The best results of orthodontic treatment depend not only on the treatment of the orthodontist, but also on the good cooperation of the patient, which each accounts for 50% of the orthodontic effect. It can be said that without good cooperation of the patient, there is no best orthodontic result. What should the patient do to cooperate in orthodontic treatment?
Orthodontic patients’ cooperation with orthodontic treatment
A constant force is needed on the teeth to maintain movement. One type of force is applied by the orthodontist at the monthly follow-up visit and requires the cooperation of the patient to maintain this force; there is another type of force that is applied by the patient himself, mostly some orthodontic accessories such as extra-oral arch, orthodontic collar, and movable braces, which requires more cooperation from the patient. In this regard, patients are required to.
1, avoid damage to the orthodontic appliance
Damage to the orthodontic appliance means suspension of orthodontic treatment. This is because damage to any part of the aligner interrupts the force on the teeth, causing prolonged orthodontic treatment, and sometimes damage to the patient’s oral tissues, causing unnecessary pain. Damage to the aligner is usually caused by the patient’s misbehavior, mainly due to dietary inattention. During orthodontic treatment, patients should avoid eating foods that are too hard (iron fava beans, potpourri, etc.), foods that are too sticky (chewing gum, rice cakes), foods with bones and hard shells (chicken legs, ribs, crabs, etc.) and foods with cores (plums, peaches, etc.), etc. Avoid using your front teeth to take big bites of fruits, chew old corn, gnaw on burritos, etc. In fact, foods with bones can be separated from the meat and bones, and only the meat can be eaten; fruits can be peeled into slices and eaten. In the dietary habits of patients who can well comply with the above provisions, generally will not appear to damage the aligner. This will reduce the number of follow-up visits and costs, and allow treatment to end on time. If there is any damage to the aligners (loosening or dislodging of the bands, dislodging of the brackets, deformation or breakage of the wires, etc.), the treating doctor should be informed promptly and the doctor will decide on a follow-up appointment according to the specific situation.
In some cases, the end of the intraoral archwire is long and can irritate the gums or buccal mucosa, causing inflammation and swelling of the soft tissues, so the doctor should be consulted promptly and asked to cut or readjust the long archwire to prevent further damage to the soft tissues.
2.The active cooperation and its precautions when wearing extra-oral device
Extra-oral arch is a kind of extra-oral force device, which is used to cooperate with intra-oral orthodontic appliances for orthodontic treatment. Some of the wrong? Patients with more serious malformations need to wear an extra-oral arch to use extra-oral force to help correct the malformation. If the patient does not wear it carefully, the orthodontic effect will be seriously affected, and it is often too late to remedy the situation, resulting in the patient’s own losses (e.g., the extraction gap is not fully utilized and disappears on its own, the upper front teeth still protrude without improvement). The orthodontist will explain to the patient how to wear the extra-oral arch, including the direction and amount of traction, and ask the patient to follow the doctor’s instructions. The extra-oral arch is inserted into the thick round tube of the posterior teeth with the ring, and the extra-oral arch is held by hand, and the traction bands are hung separately. When taking off the extra-oral arch, the traction band should be removed first, and then the extra-oral arch should be taken off, in order to avoid the unbalanced traction force causing the extra-oral arch to pierce the wound and facial tissue.
The extraoral arch is usually worn for about 12 hours per day, but some patients may need to wear it for a longer period of time (according to the doctor’s instructions). It is important to note that the length of wear time is very important, and if the patient shortens the wear time on his own, the orthodontic effect will not be achieved. The extra-oral arch must be worn daily, otherwise it will also lose its orthodontic effect. Each time after wearing the extra-oral arch, the patient’s back teeth will feel some soreness, which is normal and also indicates that the wear is effective.
There are also other types of extra-oral appliances such as J-hooks and chin pockets.
There is another type of extra-oral device that has the opposite direction of traction as the above mentioned extra-oral arch, called anterior traction device. It is basically the same as the extra-oral arch.
3.Conscientiously wear intraoral movable orthodontic appliances
Intraoral movable orthodontic appliances include various types, including posterior dental pads, anterior planar guides, and various functional braces. Patients can take off and wear these movable aligners by themselves, so good cooperation from patients is required. If patients do not cooperate in wearing them, they will lose their orthodontic aid, thus prolonging treatment time, missing the best time for orthodontic treatment, weakening the effect of orthodontic treatment, and even leading to treatment failure. Patients can follow their doctor’s instructions on how and when to wear each type of removable aligner. As with the use of the extra-oral arch, the length of time and daily wear of the removable aligners is very important. As long as the patient wears them carefully, they will receive good results. When first wearing movable aligners, there will be a foreign body feeling in the mouth and affect pronunciation, these problems will gradually ease after a period of wear.
4, seriously wear functional orthodontic appliances
There are various types of functional orthoses, and generally the volume of the commonly used ones are larger than the movable ones, so it is normal to feel uncomfortable when wearing them for the first time. The first week of orthotic wear, parents should observe the orthotic wear. In a few patients, the aligners do not stay in line with the dental arch after the first few nights of sleep, and some may even come out of the mouth. The vast majority of patients can adapt after a week, and if they still cannot adapt after a week, they should be seen again in time for the doctor to check the design and production of the aligners. After the orthotics adapt, should be strictly according to the doctor’s requirements to wear, otherwise it will not play a corrective effect.
5, carefully wear the traction collar
Most patients in the orthodontic process to wear a traction collar, the purpose of which is to cooperate with the orthodontic appliances on the correction of malocclusion, to strengthen the effect of orthodontics. Choose the type of traction collar and wear the length of time decided by the doctor, the patient must carefully cooperate. Some patients do not pay attention to the use of the brace and wear it sometimes and sometimes not, which affects the effect of orthodontics. In some cases, patients do not wear the traction collar carefully will miss the best time for correction, resulting in irreversible consequences. This is what doctors and patients do not want to see, so here to emphasize: please wear traction collar seriously.
6, the cooperation of the arch expander
For some patients with narrow arch, orthodontists usually use some devices to open up the arch, these devices are called arch expanders.
In addition to asking the patient to adapt to some expansion devices, the patient needs to add force regularly by himself, and the doctor will teach the patient the amount of force and the way to add force.