Custom Oral Appliances

Space maintainers are used to keep teeth from drifting into an empty tooth space due to early loss of primary (baby) teeth. Baby teeth act as a guide for the eruption of the permanent teeth. A space maintainer is made of stainless steel and/or plastic. It can be removable or fixed to the teeth.

Used to widen or expand the upper jaw, a palatal expander can be used to address crowding and other orthodontic issues by creating more room to accommodate tooth and/or jaw alignment. Expanding the upper jaw also effects the floor of the nasal cavity, helping to increase air flow and making breathing easier.

Sleep disordered breathing conditions such as sleep apnea can cause one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breaths during sleep. We make custom-fitted night guards that can alleviate sleep apnea symptoms by realigning your bite and providing an open airway while you sleep.

In addition, our office can fabricate custom night guards to help alleviate stress and prevent further tooth damage caused by bruxism. Bruxism is a condition that causes clenching and/or grinding of teeth. This causes additional unnecessary stress on tooth surfaces that damage teeth or can lead to TMJ pain.

If you or your child participates in sports, it’s important to have a custom mouthguard to protect the teeth and jaw from injury.

Mouthguards are especially important for patients with orthodontic braces. We take an impression of your teeth, then create a device fitted to your mouth for a more comfortable fit, easier breathing, and better protection.

Preventing injury is much more budget-friendly than repairing the damage caused by facial trauma.

A temporary anchorage device (TAD) is a device that is temporarily placed in the mouth to target teeth that may need specialized treatment without affecting the surrounding teeth. These tiny pins can be quickly and comfortably placed in the jawbone and provide a fixed anchor for a number of tooth movements such as space closure, molar rotation, and correction of open bites.

A habit appliance is useful to help stop a thumb or finger habit and/or to help re-train an improper tongue position or swallowing pattern. It is sometimes necessary to place an appliance to minimize the harm and distortion the habits or tongue posture can have on teeth. Most habit appliances are banded for adhesion to the back molars and are not removable.