One thing should be understood at the onset, and that is that people have two different smiles depending on the circumstances.  They display the “social smile” under some circumstances and the other smile they may display other other circumstances is the “elation smile”. The “social smile” is a voluntary smile under the person’s control when a person is just posing in a manner in which they feel their smile looks the best. The “elation smile” is when a person is truly joyous or truly excited and flashes the biggest smile on an involuntary basis

A list of some of the things that matter to people in a smile—again, they generally do not know that they are specifically evaluating them in most cases but dental research indicates that their mind is processing the following variables of the smile:

- The amount of upper gum tissue that is exposed in the smile. Most studies show that the great smile is one in which the upper lip covers the the upper front teeth by about 2 mm (the thickness of a quarter). If the lip lifts and displays more than 3mm of gum, it is considered in most cases to be a relatively unfavorable smile. Also, it should be realized,  if the lip upon smiling covers the front teeth by more than 4mm it is considered less than ideal as well.

- The smile arc is “correct”. The smile arc is relationship of the curve that is created by the lower lip in the smile and the relationship of the upper front teeth and the upper back teeth to that curve that is created by the curved lower lip in the smile. Generally, as the lower lip curves upward, the upper back teeth should pretty much follow that curve. in other words, the great smile should not display too much gum in the back of the mouth— just like the great smile should not display too much gum tissue in the front of the mouth(see above).

- The cant of the occlusal plane should be level. This means that when the smile is viewed from the front, the teeth should not be sloping downward or upward on either side, but be even straight across.
-The front teeth should be properly proportioned. That is, the width of each front tooth should be about ¾ of the height of each tooth

-The midline should be correct. This means the middle of the upper front teeth should not deviate more than 3mm to one side or the other.

-The buccal corridors should not be too big or too small. The buccal corridors is the gap between the corners of the mouth in the smile and the back teeth—they are black spaces because light cannot fill those voids when the person is smiling. They should be about 11mm (a little less than a half inch) wide on each side If they are too big the dental arch appears too narrow, and, if they are too small the dental arch appears too wide.

There are other factors that determine if a person has a great smile, but the above variables are the principal subtle  controlling factors, besides the color and straightness of the teeth, that affect the favorable esthetics of the smile.

The post A Great Smile appeared first on NV Ortho Care.

The placement of a TAD is not painful and is far less traumatic than the extraction of even a simple single-rooted tooth. The pulling of a tooth is traumatic in that the tooth is actually separated from the bone by a considerable force, and, all around the entire root of the tooth, there are nerve fibers in the ligament. This ligament is known as the periodontal ligament and it is loaded with nerve fibers. Also, with the extraction of a tooth there is considerable bleeding and some definite pain to one degree or another. The cavern of bone that is left after the tooth is extracted has to all fill in with bone as it heals. By contrast the placement of a TAD is a mere insertion of a finely polished slender holding device with threads on it that is inserted without really having bleeding or discomfort.

It is true that if a TAD is placed very close to a root of a tooth the insertion of the TAD can push the bone sideward to a slight degree and that side pressure can result in some pressure being exerted to the adjacent tooth (the periodontal ligament of the tooth, mentioned above), thus causing some discomfort. However, the orthodontist customarily does everything possible to avoid putting the TAD extremely close to a tooth.

The orthodontist or other professional who places a TAD can select from a variety of designs. Some are a little thicker than others or longer that others but that typically has nothing to do with causing discomfort to the patient. Sometimes the little head of the TAD that protrudes can be a little bit on the “rough” side but that can be taken care of by the placer of the TAD doing a little smoothing of the small head that protrudes.

Interestingly, the removal of TAD’s is even easier than their placement, as all they have to be is turned b in a counterclockwise direction and they simply just come out. No numbing at all needs to be used in doing this— again, bone tissue has no nerve fibers in it!

TAD’s are a truly wonderful innovations in the orthodontic treatment of patients and should not be feared. The placement of TAD’s is not painful and as more people understand them they will receive far more acceptance by patients.

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Brushing with braces is definitely different that brushing without braces. The most common mistake is that people feel that all they have to do is to move the brush back and forth and that is all there is to it. By simply moving the toothbrush back and forth all that is actually accomplished is that the braces are polished by the bristles of the brush. Braces are polished in the factory so it does no good to repolish them.

Proper brushing is all about getting past the metal work and actually getting to the teeth and the gum tissues. Now how is this best accomplished? The best technique, in the opinion of the author of this article, is to divide brushing with braces into two separate steps. Such an approach can aptly be described as thePush and Wiggletechnique.

The Push and Wiggle technique of brushing with braces consists of holding the toothbrush at a 45 degree angle. In the case of the upper teeth, the bristles of the brush are angled upward toward the nose and the bristles are then pushed past the braces until the bristles make light contact with the gum tissue. Only upon achieving the actual contact of the bristles and the gum tissue is any movement of the brush initiated. That is where the “ wiggle” now comes in. What is meant by a wiggle is that the bristles are just jiggled from side to side. When the bristles are pushed up as described, the brush typically covers a span or two or three teeth in one placement of the brush in this manner. The brush is then retracted out of its position and placed in a new location covering the next two or three teeth and the process is repeated until all the teeth and associated gum tissue is cleaned and stimulated by this technique in the upper dental arch. After this is completed with the bristles angulated in an upward direction in brushing the upper teeth, the bristles are now angulated downward with the bristles of the brush now angled toward the patient’s chin and the brush is placed at the gum line at a 45 degree angle and are pushed downward past the metal work of the braces. This is done repeatedly until the all the teeth are brushed in the upper arch in this manner.

The Push and Wiggle techniques is then used in the same manner in the lower dental arch. That is, of course, accomplished by angulating the bristles of the brush at a 45 degree angle in exactly the same manner as described above only this time the lower teeth and gums are cleaned and exercised.

The critical distinction, again, with this Push and Wiggle technique is that the surfaces of the teeth are cleaned and the gum tissue is exercised because the bristles are directed in such a manner that they can actually reach their intended targets of the teeth and the gums by beginningno motion whatsoever until they have arrived at the correct position.

After the Push and Wiggle technique has been used to brush the areas of the teeth associated with the braces, then the rest of the teeth surfaces of the teeth not associated with the braces (the chewing surfaces and the tongue sides of the teeth)  can be brushed in the usual way that most people instinctively use in brushing their teeth.

If one concentrates, the entire process of brushing with braces should only take 1 ½ minutes.

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