Does Orthodontic Treatment in Gangdong-gu Take More Than 2 Years? Why Does It Take So Long?

| This post was written directly by Seoul Vardi Dental Clinic for the purpose of providing medical information, in compliance with Article 56, Paragraph 1 of the Medical Service Act regarding medical advertising. We recommend using the information provided for reference only. For symptom assessment and accurate management methods, please visit a medical institution and receive guidance from a medical professional. All procedures and surgeries performed at dental clinics may involve risks depending on the individual, such as inflammation, bleeding, and swelling. Please make your decision after having a sufficient consultation with a medical professional in advance. To help with understanding, all images were created using AI. |

Why Does Orthodontic Treatment

Take So Long?

"It has been more than a year since I started,

but it still isn't finished."

This is something people undergoing orthodontic treatment

almost always say around the halfway point.

Hello!

This is Seoul Vardi Dental Clinic.

Orthodontic treatment for adults usually

takes about a year and a half to two years.

Let us clarify one thing first.

It does not take longer

simply because you are older.

Today, we will explain

why orthodontic treatment

takes a long time

and what causes the treatment period

to become extended.

| Chapter 1. Teeth Do Not Move Immediately When They Are Pushed |

Orthodontic treatment is treatment

that moves the position of the teeth.

However, teeth are embedded in bone.

To move the root,

the bone in that area must be resorbed,

and new bone must fill in on the opposite side.

The important point here

is that this process takes place in stages.

Tooth movement

can be divided into four stages.

At first, the tooth moves

only a very small amount within the gums.

This is equivalent to the amount of compression

of the periodontal ligament.

The next stage is the lag phase.

The compressed periodontal ligament

undergoes degeneration and becomes hyalinized,

causing tooth movement to stop completely.

Cells must come and remove that tissue

before the tooth can move again.

Once the cleanup is complete, movement speeds up,

and the tooth then moves at a steady rate.

In other words, after the appliance is tightened,

there is a period when the teeth barely move.

The time when your teeth feel sore

but you do not seem to see any change

is this very period.

It is similar to waiting one or two months

for a broken bone to heal.

The time the body needs to clear away tissue

and create new tissue

cannot be shortened.

Applying more force

does not make tooth movement itself faster.

Many people ask

whether treatment will finish sooner

if more force is applied.

It will not.

The lag phase discussed above

cannot be shortened by increasing the force.

Rather, the harder the pressure,

the more the periodontal ligament degenerates,

increasing the amount of tissue that must be cleared.

And something else increases.

A positive correlation has been confirmed

between the magnitude of orthodontic force

and root resorption.

Severe root resorption exceeding 4 mm

occurs in 1–5% of orthodontically treated teeth,

and becomes more common as the treatment period increases.

(Review of the Literature on Root Resorption and Orthodontic Force)

Once a root is resorbed,

it does not grow back.

Therefore, teeth should be moved

with only the necessary amount of force

and according to an appropriate treatment period.

| Chapter 2. The Idea That “Treatment Takes Longer As You Get Older” |

This is the point

I most want to discuss today.

You may often see explanations that adults take longer than adolescents

because their growth is complete and their bones are harder.

The evidence does not support this.

There is a meta-analysis comparing

the duration of fixed orthodontic treatment

in adolescents and adults.

It included seven studies and 1,150 participants.

There was no significant difference

in the total treatment duration between the two groups.

The mean difference was 0.8 months,

with a confidence interval ranging from

minus 4.2 months to plus 2.6 months.

(P=0.65)

The authors reached the following conclusion:

There is no evidence that the total treatment duration

of fixed orthodontic treatment differs

between adults and adolescents.

(Duration of orthodontic treatment)

However, there is a difference at the beginning.

A study examining tooth movement by age found that

during approximately the first three weeks,

movement was faster in younger age groups,

but became similar between four and twelve weeks.

(Frontiers in Physiology, 2024)

This means that treatment starts faster,

but the total treatment period becomes similar.

There is one exception.

When an impacted canine on the palate side

is pulled down and aligned,

adults took approximately 3.8 months longer.

In other words, rather than age,

it is the condition of the teeth being moved

that determines the treatment period.

| Chapter 3. So What Makes the Treatment Period Longer? |

There are other factors that actually have an effect.

First, how severely the teeth are misaligned.

The more severe the crowding,

and the more misaligned the bite,

the greater the distance the teeth must be moved.

Second, whether extractions are required.

If teeth are extracted and the spaces must be closed,

that creates a corresponding distance for movement.

Third, patient compliance.

Whether you wear your elastics

and attend your appointments

has a greater effect than you might expect.

There is a set interval

between tightening the appliance

and the next adjustment.

If you skip an appointment,

treatment is delayed by that cycle.

▼ Check the Dental Clinic Location ▼

Fourth, appliance breakage.

If a bracket comes off,

that tooth remains stationary during that period.

It stays that way until you come in to have it reattached.

The first two of these four factors

are determined at the beginning.

The latter two are factors

that can be changed during treatment.

| Chapter 4. The Practical Advantages of Adult Orthodontic Treatment |

There is one more point I would like to add.

In clinical practice,

adult patients tend to have good compliance.

Because they have made the decision themselves,

they tend to wear their elastics properly

and keep their appointments.

As discussed above,

compliance directly affects the treatment period.

Slightly harder bone

does not affect the total treatment period,

but not wearing elastics does.

Therefore, you do not need to think

that starting treatment later puts you at a disadvantage.

Today, we discussed the duration of orthodontic treatment.

The reason orthodontic treatment

takes a long time

lies in the process by which teeth move.

After being pushed, the teeth remain stationary for a while,

and move again only after the tissue has been cleared.

This is an area that neither the medical professional nor the patient

can shorten.

It does not take longer simply because you are older.

Based on the evidence, there is no difference

in the total treatment duration between adults and adolescents.

What determines the treatment period

is the degree of misalignment,

whether extractions are required,

and whether elastics are worn and appointments are kept.

If you have any questions about orthodontic treatment,

please feel free to ask.

Thank you for reading this long post.

Appointment Information
https://blog.naver.com/implant_master/224278289886
Phone number: 02-481-4278

| Directions to the Clinic |