Proper development is vital for overall health
Straight teeth and a beautiful smile are just a small part of a healthy mouth, but they’re not everything. That’s right, having healthy teeth and a bright smile are not our only goals for our patients at Miami Designer Smiles.
Dr. Garcia and Dr. Sanchez-Garcia are also concerned with your jaw, jaw joints, muscles of the face, airway, and facial development. In addition to cosmetic and general dentistry, we also practice facial growth dentistry.
I can determine if you have grown in an epigenetic way, and I could tap into your genetic blueprint and stimulate the bones of your upper and your lower jaw and your skull to grow ideally so that they could grow in a way that will create beautiful architecture for your soft tissue.
Facial growth dentistry is a dental specialty concerned with the teeth, jaw, jaw joints, facial muscles, airway and how your face has developed or is developing.
When facial growth has been interrupted, your genetic code (DNA) is not fully expressed. This interruption in growth is caused by pollution, diet and poor oral behaviors such as extended thumb sucking.
When growth is interrupted, it means your face and jaws do not develop to their full potential. When your jaws do not meet their full potential, your upper jaw could be too small, your bottom jaw could be too small, or either one of your jaws could be set too far back.
While these things don’t necessarily sound like a big deal, when you think about the bite conditions they cause — things like overbites, underbites and crossbites; jaw problems like temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJD); sleep apnea; and chronic illness — you can see that they’re very serious and should be treated as soon as possible.
Environmental factors like we mentioned above can affect jaw and facial growth, but there are three other things that can negatively affect how your face and jaw grow, too.
These factors are known as “The Big Three.” Read more about them and their impact here.
Sarah’s parents knew it was important to start orthodontic treatment early. Combined with myofunctional therapy Sarah is now a thriving teenager who is happy with her smile.
Everyone’s super nice, they’re all welcoming. I love Conchi. I really feel happy here, so I wouldn’t go anywhere else. I trust them completely.
Miami Designer Smiles offers patients nonsurgical facial growth treatment options, including:
Controlled Arch Braces. Controlled Arch Braces help make tooth movements that are critical to your specific anatomy and individual facial characteristics. Controlled Arch Braces can be an alternative to traditional orthodontics for some individuals.
Anterior Growth Guidance Appliance (AGGA). AGGA help the face and jaws develop to their full potential by correcting irregular jaw development and imbalances in your facial structure by creating bone growth.
Myofunctional Therapy. Myofunctional therapy is a treatment to help correct the improper function of the tongue and facial muscles. It works by strengthening the tongue and orofacial muscles to engage the muscles in the proper position.
Adult and Infant Frenectomy. Frenectomies are surgical procedures that remove an area of binding tissue, correcting issues such as a tongue-tie or lip-tie.
Who Is a Good Candidate for Facial Growth Treatment?
Several factors can help determine if you or your child is a good candidate for facial growth treatment. The most common factors are:
Ideally, the sooner, the better. Like with many things, the best time to start is now to prevent more invasive interventions in the future. But if you’re an adult and finished growing, can the jaw still grow? The answer is yes! With facial growth dentistry, you can still realize your full face and jaw potential.
We recommend starting pediatric treatment during the developmental years before growth has ceased and when things are still moving and growing. Ideally, we like to see patients around age 7 or 8 to begin planning the best course of action. However, teens and adults have seen tremendous success beginning treatment later in life.
Patients who would make suitable candidates for facial growth and facial development treatment include those suffering from jaw pain, TMJ disorders and obstructive sleep apnea symptoms.
Are you interested in facial growth dentistry for yourself or your child or have concerns about jaw development, mouth posture or mouth breathing? Call us today to schedule a consultation to discuss your options.
We can help override your DNA to maximize your facial growth and correct issues such as:
Using growth guidance orthodontic therapy to develop the top jaw to its intended size allows us to position the jaw in a way that helps to achieve a relaxed physiological bite.
When your jaws are fully developed, your jaw joints are healthier, you have better posture and stability, your breathing improves, and your tongue position is corrected. Additional benefits include a straighter smile, a reduction in the likelihood of needing teeth extracted for orthodontic treatment, and improved facial appearance.
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