By: H. Dean McSpadden, DDS, MAGD

Second only to whiter teeth, the next most common desire our patients have is for straighter teeth.  The ironic part of this request is that most of these patients had braces when they were younger, but their teeth have gone back to being crooked again. This is particularly true with the front teeth since these are the ones that show.   Until recently, we only had two remedies for these patients.  Both of these remedies were fine except for the amount of time involved.  The first remedy was to go to the orthodontist to get braces.  Most of the time this involved getting full braces and required 1 ½ to 2 years of treatment.  The second option was Invisalign that also works well, but also can take one to two years of treatment.

More recently we have been offering our patients a third option called Six Month Smiles.  As the name implies, we can now give our patients straight teeth in around six months.  Sometimes it is a little more and sometimes it is a little less.  We can do this for two reasons.  The first is that we are only moving the teeth that show.  The patients that we treat all have a stable bite.  Their only complaint is the appearance of their front teeth.  The second reason is that we take advantage of a relatively new technology.  We use a nickel titanium wire to direct the movement of the teeth.  Nickel Titanium has complete memory and will not fatigue.  If you were to take the wire and try to bend it out of shape, you wouldn’t be able to do it.  We place this white colored wire into clear brackets that are bonded to the teeth.  By doing this, we can move teeth with amazing speed and with very small force.

Colleen is a patient who was treated with Six Month Smiles recently.  Colleen was concerned about her crooked front teeth and was excited to learn we could correct this in six months.  As you can see in these before and after photographs, we were able to give her straighter teeth and her treatment took exactly six months.

Dr. McSpadden is a native of Wilmington who graduated from Friends School in 1967. After working as a musician for 5 years, he graduated with honors from the University of Delaware in 1976, from the State University of Buffalo School of Dentistry in 1980 and completed an internship at Wilmington Hospital in 1981. He has been in private practice since that time joining Dental Associates of Delaware in February of 2007.

Dental Associates of Delaware has been the practice of choice  for thousands of families throughout the region since 1977. It is our goal for each and every patient to achieve optimum oral health. We accomplish this through personalized relationships, active patient input and ongoing communication combined with a mutual dedication to consistent professional care.

We offer a comprehensive range of preventive, aesthetic and restorative dental care services for the entire family in a friendly, comfortable environment designed to make you feel at ease.

We firmly believe that every patient can enjoy an attractive, healthy smile   for life.

For more information on our services, or to schedule an appointment, please call 302.656.8219.

Dr.  McSpadden’s complete bio can be found on our website at
www.delawaresmiles.com