Accelerated Orthodontics, Better Orthodontics in Less Time, without compromising your periodontal and dental health.
How long does Accelerated Orthodontics take?
Traditional orthodontic procedures like braces can take anywhere from 2 – 3 years. Our new AOO procedure can have your orthodontic treatment finished in 6 – 12 months.
Is Accelerated Orthodontics right for me?
Accelerated Orthodontics is appropriate for all cases and all types of braces.
Patients entering our practice, as well as those already undergoing active orthodontic therapy, can greatly reduce their time in orthodontic treatment by opting for the Fast Track with Accelerated Orthodontics (AOO or PAOO or Wilckodontics (This procedure has several names).
Additionally, patients that have delayed or have declined conventional orthodontics due to the length of treatment now have a viable alternative.
Any patient that desires straight teeth in less time is eligible for the Accelerated Orthodontics option.
Dr. Brownfield offers Accelerated Orthodontics in conjunction with other periodontal procedures. Dr. Brownfield was trained by the founders of Wilckodontics and works with the most experienced orthodontists in Texas.
What is Accelerated Orthodontics?
Over 2 decades of research has culminated in the development of accelerated orthodontics. Teeth may now be moved safely, and approximately 4 times faster. The treatment time for orthodontic cases can be reduced from 18-36 months to 3-8 months. Accelerated orthodontics is a combination of advanced orthodontics and periodontal oral surgery routinely used in dentistry for other objectives.
However, when used in combination with advanced orthodontics, the orthodontists’ gain a powerful advantage in reducing normally accepted orthodontic treatment times. Fast Track patients in our practice undergo accelerated orthodontics, completing treatment in less time than traditional orthodontic patients.
Traditionally, orthodontic treatment takes a long time due to the limitations of the bone that surrounds the teeth. The slow and continual application of orthodontic forces triggers a biologic process resulting in extremely slow tooth movement. This is the mechanism that orthodontists have used to move teeth for the past 100 years.
Accelerated orthodontics solves this dilemma by employing advanced orthodontics combined with periodontal oral surgery which activates the bone that surrounds the teeth. By stimulating and softening the bone, the teeth can be moved at an accelerated rate, while at the same time adding new bone to create a better foundation for the teeth.
Activation of the bone surrounding the teeth involves the selective vertical scratching and placement of additional bone graft material. The procedure is performed by Dr. Brownfield, a specialist in dental surgery (periodontist).
Maximal surgical precision is accomplished with minimal soft tissue injury. Particulate bone grafting material is placed over the activated bone (augmentation) prior to suturing. The activated tooth-supporting bone will allow and enhance accelerated tooth movement starting at two weeks post operatively. Both upper and lower jaws can undergo the procedures at the same in-office appointment as well as a single tooth, or groups of teeth.
The reactivity and responsiveness of upper and lower jaws to activation and augmentation is consistent with the cell biology and physiologic stages seen in the wound healing pattern of the regional acceleration phenomenon (RAP). Striking bursts in bone activity (demineralization and remineralization) occurs adjacent to the site of the activation and augmentation. Accelerated orthodontics demonstrates how the biologic response can be modified to the patient’s advantage. Truly: in vivo tissue engineering.
Additional benefits of Accelerated Orthodontics due to the activated and augmented bone can be
- Increased bone volume can improve facial aesthetics in some cases.
- Increased tooth and post-orthodontic stability
- Fewer extractions required for orthodontics
- Repair of existing bony and/or soft tissue defects that support the teeth.
- May be used as an alternate in option cases requiring orthognathic surgery.
Dr. Lauren Brownfield is the periodontist in Houston certified to practice the technique of Accelerated Osteogenic Orthodontics. Dr. Brownfield has studied directly under the doctors, Bill and Tom Wilcko, who have pioneered the research efforts and developed the clinical procedures that encompass accelerated orthodontic tooth movement.
