Gangnam Pediatric Orthodontics Invisalign First for a Child’s Crossbite

This is an Apgujeong orthodontic dental clinic sharing a treatment review for Gangnam pediatric orthodontics and Invisalign First for a child’s crossbite.

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In the middle of treatment, an unexpected plan for moving overseas suddenly came up.

Treatment had to be completed in just 1 year and 2 months, but fortunately it ended well.

In October 2023, an 11-year-old child came in for the first visit for orthodontic treatment.

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From the guardian’s perspective, the main issues to correct were protrusion, and the front teeth were relatively large.

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The blue arrow shows the lateral incisor, which is in crossbite and bites in reverse with the lower teeth.

Because the upper teeth protruded forward, the lips did not close well, and as a result of lip incompetence, the chin muscle had wrinkled into a dimpled, orange-peel-like chin, also called a chin crease.

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Even though there was not a shortage of space for the teeth to erupt, we decided to relieve the protrusion of the front teeth to some extent through a small amount of arch expansion.

To completely resolve lip incompetence or protrusion, extraction orthodontics might be needed later, but the guardian wanted non-extraction treatment.

There were no skeletal issues such as a retruded chin, underbite, or asymmetry, so we proceeded directly with Invisalign First treatment, and the first appliance was started in November 2023.

This is how it looked after wearing the appliance for 6 months until April 2024.

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The midline is well aligned,

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and the permanent teeth are coming down nicely.

The forward tilt of the front teeth also improved.

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However, there was still a slight irregularity in the alignment of the lower front teeth, and to further address the protrusion of the upper front teeth, we began making an additional appliance.

Around this time, the child and family’s plan to move overseas was confirmed, and treatment had to be completed in early 2025.

Time was tight, but we had to do our best to create a good result.

Considering the remaining time, we set up a remake treatment plan and applied another set of additional appliances.

The additional appliances were worn for 6 months, from May 2024 to November 2024.

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The lateral incisor marked by the blue arrow was not aligned and was raised, and the bite showed an edge-to-edge relationship with the lower teeth, causing the midline to be slightly off.

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When wearing the Invisalign appliance, you can see that the lateral incisor marked by the blue arrow is floating away from the appliance.

Because the start of wear was insufficient, the Invisalign appliance could not fully hold the teeth and lost control of them.

The departure date was only two months away, and there was no time to remake the Invisalign appliance.

Brackets were attached to the six upper front teeth, and for one month we went through a process of matching the heights of the central and lateral incisors.

Then treatment was completed in December 2024.

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Fortunately, the alignment was corrected in just one month, the midline is well aligned, and the lateral incisors came down properly.

If the bite is not good, we do not finish orthodontic treatment.

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Even though this was pediatric orthodontic treatment, the result is comparable to adult orthodontic results, so the wire retainer is also placed on a level comparable to adult orthodontics.

At the time orthodontic treatment ended, there were still 3 baby teeth remaining.

Let’s look at the before-and-after comparison.

The treatment period was 1 year and 2 months.

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As the angle of the protruding front teeth improved, the protrusion was resolved.

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With the front teeth protrusion resolved, smile aesthetics improved

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Root parallelism is also good.

Looking at the changes over 1 year and 2 months on X-ray, this is how it appears.

With the protrusion resolved, the lips close more comfortably.

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Lip protrusion and chin dimpling also improved.

Thank you for reading this long post.