Smiles welcomes your family to experience comprehensive orthodontics for kids and teens in our compassionate, pediatric dental home in Los Angeles. We offer digital, State-of-the-art orthodontics for children and teenagers seamlessly combined with individually tailored pediatric dental care. We can’t wait to smile with you!
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Orthodontics for Kids
Early orthodontic intervention is magical because it harnesses the power of growth to guide the developing dentition into harmonious results. The term dentofacial orthopedics translates to simultaneously guided dental growth and facial bone growth. This early phase of orthodontics is the first of two phases of orthodontic care and starts when kids are under 11 years of age. A big benefit to phase one orthodontics is that we can utilize the primary teeth to achieve the desired results. Appliances in this phase include palatal expanders and early clear aligners.
Orthodontics for Teens
Orthodontics for teens begins once all the permanent teeth are present and the dental arches are sufficiently developed to welcome them. Following a successful first phase of orthodontics during the earlier years, the second phase can be streamlined and focused. The goals of this phase of orthodontics include creating ideal occlusion, ensuring healthy function and final artistic detailing. State-of-the-art orthodontic appliances include 3D printed, custom fixed bracket systems and clear aligners.
Printed Metal Palatal Expanders
3D Printed Metal Palatal Expanders offer a fantastic solution for harmonizing a growing smile. These custom orthodontic appliances are created from a digital oral scan of your child’s mouth, using computer-aided design (CAD) technology. The framework is built of biocompatible metal alloys. We add resin pads that act as additional support and can be custom created in rainbow colors that kids love! The appliance is activated with a small key that is inserted into the expansion screw that separates the resin pads. The gentle pressure to the suture in the middle of the palate encourages it to grow resulting in additional dental arch space.
Invisalign Palatal Expanders (IPE)
Meet the new Invisalign Palatal Expander System for kids ages 6-11! Like the clear aligner approach to early orthodontic intervention, the system comes in a sequence of appliances that allow for gentle palatal expansion. This new solution from Invisalign for easy and effective expansion comes in a series of 3D printed expanders that are custom made for your child’s mouth. The expanders are switched on a 24–48-hour timeframe. Each expander gently widens the upper arch to make room for newly erupted adult teeth. Kids quickly learn how to snap these expanders in and out allowing them to easily keep their mouths clean and happy.
Clear Aligners for Kids
Clear aligners for kids ages 6-11 offer fantastic solutions for a multitude of orthodontic situations while making it easy to keep teeth brushed and flossed. Pediatric clear aligners are a comfortable option for early childhood orthodontic treatment in the mixed dentition, when both primary and permanent teeth are present. Aligners are switched every 5-7 days in this younger age group. Erupting permanent teeth can be guided into perfect positions as they grow into the mouth. Younger kids are great candidates for aligner therapy because they enjoy tracking their achievement. No need to worry about losing an aligner! Simply move onto the next one in the sequence. Invisalign First aligners are designed to treat a wide spectrum of orthodontic issues as kids grow and develop.
Clear Aligners for Teens
Clear aligners are a favorite for teen orthodontic treatment because they are clean, discreet and removable! Smiles can be straightened without fixed brackets or wires while brushing and flossing is super easy. Invisalign Teen Aligners are switched every 7 days and need to be worn 22 hours a day. They are removed when eating and drinking anything other than water. Invisalign Teen offers digital orthodontic technology for teens and solutions for a variety of orthodontic situations. It is the perfect follow up for Invisalign First when it is time for phase II orthodontic treatment.
LightForce
LightForce’s slogan is: “Braces but Better”, and we believe it! Custom 3D printed, clear brackets that are perfectly crafted to fit each tooth and each desired movement translate to efficient and effective orthodontics. With advanced orthodontic technology and the perfect result in mind, the LightForce Orthodontic system utilizes a reverse engineering approach to the finish line resulting in less time and less adjustments. LightForce is an excellent match for esthetic orthodontics options for teens. Although many of our teens love the clean look of clear brackets, rainbow colored elastic ties are always available!
Smiles’ Retainers
With our in-house SprintRay 3D printing units, we can create custom, 3D printed dental retainers in one visit and offer convenient retainer replacement with quick turnaround time. Our retainers are either vacuum formed over a printed model or directly printed on our SprintRay units using SprintRay’s revolutionary 3D printing for retainers. Losing an appliance is simply solved by printing another one using the last digital oral scan on file. Our families are so impressed, many ask for duplicates!
