YorkieRose: The size, shape, and placement of the teeth affect how the jaw grows. etc...These work just like braces for a human...They will have 3 basic parts: the brackets, bonding material, and an arch wire. When the arch wire is adjusted on the teeth it will pull them and the jaw back to a healthy position ever so slowly. Basically you could describe the process as "Bone remodeling" Bones are made of cells called osteoclasts and osteoblasts.
Bone remodeling works like this: increase the load on a bone and osteoclasts are created which break it down in response to the load. Remove the load and osteoblasts are created which create new bony cells. Repeat the process through repetitive motion and eventually the bone density increases.
Bruce's teeth just like our human teeth are socketed in bone (the maxilla for the upper teeth, and the mandible for the llower teeth). As mentioned, surrounding each tooth is a Periodontal Ligament (PDL) which attaches it to the surrounding bone.
The PDL is a sort of messenger between the teeth and surrounding bony sockets. Pressure between the PDL and bone causes the bone to create osteoclasts and breakdown the bone to restore the normal spacing between the teeth and bone. The corresponding tension on the PDL behind the movement causes the bone to create osteoblasts, effectively building new bone to fill in the difference and restore the normal spacing between teeth and bone. Not a whole lot of force is necessary, only "some" force which is not normally present.
Enter the brackets and arch wire - the artificial force needed to create and sustain the pressure.
Hence the whole jaw can typically be reformed in a sense if the maloclussion is dealt with early enough.
Way too much info I am sure but I have been reading up on this a lot because I felt the same way that surgery would probably be necessary at first. |