Pendulum & Lip Bumper

Barrett - Treatment Profile - Using a Pendulum Appliance & Lip Bumper

Before Barrett started treatment his upper and lower permanent cuspids were totally blocked out. If left alone, they would erupt to the outside of all his other teeth, commonly called "fangs".

IN SOME CASES YOU WOULD EXTRACT BICUSPIDS TO ALLOW ROOM FOR THE CUSPIDS. BUT, IN BARRETT'S CASE WE FELT IT WOULD COMPROMISE HIS PROFILE. WE PLACED A "PENDULUM" APPLIANCE ON HIS UPPER ARCH. THIS APPLIANCE WILL MOVE HIS UPPER MOLARS BACK WHILE MAKING SPACE FOR HIS CUSPIDS THAT ARE BLOCKED OUT. THIS APPLIANCE WILL BE WORN FOR ABOUT 9 MONTHS.

ON THE LOWER WE PLACED A "LIP BUMPER" . THIS APPLIANCE IS MORE PASSIVE, USING THE TONGUE AND LIP MUSCLES TO WIDEN AND LENGTHEN. IT IS SLOW, TAKING APPROXIMATELY 18 MONTHS BUT IT CREATES THE NECESSARY ROOM THAT IS NEEDED:

BARRETT HAS NOW HAD HIS LIP BUMPER FOR ONE YEAR. IT HAS CREATED ENOUGH ROOM TO ALLOW THE CUSPIDS TO ERUPT (LOWER OCCLUSAL):WE HAVE ALSO REMOVED HIS PENDULUM APPLIANCE AND WILL USE BRACES TO CLOSE SPACES AND PROPERLY ALIGN THE UPPER ARCH (UPPER OCCLUSAL):

You can tell compared to the last photo of Barrett's upper arch how the spaces are closing. We still have him wearing the lip bumper on the lower without braces:

Barrett now has braces placed on all of his teeth. We still are leaving his lip bumper in to help create more room.

He is looking really good!!! And best of all, we did not have to extract any teeth: