Crowding

There are times that people are said to have “small jaws” and a lot of people think that this will mean that early braces and/or removal of teeth is needed.  In reality, having “small jaws” is actually rather rare, and the need to remove teeth is also rare.  More often than not, a person might have narrowness of the dental arches which can be corrected with orthodontic treatment (braces or retainers).  In other words, the teeth and/or the jaws may be narrow but that can be corrected.  Orthodontic treatment can address the issues of crowding (lack of space for teeth) with expansion.  Modern orthodontic treatment can correct the issues without using palatal expanders.  Palatal expanders are an old and very uncomfortable method of treatment.  We can now provide expansion without the palatal expander.  Take a look at the treatments shown on these pages to see how modern orthodontic treatment should be done.  Notice that teeth were not removed and palatal expanders were not used.