Correcting the bite: complex cases and why age is not a barrier
Orthodontics stopped being a teenage story long ago. Here is what counts as a complex case and how such cases are treated in adults.
Teeth move through bone at any age — that is what orthodontic treatment is built on. The limit is not years but the condition of the gums and bone: active inflammation is treated first, and only then are teeth moved.
What counts as a complex case
- pronounced bite anomalies where the jaws meet with a shift
- crowding, where there is physically not enough room in the arch
- impacted teeth that never erupted and remain in the bone
- tilting and drifting of neighbouring teeth after a long-standing tooth loss
- orthodontics combined with prosthetics, when space has to be prepared for an implant
Why treatment differs in adults
In children and teenagers jaw growth can be influenced; in adults the bone is already formed, so some tasks are solved only by moving teeth, and in certain cases together with a surgeon. Treatment usually takes longer, and the retention stage after the appliances come off matters more: without a retainer teeth tend to drift back.
Orthodontics for health, not only for looks
An even arch also means an even load. When the bite is off, individual teeth work for others, wear down and crack faster, the joint suffers, and hygiene in crowded areas is inevitably worse — decay appears there more often.
It always starts the same way: an X-ray, a scan and a review of your specific situation. Only then is it clear what aligners can achieve, where fixed appliances are needed and how long treatment will take in your case.