41 Questions answered

Can I use teeth aligners with pre-existing restoration?

Sure no problem at all. Basically, when we do aligners we are doing a digital scan of your teeth so if you have existing restoration, we are scanning your teeth according to the shape of the restoration, so it should not be an issue at all. In fact, it is easier for my restorative dentist to fix maybe tooth decay and things like that, during the treatment, in the case where you develop tooth decay or something because there is nothing joining your teeth together so they can easily perform any restoration during the course of treatment with aligners.

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Answered By

Dr Enrica Sham

Orthodontist

Can I get braces with a chipped tooth?

If you have knocked on the front tooth before, I think the most important thing is to establish the health of the tooth, any tooth that has been traumatized before there is a slightly increased chance of the tooth dying whether you are doing braces or Invisalign.

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Answered By

Dr Enrica Sham

Orthodontist

What is the minimum age before getting Invisalign?

Invisalign has come up with this solution called "Invisalign first", so they just launched around somewhere last year. So that it’s a system tailored for younger children from age 7, at that age group sometimes we do see some conditions that we want to do some early treatment.

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Answered By

Dr Enrica Sham

Orthodontist

Can a misaligned bite be due to breathing problems in children?

We do see that sometimes, especially if you notice that your kid has a very narrow upper jaw and it may be the upper front teeth not meeting each other, their face tends to be very narrow. You notice that they are breathing through the mouth a lot and their nose is always stuck, now this group of patients tends to develop some teeth alignment issues as they grow up.

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Answered By

Dr Enrica Sham

Orthodontist

What is the cost of Invisalign and are there any alternatives?

It is a lot more expensive, I would say the doctor's fee is probably the same across the board but I would say the difference is the laboratory fee. For Invisalign like I say is probably the longest-standing aligner in the market, it has invested a lot in Research and Development so the material you get is different from any other aligner systems that's why with this system have treated 8 million people so far as compared to maybe Zenyum, which only launched 1- 2 years back so the amount of cases you can treat with Invisalign is very different compared to other aligners system.

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Dr Enrica Sham

Orthodontist

What are self-ligating braces?

Self-ligating braces are a kind of a fixed on braces, the difference between self-ligating braces and traditional braces is how we tie the wire to the bracket itself, so, if you look at traditional braces, we are actually using a small wire or a little rubber, we tie those colourful things to hold the wire to the tooth, the wire is the one that is actually moving the wire in that sense.

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Answered By

Dr Enrica Sham

Orthodontist

How do you keep your teeth straight following orthodontic treatment?

After treatment whether you are doing braces or Invisalign, you have to wear retainers.

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Answered By

Dr Enrica Sham

Orthodontist

How do teeth aligners cause teeth movement?

Whether it is aligner or braces, it's all about force. We are applying force on the teeth to move the teeth in a certain direction, it is quite technical but aligners generally are good moving teeth backwards compared to braces which move teeth towards each other. That is why when you see an orthodontist for the treatment they say you need the wisdom teeth, we can use the wisdom teeth space to align your teeth to move it backwards.

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Answered By

Dr Enrica Sham

Orthodontist

What kind of teeth aligner is suitable for a root canal treated tooth?

Any tooth that has been root canal treated before, I think the most important thing is that we have to establish the status of teeth, whether it is a good tooth to keep. So if we assess the condition and this patient requires extraction for their treatment and if this root canal treated tooth is around the region where we normally consider for extraction, then maybe we can use braces and extract this tooth so that you do not need to bother this tooth anymore.

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Answered By

Dr Enrica Sham

Orthodontist

How often do I have to go for follow-up visits for braces treatment and Invisalign?

Generally, for braces, we want to see them at an interval of 4-6 weeks, a maximum of 8 weeks. Invisalign we will keep about 6 to 8 weeks, you don’t need to see the dentist as often compared to having braces.

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Answered By

Dr Enrica Sham

Orthodontist

What is the best age to fix teeth alignment?

In short, it depends. What do I mean by that? It depends on your teeth condition, their mouth condition and what is the problem. I will be speaking on three alignment issues: Crossbite, Crowding and Overjet. Crossbite: We want to treat this patient before the age of 10 because the bones tend to fuse at about 10 years old. So, if we treat them early, we are able to actually encourage the upper jaw to grow more, so that we want to correct this crossbite by correcting the underlying jaw condition.

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Answered By

Dr Enrica Sham

Orthodontist

What is the best treatment to close gaps in teeth?

Gaps between teeth are one of the common problems patients face and bring them to me to seek an orthodontic opinion. Gaps between teeth not only pose an aesthetic problem but also make effective cleaning more difficult as food particles tend to trap between the teeth more often. There are many ways to treat to this problem, and the best way to treat the problem will depend on many factors, such as the cause, location, number of teeth involved, as well as time available for the treatment to be completed.

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Answered By

Dr Enrica Sham

Orthodontist

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International Building 360 Orchard Road #05 - 05 Singapore 238869

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* This profile has been last updated on September 18, 2020.