Non-surgical Orthodontic treatment

At E Line Orthodontics, we aim at correcting a wide range of facial disharmony with its associated malocclusion by reversing the dental factors that contributed towards creating a facial disharmony in the first place. And contrary to the orthognathic  jaw surgery, our orthodontic treatment approach allows a steady reversal of the facial disharmony through the use of the MEAW or GEAW orthodontic technique targeting the etiology of the malocclusion rather than its symptoms. The outcome is a gradual and effective reversal of the facial disharmony and achievement of a functional bite.

It is noteworthy to mention that a small percentage of patients with extreme facial disharmony may not be ideal candidates. For the majority though, the MEAW or GEAW functional orthodontics alone or in combination with dental restorations, physical therapy, and myofunctional therapy will deliver a reversal of the facial disharmony with little to no side effects, minimal skeletal relapse and similar treatment time compared to conventional braces. Best of all, because there is no jaw surgery involved, the cost of treatment is significantly reduced compared to having orthodontic treatment with jaw surgery.

The Human Face

Human facial morphology is the combination of genetic traits and expression of craniofacial complex adaptation and compensation to the environment. From all the twenty-two bones forming the face and the skull, the lower jaw (aka the mandible) is the only one without an innate growth capacity. For the mandible to grow, teeth have to erupt first pushing the mandible down and allow bone to be added above the condyle (most upper part of the mandible). At the same time, the muscles of the lips must rotate the mandible up closing the imminent open bite. When the lips are strong enough to rotate the mandible up, our dentition must be aligned in such a way that allows forward adaptation of the mandible. Because the mechanism of human facial growth is so complex and sensitive to the smallest environmental change, almost half of the human population regardless of the ethnicity and gender develops some degree of facial disharmony. And in about 20% of these individuals (roughly 10% of the population), the degree of the developed malocclusion would far exceed the treatment capacity of a conventional straight wire orthodontic technique and will likely be recommended for orthodontics in combination with jaw surgery.

Functional Orthodontic Technique Using MEAW and GEAW

Both the MEAW and the GEAW functional orthodontic technique may avoid jaw surgery by moving teeth beyond the limits of traditional orthodontics. The difference between these two is that they are made from different wire materials. The MEAW has 5 loops per side allowing a high degree of detailing and customization while the GEAW has only two loops per side providing extra comfort to the patient. For both, the loops between the teeth provide a higher deflection rate and flexibility compared to traditional straight wire permitting orthodontic teeth movements hard or impossible to accomplish using traditional straight wire technique. When strategic bends are added to the MEAW or GEAW in addition to elastics wear, the entire dentition with its alveolar bones experience a drastic change and the cranio-facial complex is able to gradually reverse the adaptation process that had caused the facial disharmony. Both, the MEAW and GEAW are manually bent and customized to fit on an individual dental arch.

Despite the fact that the MEAW and the GEAW are considered to be an extremely powerful orthodontic tool, it is only a tool. What drives the change is the understanding of the human cranio-facial anatomy and growth from an integrative and holistic perspective. From this view, the malocclusions are adaptative processes capable of affecting many distant parts of the human body beyond teeth and the surrounding craniofacial complex.

History of MEAW Orthodontic Technique and Functional Occlusion

The MEAW orthodontic technique was initially created by Professor Young Kim from Boston University during the late 1960s. Professor Sadao Sato from Kaganawa University School of Dentistry in Japan was introduced to the MEAW orthodontic technique in 1985 and he immediately combined his knowledge of cranio-facial growth to MEAW and envisioned the correction of not only open bites (how it was initially conceived) but also a wide range of facial disharmony and cranio-facial dysfunction. Professor Sato’s orthodontic treatment philosophy was deeply influenced by Professor Rudolf Slavicek’s (Vienna School of Dentistry, Austria) view of the human masticatory organ and functional dental occlusion. Since the mid 1980’s, Prof. Sato and Slavicek concentrated their efforts into proving the role of human dental occlusion in our overall health, the dynamic nature of human cranio-facial complex and the optimization of the functional orthodontic technique to consistently and reliably avoid jaw surgeries and provide definitive resolution to cranio-facial dysfunction and cervico-cranio-facial pain complaints.

At present, Professor Sato’s functional orthodontic paradigm shift reaches every continent with hundreds of orthodontists and dentists following his orthodontic-occlusal philosophy and thousands of happy patients who had avoided jaw surgery and alleviated their pain symptoms elevating their quality of life!

Whether you have an under-bite with a prominent chin, an over-bite with alimited chin, a deviated chin or an open-bite, oro-facial pain not alleviated through splint therapy, MEAW and GEAW functional orthodontic technique may help you achieve a functional bite with significant improvements of your facial aesthetics avoiding the need for jaw surgery!

Give us a call today to find out if you are a candidate for MEAW or GEAW non-surgical orthodontic technique!