about the use of cap sportsmen to protect their teeth, but not many know that today special orthodontic caps are also successfully used to correct the bite, both in childhood and in adulthood. Moreover, their effectiveness in correcting the wrong bite in some cases is not inferior to the bracket systems, that is, the same result is achieved in approximately the same time.

This device can look, for example, as a transparent lining on the teeth, tightly adjacent to them and almost repeating the shape of the dentition (with minor deviations, which are specifically set by the doctor):

But this is not the only version of the cap, which allows to correct the bite.

Let's see what types of orthodontic caps exist today, what are their pros and cons, and also talk about the nuances of using these devices at different ages.

 

Why is the condition of the jaw muscles so important for the correct bite and what does the caps

Doctors orthodontists pay great attention to the condition of the muscles of the maxillofacial area of ​​the patient, since their improper functioning is often one of the causes of bite anomalies. Normally, the muscles are in good shape, that is, almost relaxed, but at any time ready to work. So, it is important that when chewing, swallowing and talking, it is the muscles that should work at the moment.

If there is an imbalance in the work of the maxillofacial muscles, then the usual actions can cause discomfort and pain (including headaches), in some cases forcing to give up solid foods and resort to frequent use of painkillers. Sometimes a person may not even understand why he has so often a headache. Bite also suffers greatly.

In such a situation, treatment on a bracket system can do more harm than good. Therefore, after examining the patient, doctors, if indicated, choose a treatment option using special caps, which, with regular wear, relax the muscles and make it possible to minimize the patient's prerequisites to an abnormal bite.

In each case, orthodontic mouthguards are selected individually after a detailed examination of the patient.

In addition to relaxing the muscles, you can also move the teeth to the correct position on the caps, which additionally helps to level the bite. That is, in this case, the cap is able to perform partly the same function as the bracket system.

The photo below shows an example of orthodontic caps on the upper and lower jaws, which the patient consistently wears from the kit during the course of treatment, making a replacement whenever the necessary intermediate result is achieved:

On average, the process of moving teeth to the final desired position takes several months, often more than a year. During this time, the muscles also have time to restructure and get used to changes in the dental system.

It is interesting

There was a case when a mathematic student decided to correct his bite himself using a cap, which he made on a 3-D printer. He independently taught the impression of his jaws, after which he calculated how much and in which direction he would need to move each tooth.Having thus obtained step-by-step models of his jaws, the young man made mouth guards, which he wore until he reached the desired position of the teeth.

With the help of the cap, it is possible to eliminate the most diverse pathologies in the state of the dentition:

• When one or more teeth occupy the wrong position in the dentition (tilted, or located on the side, or above or below the normal position);
• In children - when it is necessary to level the bite, due to bad habits and (or) improper teething;
• In adults, with too large gaps between the teeth, or their crowding, or when, after extraction of a tooth, its neighbors begin to lean in the direction of a defect in the tooth row;
• With cross bite ...

And in many other cases. Often, the treatment on the caps is combined with the use of bracket-systems - including to consolidate the results achieved.

Now let's get acquainted with the most popular varieties of orthodontic caps, which today are most often used in dental clinics.

 

Orthodontic Trainer System

The trainer is an apparatus that trains the muscles of the maxillofacial area (the word "trainer" translated from English means a simulator).This device is often assigned to children during orthodontic treatment, and in this case, the emphasis is on training the maxillofacial muscles, and not on the active movement of the teeth.

Indications for the use of the device are:

• Mouth breathing;
• Habit sucking fingers, lips, cheeks, foreign objects;
• Laying the tongue between the teeth and sucking;
• The infantile type of swallowing - with this type of swallowing, the child strains the circular muscle of the mouth and, as it were, bites the lower lip, imitating sucking. Thus, the lips and cheeks put excessive pressure on the dentition, forcing the front teeth to deviate from the normal position;
• Distal bite, that is, when the upper teeth protrude excessively forward; ...
• As well as the front open bite. ...

The system of trainers is usually prescribed to children aged 2 to 5 years.

In fact, the orthodontic trainer is a silicone maxillary splint (usually transparent). The photo below shows an example:

The trainer in its design has vestibular and oral shields, thereby preventing foreign objects from entering the child’s mouth and positioning the tongue in the correct physiological position.By moving the lips and cheeks away from the teeth, the device relaxes the tense muscles of the maxillofacial region. All this together helps to eliminate negative factors that violate the normal bite.

On a note

For those children for whom the doctor has determined an oral type of breathing, special holes are made in the mouthpiece for the passage of air.

Contraindications to the use of orthodontic trainers are:

• The impossibility of nasal breathing (for example, in diseases of the ENT organs);
• Anomalies of class III bite according to Engle (the so-called mesial bite);
• Cross bite.

The mode of wearing the device is prescribed by an orthodontist, but on average, the recommendations are the same - 2 hours during the day and at night, that is, the child must sleep with a trainer in his mouth.

On a note

During the adaptation period, you should wear a trainer for 10-15 minutes, gradually increasing the time until it reaches 2 hours.

Sometimes orthodontic trainers are also successfully used in adult patients during treatment on the bracket system, when the doctor sees the need to achieve a balanced work of the muscles, to prevent overloading of the temporomandibular joint due to the active movement of the teeth, as well as when it is necessary to reduce the treatment time by braces.

As with any other orthodontic apparatuses, in order to make a mouthpiece and to draw up a complete treatment plan, you must first obtain impressions of the jaws (or, as they sometimes say, take impressions). For children, this can be a whole test of misunderstanding and ignorance of what is happening. A doctor with experience, of course, knows how to find an approach to a small patient, but sometimes it takes a lot of extra time and effort from both the orthodontist and parents, so you should get ready for it in advance.

 

Aligners Invisalign (Invisalign)

The system of orthodontic appliances Invisalign consists of a set of hard (hard, non-silicone) caps, the number of which in a set for each patient may be different and is determined by the complexity of the pathology that needs to be corrected (the more cap, the longer the treatment will take).

On a note

Elyner is a removable orthodontic appliance in the form of a mouth guard. Aligners Inviziline are transparent, so that they are almost not noticeable on the teeth. The system developer is the American company Align Technology.

Today, Orthodontic caps of Inviziline are positioned as a complete replacement for bracket systems for most clinical cases. Indications for use are:

• crowded teeth;
• too large gaps between teeth;
• distal bite;
• open bite;
• cross bite;
• straight bite (upper and lower incisors close to each other with their cutting edges);
• and even mesial bite (the lower jaw protrudes forward relative to the upper).

If to compare with braces, then the orthodontic caps of the Inviziline do have a number of advantages:

• they are removable;
• less noticeable on teeth;
• do not impair diction;
• it is more convenient to carry out their hygiene (it is enough to remove and clean);
• do not rub the soft tissues of the mouth;
• the treatment usually requires fewer visits to the orthodontist than in the treatment with braces.

However, there are disadvantages:

• lowered thermal stability of the Inviziline e-liners (when it comes into contact with solid transparent material of hot water, it is irreversibly deformed);
• still relatively low market representation (not all clinics can find the appropriate service);
• A large number of aligners in the kit complicates treatment (besides, patients often lose or damage individual caps);
• since the Inviziline is a removable orthodontic apparatus, its use is suitable only for disciplined patients, otherwise the result will be poorly expressed (in practice, not all patients wear a mouthpiece in a disciplined manner exactly in the mode prescribed by the doctor);
• Sometimes it is necessary to stick to the teeth of the so-called retention points (hooks) - a trifle, but it can be unpleasant, especially when the cap is removed, since such a hook can rub the buccal mucosa.

Now a few words about how the treatment with the use of orthodontic caps of the Inviziline is taking place.

After examining the patient and determining the type of bite, a certified orthodontist who has been trained to work with the system draws up an upcoming treatment plan. Then prints of the patient's teeth are taken, a computer scan of the plaster models of the jaws is performed - this is how the 3D model of the jaws is obtained. This model is processed in a special computer program, and the doctor can immediately show the patient what the final result will be after treatment.

If the patient agrees to the treatment, the prints are sent to a laboratory in the United States along with the planned end result that the orthodontist wants to achieve. In the laboratory, dental technicians simulate the movement of each tooth, successively making intermediate models of jaws on a 3D printer — a whole set of such models is obtained, on each of which individual teeth are moved to a pre-calculated position, more and more close to the correct one.

As a result, a cap is prepared for each intermediate jaw model, the number of which depends on the type of bite and the severity of the pathology with which the patient applied.

The cost of treatment with the use of orthodontic appliances Invisalign starts from about 170 thousand rubles. Prices can vary considerably - for example, depending on the level of the clinic.

From the practice of the orthodontist

Each cap should be worn for 2 weeks, then changed to the next. Many clinics give the patient 4 caps for two months at once to reduce the number of visits to the doctor. However, other clinics, on the contrary, schedule a visit every two weeks to ensure that treatment is proceeding correctly.

It is worth noting that, judging by the reviews available on the Internet, not all patients who underwent treatment with the use of Invisalign eliners were able to achieve the desired and predicted result by the doctor. Some patients after treatment with caps had to wear a bracket system.

On the market there are also less popular analogues of the Inviziline: Air Align, 3D Smile, OrthoSnap, Star Smile, etc. Today, transparent caps for teeth alignment can be bought even in pharmacies, but it should be borne in mind that despite assurances of advertising, such orthodontic appliances are applicable - not in all cases - in a number of clinical situations surgical intervention and / or treatment on a bracket system may be required.

Feedback:

“I was also treated on the system Invizilayn. First sent 20 pairs of caps on each jaw. All is well, they are almost invisible, wore, as the doctor said. But when it was all over, it became clear that the bite did not even out to the end. Then the doctor and I took the casts again, we were sent another 15 pairs. She wore them again for a long time. The result was much better, but still not perfect. My doctor says that this is my lower teeth for the period of improper bite so stochilas. And what is the best result that could be obtained ... "

Julia, Moscow

 

MyObrace system (Myobrace)

This cap bite correction system was developed by an Australian orthodontist Dr. Chris Farrell. Initially, he created several types of data cap for various stages of the formation of a child's bite, but today such devices are used in adults.

Indications for use are the same as those described above orthodontic trainers. Recommended, including for night wear.

The photo below shows the initial children's burl MyObrace Starter:

There are two modifications of caps: hard and soft. In the initial cap there are no cells for the teeth, there is a lip bumper, a tongue flap for placing it in the correct position. The task of this cap - the achievement of proper muscle function and the fight against mouth breathing.

An important structural element of the mouth guard is an arc built into it to expand the dentition. The child’s age for using the device is 8-12 years.

Another type - MyObrace Core with built-in arc (frame), is available in seven universal sizes and allows the doctor to accurately select the desired device for the child. A feature of this series is precisely the arc, which allows you to expand the dentition and align the teeth in the correct anatomical position.In this series of the cap, in addition to the lip bumpers and flaps for the tongue, there are also special cells for each tooth - they, exerting a little pressure, gradually move the teeth, placing them exactly.

The device can be used during the period of a replaceable and the beginning of a permanent bite, and, as the author of the system claims, the optimal age for using a cap is 11-15 years.

Another variation - MyObrace No Core (Myobrace without arc) - is used during the treatment period on the bracket system and is quite popular among orthodontists.

The use of such caps relaxes the maxillofacial muscles, relieves stress on the temporomandibular joint, corrects the position of the tongue and allows the braces to more fully and accurately work out the program embedded in them. These devices can be used in the retention period, that is, after removing the braces - to maintain the achieved result.

Unfortunately, the presence of the mesial bite is an absolute contraindication to the use of the MyObrace cap system. Usually, this bite pathology requires complex treatment using combinations of fixed technology.

Feedback:

“I wore braces for two years, and after wearing them, it is necessary to fix the result. The doctor suggested to me to use the trainer Myobreis, this is such a double-sided mouthpiece, soft, nothing scratches. She used to still wear records, but then abandoned. It is inconvenient, it interferes in the mouth, I constantly want to remove it. But now I understand that the trainer is even more inconvenient to wear, and the records in comparison with him are quite personal. The trainer is big, the jaws are closed all the time, there is no possibility to talk with this thing in the mouth, it is very inconvenient. But effective, well felt pressure from them ... "

Oksana, Yekaterinburg

 

Orthodontic mouthguards with “rearrangement” of individual teeth

These devices are made by the orthodontist himself (not practiced in all clinics). As a rule, the decision on the use of such caps is made by the doctor and the patient together, if, after the treatment is completed on the bracket system, the patient has a relapse of the anomaly due to the release of the retainer.

On a note

Retainer is an important orthodontic structure, which is used after treatment on the bracket system and allows you to consolidate the achieved result.If it is not used, the teeth tend to regain their original wrong position.

The retainer is glued to the back side of the dentition, so it is not visible to others. In the process of gluing, the doctor always checks that the retainer does not interfere with the patient and does not bite him during chewing and talking, as this may lead to his unstuck. If the retainer is still peeling off, the patient should immediately inform the doctor and in the near future to get an appointment for his pasting.

Unfortunately, the retainer usually has to be worn for a very long time (3-6 years), and in some clinical cases even for life.

So, many doctors additionally make kaps for the patient to prevent unwanted movements of the teeth.

If a lot of time has passed after using the bracket system, and the teeth have changed their position, then the mouth guards with the “permutation” of the teeth are a kind of way out.

After receiving the impressions and making the plaster model of the jaw, the orthodontist gently cuts out the desired tooth on the model and moves it to the best position, fixing it with wax. Then this model with a rearranged tooth is crimped in a special vacuum press - the heated acrylic plastic compresses the model under pressure.The burl thus obtained repeats the shape of the plaster model very precisely.

Kapu patient wears 2 weeks to move the teeth, then another 2 weeks to secure the result. A month later, if the desired result is not achieved, a new cap is made. Sometimes this process can be quite lengthy, which requires a certain perseverance, both from the attending physician and from the patient.

 

Orthodontic shield and vestibular plate system

In some cases, a system of vestibular shields is used to normalize bite in young children - they look like nipples, and babies quickly get used to them. The use of a shield should wean the infant from the bad habit of pulling everything in its mouth.

The design of the devices include:

• Vestibular shield;
• Ring holder;
• Breathing holes for the period of addiction.

The mechanism of such caps:

• Allows you to deal with bad habits (sucking fingers and other foreign objects);
• Prevents biting of lips and cheeks;
• Limits excessive muscle pressure on the teeth;
• Delays the growth of the anterior segment of the lower jaw;
• Stimulates the growth of the posterior and lateral fragments of the jaws;
• Normalizes the function of closing the lips.

Indications for use:

• Prevention of open bite formation;
• Prevention of the formation of pathologies of I and II class according to Angle;
• Regulation of the functions of the lips and cheeks and the creation of myodynamic equilibrium;
• Training circular muscles of the mouth.

From the practice of the orthodontist

For the manufacture of the device is required to remove casts. Since small children are afraid, crying and bursting out, it is necessary that the parents were near. When receiving prints from very young orthodontists, they use a hard silicone mass, which allows you to get a clear impression, even if the child is very restless.

There are factory versions of similar devices with various additional elements (for example, a tongue flap), they are made in several sizes. A ready vestibular shield orthodontist can pick up a child right away.

Certain problems may arise when using finished (standard) or individually made orthodontic caps. Devices can rub the child's mucous membranes of the mouth, lips and cheeks. Yes, and it can just be unpleasant for a child to wear.

Many parents, seeing that the child is uncomfortable in the apparatus, begin to feel sorry for him and simply allow him to wear the apparatus less often. In this case, the effectiveness of treatment is sharply reduced.If it becomes clear that the child is being disturbed and rubbed by the edges of the apparatus, then it makes sense to sign up for an orthodontist in the near future to correct the problem.

 

Treatment of diseases of the temporomandibular joint using cap

Diseases of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) can manifest themselves in different ways, provoking:

• Muscle aches when talking, chewing;
• Headaches;
• Teeth erasability;
• The phenomenon of "migration" of the teeth - they tend to move in the direction of the empty space formed, further violating the bite;
• Gum disease;
• Exposure of the necks of the teeth and their excessive sensitivity to cold or hot food;
• Subluxations of the joint can lead to jamming of the jaw and the inability to completely close the mouth;
• Early loss of teeth due to over-stretching of the ligaments of the tooth-supporting apparatus.

Often, patients seek help from different doctors, but the proposed therapy does not bring relief.

One of the very effective options for the treatment of temporomandibular joint disorders is the so-called functional occlusive treatment with an uncoupling nagging splint (splint therapy).

On a note

Splint is a special dental orthodontic mouthpiece made of hard plastic and covering one of the dental arches: either the upper or the lower one. It is no more than five millimeters thick and tightly wraps around the edges of the dentition. Its purpose is to relax the muscles of the temporomandibular joint by separating the teeth.

As part of the splint therapy, orthotic caps are popular in neuromuscular dentistry today, allowing you to set the required height of the bite and keep the lower jaw in the correct position.

To achieve the best result, the doctor can also carry out the procedure of selective grinding of tooth enamel - with the help of a cutting tool, the points on the teeth are carefully ground, which can be an obstacle to the correct movements of the jaws.

Splint should be worn day and night, removing only during meals. At first, the patient may experience discomfort from the use of Kapa, ​​pulling pain in the muscles. But if the tire wearing mode is observed, the discomfort gradually disappears, and along with them the severity of pathology from the TMJ decreases.Some patients note that after getting used to the tire, they feel uncomfortable without it.

 

In conclusion, it is worth noting that, along with the technologies and methods described above, today there are many similar systems, both domestic and foreign companies. The orthodontist himself chooses for himself which system is more convenient for him to work with. Therefore, if suddenly in one clinic you were told that the bite can be corrected in your situation only with the help of a bracket system - this does not mean that in another clinic the same problem will not be corrected for orthodontic caps.

Conversely, one doctor may insist on using the cap system, while another specialist will only shake his head and say that the caps are an ineffective technology, and only braces will correct the situation.

Anyway, choose not just technology, but first of all a good experienced doctor, follow his recommendations - and you will certainly achieve the desired result.

Be healthy!

 

Video review about peredyati when correcting the bite on the liner

 

Visual result of treatment on the Invizilayn aliners