Before
As parents, we want the very best for our children, and we do everything we can to provide them the best life possible. We feed them the healthiest food, meticulously monitor their progress in school and take them to the pediatrician at the first sign of a runny nose. We go above and beyond to ensure they receive the best medical care possible, and that includes dental care. So when 11-year-old Nikolai’s severe overbite and buck teeth became problematic, his mother acted quickly to address his dental issues. While his overbite was identified early on in his baby teeth, as he got older, the state of Nikolai’s teeth not only began to affect his self-confidence but it also caused headaches and created speech issues.
“It actually created a situation where he was developing a lisp,” Nikolai’s mother said. “So there was a real functional reason for undergoing treatment. And because his bite was off, he was getting headaches.”
To get his bite corrected, eliminate the headaches and lisp and renew his self-confidence, Nikolai underwent a course of treatment that took a mere 45 days to complete. In that short time, his smile completely transformed. And all with the help of Dr. Amy Norman.
During
After Nikolai’s initial evaluation, Dr. Norman created a treatment plan to address Nikolai’s dental issues. She recommended early intervention orthodontics in the form of Invisalign. This retainer-like appliance allowed Dr. Norman to take advantage of Nikolai’s growth spurts by helping his lower and upper jaws to align properly. As a young athlete, one of the advantages to Invisalign is that Nikolai could wear his sports guard right over his Invisalign appliance, making it that much easier for him to adhere to the treatment protocol.
In addition to Invisalign, she also recommended a surgical treatment called Propel. While the Invisalign treatment would help realign Nikolai’s bite, jaws and teeth, the Propel procedure would shorten the length of the treatment. Propel is a form of accelerated orthodontics. It’s a minor surgical procedure that allows the doctor to change the aligners every three days instead of every two weeks, drastically shortening the treatment time. It’s an option that Dr. Norman recommends to her patients that are most suited for the procedure, however, it’s completely optional. As Dr. Norman explains, every patients’ needs are different, so each patient and parent decide for themselves if it’s the right approach for them. She notes that the advantage of Propel, aside from producing results more quickly and spending less time in braces, is that there’s less disruption to patient’s life, making the treatment process more seamless. But what’s perhaps the most compelling is that the surgical procedure releases challenging movements so the teeth move more predictably, improving the end result. In Nikolai’s case, his treatment time, from start to finish, took 45 days. For Nikolai’s particular case, the treatment time without Propel would normally take seven and half months.
After
With her treatment complete, Madison’s smile looks completely different. Dr. Norman’s approach not only straightened Madison’s teeth, but it realigned her bite, helping prevent the development of serious health issues like TMJ or chronic migraines later in life. While aesthetically, Madison’s smile is brighter and straighter, it’s also functionally healthy. And thanks to gum recontouring, her “pretty small teeth” are now more prominent.
Summary
When 11-year-old Nikolai developed headaches and a lisp as a result of his overbite and buck teeth, his mother knew it was time to take action and resolve his dental issues. As a pre-teen, Nikolai was all becoming increasing self-conscious of his smile.
Orthodontics can be disruptive to the patient’s way of life, especially someone as young as Nikolai, so it was important that his treatment plan be easy and create as little interference as possible. Dr. Amy Norman developed a treatment plan that included Invisalign and Propel to realign Nikolai’s bite and teeth in just 45 days. Today, Nikolai’s smile is dazzling, healthy and functional. He no longer suffers from headaches, and that dazzling smile of his turns heads everywhere he goes.
