OUR SERVICES
Appliances
Improve your quality of life with the right dental appliances. Sports guards keep your teeth protected. Sleep apnea and TMD/TMJ splints can help to give you the protection you need at all times.
Appliances We Offer
- Most common form of orthodontic treatment due to the ability to treat patients of all ages and case complexities
- Suitable for children, teens, and adults
- Attached to the teeth using brackets, bands, and wires
- Force teeth over time to go into a particular position
- Come in metal, plastic, and ceramic varieties – metal is preferred for more complicated problems, and ceramic braces must be worn longer
- Fixed braces can only be taken out by a dentist or orthodontist
- “Inside braces” connect the braces to the back side of teeth rather than the front.
- Usually worn from 1-3 years depending upon the patient’s needs
- Can be used in combination with maxillofacial surgery in the most severe cases
- Treatment plan is determined after an initial consultation
- Made of plastic
- Typically worn during sports, especially contact sports
- Protect the teeth, gums, and other fixed orthodontic appliances (like braces) from harm caused by physical contact
- Can secure the temporomandibular joint and aid in the prevention of joint injuries
- Also known as retainers
- Made of plastic and metal
- Used as a followup treatment for patients who have had braces to keep the patient’s teeth from returning to their former positions
- Worn on a nightly basis at the outset of treatment, and sometimes during the day as well
- Can be worn for several years after having braces (or even for the rest of the patient’s life!)
- May be difficult to get used to at first, but any soreness and pressure usually disappear within a couple of days
- In some cases where the patient only needs to move one tooth or wants to close a small gap between their teeth, can be used instead of braces
- Removable retainers can sometimes aid in improving certain speech problems or medical conditions
- Tongue cage retainers/crib retainers have small metal bars that come down from the roof of the patient’s mouth in order to keep the tongue from slipping between the teeth when the patient is talking
- Removable retainers can sometimes improve symptoms of TMJ problems, including issues such as malocclusion or teeth grinding, that result in ear aches, headaches, and jaw pain
- Easy, affordable way to keep the teeth where they are supposed to be
- Made of metal or plastic
- Custom-created for each patient
- Maintain natural teeth and jaw position by keeping the patient’s teeth from moving in any gaps that might exist due to premature loss of a baby tooth
- Most often used for children, but can be used for adults too
- Also called bite guards, night guards, bite planes, or bite splints
- Used both to modify the bite and to protect the teeth
- Made of either soft/semi-hard plastic (night guards) or hard, hard-soft acrylic nylon, etc (bit splints)
- The soft kind are more difficult to clean and adjust and will need replacement more often
- Can help with pain caused by headaches, neck aches, and jaw issues
- Night guards should only be worn at night according to the instructions from Oliver Park Dental
- Not intended for use in athletics or other recreational pursuits – they are not strong enough to provide proper
- Made of clear plastic and customized to the shape of the patient’s mouth using specialized orthodontic technology
- Don’t trap plaque or food particles in the mouth
- Best used to treat adults with mild spacing issues
- Not a good option for children or teenagers who are still growing
- Can be taken out of the mouth in order to eat, drink, brush, floss, and/or attend important events
- Come in sets of two, each worn for approximately 2 weeks at a time
- As expensive as traditional braces or sometimes more expensive
- Typical treatment length ranges from 9-24 months
- Shaped like a mouth guard and made of plastic
- Preferred for dealing with chronic/severe teeth grinding and/or clenching
- Can be worn day and/or night
- Can be worn on lower or upper teeth
- Used to treat symptoms of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders and bruxism (tooth grinding) and to relax jaw muscles, relieving pain
- Can help alleviate muscle fatigue and curtail migraines and tension headaches
- Typically used on children ages 8-10 years old
- Used to expand a patient’s upper arch when the arch is too narrow to fit all of the permanent teeth
- Not usually used for adults unless the adult is also having maxillofacial surgery as a part of their treatment because adults’ bones are no longer growing and therefore would be more difficult to treat this way
- Typically covered by dental insurance
- Reasonably affordable
- Designed to help patients who suffer from sleep apnea or/and sleep more soundly and continuously through the night (snoring)
- Also help reduce snoring by treating obstructive sleep apnea (a condition characterized by the patient’s airway being blocked due to collapse, a large tongue that falls back into the throat during sleep, or other causes)
- Typically made of plastic or acrylic and worn over the teeth like any other orthodontic appliance
- Can be used to stabilize the jaw and tongue to keep the patient’s airway open, to give the patient artificial muscle tone to impede the collapse of the patient’s airway, or to reposition the soft palate, lower jaw, and/or tongue to keep it in a certain position.
- Custom-fitted for the individual patient so that they are comfortable to wear
- The preferred method of removing cusps of teeth that are situated too low or too high, which can inhibit proper jaw closure
- Selectively reshapes the biting surfaces of some teeth and stabilizes teeth
- Symptoms of patients who might be a candidate for occlusal equilibration include abnormal wear, breaking of restorations, and pain in areas like the shoulders, head, and/or jaw
- Used when the upper jaw and the lower jaw do not match up properly
- Can be taken care of in a single appointment most of the time, though more complicated situations may require multiple office visits to complete the work
- Goal is to stabilize the bite and eliminate symptoms, including pain