It is always less expensive to correct a problem when the patient is younger than to wait for the problem to become more serious in the future.

• Improve profile, smile, and self-esteem
• Correct harmful habits, such as thumb-sucking and tongue thrusting
• Develop the arches and make more room for the tongue
• Improved speech
• Reduction of time in fixed braces, frequently eliminating the need for extracting permanent teeth
• Increases nasal breathing, which improves health
• Eliminates airway constriction
• Creates beautiful broad smiles by developing the arches
• Eliminates grinding of teeth at night
• Prevents headaches and earaches

You are never too old to improve your smile. Dr. Wilson also treats adults for a wide variety of conditions, from overbites to underbites. Approximately 25 percent of today’s orthodontic patients are adults. Teeth can be moved at any age, and therefore more adults are proceeding with orthodontic treatment to achieve straight teeth, a beautiful smile, and healthy jaw joints. Many adults prefer the clear or gold braces, which are more esthetically pleasing than the standard metal braces.

No two smiles are alike, and therefore no two orthodontic treatment programs are either. Typically, active treatment times range from one to two years and vary with the degree of tooth movement and the severity of the problem.

Do you have headaches, neck aches, clicking jaws, limited opening range of the jaw or ringing in the ears? It may be TMJ Syndrome. Some 60 million Americans have TMJ. Simply put, TMJ is the syndrome that happens when the muscles in the jaw and the temporomandibular joint are out of alignment or misaligned, causing problems when chewing. In simple terms, the ligaments, muscles, bones and joints do not line up, thereby causing pain.

Symptoms of TMJ

• clicking, popping or grating sound when opening or closing the mouth
• headaches and/or dizziness
• tenderness in jaw muscles
• earache
• jaws that sometimes lock open when yawning or if mouth is held open
• spasm or cramps in the jaw area

Talk to us if you want to stop jaw and headache pain before it starts. Our treatment includes no pills, no shots, no surgery, and no side effects. We can treat these problems because they are most likely caused by clenching your teeth when you’re sleeping and occasionally throughout the day. When you clench your teeth you use some of the strongest muscles in your body that can cause morning and tension headaches, and even damage surrounding joints, teeth, and other muscles.

The high-intensity contractions of these powerful muscles become painful and the forces generated cause pain in surrounding tissues, joints, and other muscles. By reducing the intensity of the clenching, you’re effectively minimizing the source of the pain.

Mouth guards are often used to protect your child’s teeth from injury due to teeth grinding and during sports. The guard usually covers the upper teeth; however, if your child wears braces or another fixed dental appliance on his lower jaw, Dr. Wilson may suggest a mouth protector for these teeth, too.

Invisible braces that we provide-such as Clear Correct straighten your teeth without the need for uncomfortable and unsightly metal wires and brackets. While braces produce beautiful results, many patients never wear them for fear of looking unattractive or having many cavities at the end of the treatment. Clear Correct is an alternative way to produce results-and is nearly invisible. By using a series of clear, removable aligners, Clear Correct straightens your teeth right before your eyes. Change them about every three weeks, and your teeth will move-little by little, week by week-until they have moved to the final position your dentist has prescribed.