Fixed and Removable Appliances

Herbst

An appliance designed to encourage the lower jaw to grow forward and “catch up” to upper jaw growth.

Lower Lingual Arch (LLA)

A lower lingual arch is a space maintainer for the lower teeth. It maintains the molars where they are, it does not move them. This is fabricated by placing bands on the molars and connecting them to a wire that fits up against the inside of the lower teeth. It keeps the molars from migrating forward and prevents them from blocking off the space of teeth that develop later.

This is used when you have the early loss of baby teeth or when you have lower teeth that are slightly crowded in a growing child and you do not want to remove any permanent teeth to correct the crowding.

Palatial Expander

An appliance which is placed in the roof of the mouth to widen the upper dental arch. The maxilla, or upper dental arch, is joined in the center by a joint, which allows it to be painlessly separated and spread.

Temporarily you may see a space develop between the upper two front teeth. This will slowly go away in a few days. Once this has occurred, the two halves knit back together and new bone fills in the space.

Quad Helix

This appliance provides continual, gradual pressure in as many as four directions, to move molars, expand or contract arches or assist in eliminating finger or thumb habits.

Hawley

A universally used retainer with many applications; to move teeth, close spaces, maintain alignment during or after treatment.

Retainers

At the completion of the active phase of orthodontic treatment, braces are removed and removable appliances called retainers are placed. To retain means to hold.

Teeth must be retained or held in their new positions while the tissues, meaning the bone, elastic membranes around the roots, the gums, tongue and lips have adapted themselves to the new tooth positions. Teeth can move if they are not retained. It is extremely important to wear your retainers as directed!