Do you have an over bite or under bite? If so, you may have been told you need corrective jaw surgery, more often known as orthognatic surgery.

For people with jaw abnormalities, every day tasks like eating and even sleeping can be affected as the jaws don't align with each other. They can also cause pain and affect your affect facial appearance.

In some cases orthodontic elastics can be used to realign the jaw during your regular orthodontic treatment. But this really depends on the severity of your overbite or underbite. While elastics can work quite well in some cases, it is usually advised that patients with severe over or underbites get corrective jaw surgery to permanently resolve any jaw issues.

During this procedure your jaw is disconnected and re-aligned to the ideal position. Sounds painful right? Don't worrry, you're asleep for the actual procedure. However when you wake up you won't be able to talk as easily and you will be in some pain for the first couple of days as you heal.

However, it's worth it for those who suffer from severe overbites or underbites. Along with orthodontic treatment, this procedure resolves jaw pain and improves the overall appearance of the face.

Depending on the type jaw spacing issue you have, your jaw surgery may include moving your upper jaw, lower jaw or both. This surgery is only done on skeletally mature non-growing individuals, and patients can usually return to their normal routines soon after the surgery.

Healing time can vary depending on your age and how much adjustment needs to be made, but it can be anywhere from two weeks to more than a month.

Will you need this surgery as part of your orthodontics plan? Well, it may be unnecessary if orthodontic treatment can correct the problem. However with any orthodontic treatment orthodontists face biologic limitations as to what can realistically be achieved with braces alone. During your first visit your orthodontist will be able to tell you if corrective jaw surgery is the correct treatment option for you.

The usual sequence of events in such a surgery/orthodontic treatment plan is as follows:

1. Diagnostic records are taken and a comprehensive treatment plan is developed in conjunction with an oral and maxillofacial surgeon.

2. Braces are placed on the teeth and over time the teeth are placed ideally on each dental arch. The bite may get worse as this step progresses.

3. Jaw surgery is performed to address the skeletal concerns.

4. After an appropriate healing time your case is finished and the braces are removed.

Tips About Tooth Implants: Their Cost, Their Care, And Their Availability

Dental implants are the latest thing being used to replace missing teeth. Dental implants are not brand new, but they have recently begun to get more attention, and recognition. The main reason that more people are talking about dental implants today is that they have become easier to get, and the price of the dental devices has dropped drastically in the last few years.

The Cost
The initial cost of tooth implants is higher than what you pay for partial dentures, or bridges. In the last five years the average cost of tooth implants has reduced by as much as 50%, but the initial price is still higher than some of the alternative tooth replacement therapies. You do have to consider the fact that partial dentures, and bridges, both cause damage to their anchor teeth over a period of time. So when you choose these alternatives for tooth replacement you are accepting the fact that you will need to repair the anchor teeth in a few years. You will also have to replace the partial denture about once every ten years, so you need to consider that cost when you are deciding which replacement method makes the best financial sense.

Their Care
When you have partial plates, or bridges, you will need to remove them from your mouth and clean them in a special solution. These dental devices can need to be soaked in their cleaner for as little as 5 minutes, or as long as an overnight period. Tooth implants are cleaned by brushing, and flossing, when you clean your natural teeth. There are no specialized cleaners to buy, and you do not go through any extra trouble to clean these dental devices. You will continue to see your dentist every six months for routine examinations and when you are there they will evaluate the condition of your implant just like they evaluate the health of your natural teeth.

Their Availability
When the dental implants were first introduced there were very few dental professionals that had the knowledge required to place the appliances in the mouths of patients. The implantation process requires that the dental professional cut your gums so that they can place the titanium rod against the appropriate section of your jawbone. Your jawbone will, over a period of time, fuse to the titanium piece and make the implant a success. This part of the procedure requires the skills of an oral surgeon.

To do a successful implantation the dental professional has to be able to evaluate your jawbone and determine if you have enough bone density to handle the implantation. This evaluation required specialized skills, like the ones a cosmetic dentist has.

Today more dental professionals have gotten the educational training they need to be able to evaluate a patient for implants, and to be able to successfully implant the titanium rods. The fact that more people want these dental devices has increased the number of dental clinics that want to do them.

How To Find Out If Cosmetic Dentistry Solutions Are Right For You

How To Find Out If Cosmetic Dentistry Solutions Are Right For You. Many people think that cosmetic dentistry is something that only rich and famous people have done to their teeth. The rich and the famous do have cosmetic dentistry procedures performed, because these people want to look their best, and they can afford to pay whatever it takes to look their best. There are a lot of ordinary people who also want to look their best, and there are cosmetic dentist that have affordable prices so everyone can have their best smile.

A cosmetic dentist works to help people have the smiles they want to have. Not every one of us was blesses with perfectly sized teeth that are perfectly straight, and blinding white. More people have teeth that are slightly crooked, slightly discolored, or slightly misshaped, than there are people with perfect teeth. Cosmetic dentistry will allow us to hide the flaws and create the image of perfection.

If you have tooth enamel that has begun to discolor then a cosmetic dentist can help you to get the pearly white teeth that you dream of having. Pearly white teeth signify health, they make us look younger, and they make us more confident, but a lot of people do not have white tooth enamel any longer.


Smoking tobacco, dipping snuff, drinking caffeinated beverages, coffee, tea, and wine, all cause the enamel surfaces of our teeth to turn to a dull yellow color over time. Some medications cause our teeth to become discolored over time. Age plays a big factor in what color your teeth are, and your health issues can also change the color of your teeth. You need to see a dentist that practices the procedures required to address all of these issues and let them help you get the whitest teeth you can have.

We often chip our teeth at some time in our life. Most people have had at least one tooth that has a portion of the enamel missing because they got hit in the mouth, or they bit down on something hard, or they fell down and broke their tooth. If the chip is on a tooth in the front of the mouth people will often stop smiling brightly because they do not want other people to see the broken tooth. This embarrassment causes people to lose the confidence they once had. A dental clinic that practices the cosmetic procedures to repair, or cover, chipped teeth would be able to restore the confidence of someone with a chipped tooth.

We all see movie stars with perfect teeth, that are perfectly spaced, and we wish our teeth looked like that. Many of us have gaps between the teeth that are larger than we would like, or we have teeth that are smaller than we would like, or we have teeth that are shorter than out other teeth. All of these problems are purely cosmetic, and they can be corrected with simple procedures.

If you have anything about your teeth that you do not like you should see a cosmetic dentist about correcting the problem. You will be glad you did.