How Long Does Front Teeth Partial Orthodontic Treatment Take? MTA Mini-Tube Orthodontics for Crossbite Correction

Hello,

How long does front teeth partial orthodontic treatment take?

This post is for those who are wondering.

Is there an orthodontic treatment that is short in duration and causes almost no discomfort?

Yes. It is partial orthodontic treatment that moves only the front teeth.

With front teeth partial orthodontic treatment, we do not only straighten crooked teeth; we also correct crossbites.

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This patient came in for front teeth partial orthodontic treatment.

The tooth marked by the blue arrow with the crossbite has a lot of gingival recession.

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The molars are in a reasonably good bite.

However, the front teeth are crooked, and the tooth marked by the blue arrow is slightly smaller with a split tip, showing a malformed tooth.

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A crossbite tooth can interfere every time you close your mouth, and it can also create unnecessary traumatic occlusion on the teeth.

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In particular, it can restrict the path of jaw movement and affect the temporomandibular joint.

Since the molar occlusion was fairly good, we decided not to do full orthodontic treatment and instead proceed with short-term front teeth partial orthodontic treatment using mini-tube appliances for only the six upper and six lower front teeth.

This patient did not have a photo taken when the appliance was attached, so there is no mid-treatment photo.

To help explain what mini-tubes are, I’m using a photo from another patient instead.

This is what an MTA mini-tube appliance looks like.

After five months, treatment finally ended this May.

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To prevent relapse of the malocclusion, a fixed wire retainer is securely bonded in place.

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Now that the front teeth that were being blocked have been resolved, it feels more comfortable.

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After five months, the patient regained a pretty smile.

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Unfortunately, gums that had receded because of the crossbite will not grow back up.

Still, now that the crossbite has been resolved, there should be no additional recession in the future.

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The malformed tooth was intentionally pulled downward and then the tip was flattened and shaped so that it would look like a normal tooth.

Without needing laminate veneers or other treatments, a tooth like this can be neatly corrected with orthodontics.

How long does front teeth partial orthodontic treatment take?

For this patient, it took about four months.

Please keep that in mind.