Epigenetic Orthodontic Services in Central Park South, NYC
Benefits of Epigenetic Orthodontics
When your teeth are properly aligned, your smile not only looks better but functions better as well. Morgan Herman, DDS, Michael Herman, DDS, and the team at Beyond Dentistry on Central Park South in New York City offer orthodontic services to their patients to give them happier and healthier smiles.
What is epigenetic orthodontics?
Epigenetic orthodontics is an approach to orthodontics that seeks to properly align your teeth and improve your overall oral functioning by focusing on your face and the physiology of your jaw, rather than just attempting to straighten your teeth.
The operating philosophy of epigenetic orthodontics is that you’re born with a genetic blueprint for straight teeth and a healthy smile, but environmental factors sometimes disrupt that plan. That blueprint is permanently encoded in your DNA, though, and with certain nonsurgical procedures, you can get your mouth to reconstruct itself as it was intended to be.
Epigenetic orthodontics is also sometimes referred to as Face Forward Orthodontics or Orthotropics® — the name given to it by one of its pioneers, John Mew.
How do epigenetic orthodontics work?
Epigenetic orthodontics uses appliance therapy to stimulate an area on your palate that causes your entire midface, including your upper jaw, to remodel. When used on children, this appliance can stimulate growth. Your lower jaw follows the changes in your upper jaw but is also stimulated gently and safely with an orthopedic approach.
Once your genetic blueprint for straighter teeth has been stimulated and your jaw has more fully developed, your teeth naturally fall into their proper alignment. The end result isn’t only straighter teeth, but a more correctly sized and positioned jaw, all without the need for extractions.
What are the advantages of epigenetic orthodontics?
Traditional orthodontics seeks to straighten your teeth by forcibly shifting and rotating them into place, or by extracting teeth when you don’t have enough room in your mouth for a straight smile.
The problem with this approach is that it does nothing to address the underdeveloped jaw and facial bones that are causing the orthodontic issues in the first place. You can eventually create a straighter smile by extracting teeth and moving them around, but they’ll still be in the confines of a faulty foundation, which can lead to other problems down the road.
By harnessing your body’s natural growth and development potential, epigenetic orthodontics fixes the source of the problem that’s causing your teeth to be improperly aligned. Improving the structure of your jaw and facial bones, in turn, leads to a number of other health advantages, such as:
Increased space in your airway, which can help to prevent the development of sleep apnea
A more balanced temporomandibular joint (TMJ), which protects you from developing a temporomandibular disorder (TMD)
Correct and stable form and balance in your upper cervical spine
To learn more about what epigenetic orthodontics can do for you, schedule an appointment with the dental experts at Beyond Dentistry NYC .