Perseverance pays off - Arco Ideal: Dr. Joachim Stickel

To very few persons has nature given a perfect set of teeth. However, being in possession of an imperfect set of teeth is not such a great misfortune, since we can now always find a way to correct them, even for older people. By putting the infant mouth into good shape we can pave the way for the future. We can inform you about the current possibilities of correcting misplaced teeth and jaw bones but as a parent it must be your responsibility to make this important decision.

Ideally our teeth should sit in an even line, with sufficient space in between but without gaps between and in the following order: The upper front teeth should project slightly over the lower ones thereby overlapping them a little. The back teeth should sit perfectly to within a fraction of a millimeter and meet "intimately".

Nowadays we find more and more often that the relation between the size of the teeth and the jaw in incorrect for the total amount of 32 teeth which remain in their original size all life long. Often our jaw is not able to accommodate them, with the lower jaw generally causing the most problems. The misplacement of teeth is invariably caused by lack of space or is genetically inherited. The lack of symmetry can be caused by teeth which have not developed but can also be caused by bad habits such as chewing pens and "lip biting".

It should not be a matter for great concern that the teeth of the members of our present civilisation can rarely be likened to a string of pearls, since most of them are quite content to live with this situation. However, it may often be necessary to "smoothen" the occlusion in order to prevent biting of gums, damage to the gums and to allow all normal jaw movements, or to improve the ability to chew. Furthermore, an even set of teeth is much easier to look after and less prone to dental decay and caries. Abnormal teeth and jaws can cause problems with jaw movements, as well as headaches and general restriction of jaw movement.

In all cases, a well ordered set of teeth will be a mirror of your personality. However as only one out of 20 children has a perfect set of teeth it is necessary to help. Between 40 and 60% of young people are undergoing orthodontic treatment and in Germany more than a million persons receive treatment from an orthodontist. This figure is increased each year by more than 350.000 new patients. Approximately half of these suffer from misplaced teeth, sufficiently serious to warrant corrective treatment by means of fixed appliances.
The majority of the patients are between nine and 13 years of age. Although alterations in dental positioning almost always occur diring infancy, it is never too late to "give a hand" to nature or rectify the consequences of bad habits.

Implementing preventive measures as soon as possible

Often treatment in time can pre-empt the need for more comprehensive subsequent treatment, even to the extent of surgery, since the majority of cases of jaw abnormalities requiring treatment are evident in the first teething. The professional associations of German dentist argue the fact that many patients are not referred to an orthodontist until an irregularity is already well pronounced.

Later treatment could also be prevented in many cases:

If thumb-sucking amongst infants was stopped early, it would not be necessary to implement subsequent measures which frequently turn out to be costly and time consuming.

If the destruction or loss of milk teeth was avoided.

In the past movable appliances and fixed appliances (braces) were the reason for ridicule amongst children, but nowadays they are accepted. The children we recently asked about them accepted both possibilities.

However, the final success depends on the cooperation of the patient.