1.  Dr. Moore sees every patient at every appointment:

• Because we believe in providing personalized service, Dr. Moore takes the time to see every patient at every appointment to decide what treatment will be performed.
• Our staff is very experienced and professional and will do the procedures, under Dr. Moore’s supervision.

2.  My basic philosophy of treatment is the emphasis placed on the jaw joints (TMJ):

• Patients have two ways they bite-the way their teeth fit best and the way their jaws fit best.
  
• In people with crooked teeth very rarely do the teeth and jaws fit together simultaneously.
  
• These people are at a greater risk to develop jaw joint (TMJ) problems.
• Traditionally molds of the teeth are made and fitted together the way the patient’s teeth fit best. These are used to determine the patient’s treatment.
• We can change the way the teeth fit together, but without performing jaw surgery, we can’t change the fit of the jaws. Therefore, our treatment is based on ideal fit of the jaw.
• We accomplish this by doing some extra steps so we can place the molds on an articulator (device to simulate a patient’s jaws) the way the jaws fit best. We plan our treatment so that the teeth and jaws will fit together.

3.  In order to speed up treatment, we use to the most up to date self-ligating braces      and wires:

• Wires tied to braces with rubber bands have up to 500 times the friction of self-ligating brackets.
• Early in treatment, we use BioForce® wires, this provides an effective way to move crooked teeth and alleviates discomfort  normally associated with initial orthodontic treatment.
• The self-ligating brackets that we use have “doors” to hold the wires in place, eliminating the rubber band ties and speeding up the tooth movement.
• They provide the same advantages of DAMON brackets that have been in the news lately. In some studies, they have been shown to be superior to DAMON brackets in reducing friction.   

4.  We make every effort to avoid extraction of permanent teeth:

• We might start treatment before the last of the baby teeth are lost. Surprisingly these are larger than the permanent teeth that replace them and if treatment is timed properly, the extra space can be used to relieve crowding.
• We can start treatment to take advantage of the jaw growth that occurs with the pubertal growth spurt.
• We can expand the jaws and arches to relieve crowding.
• However, we will have permanent teeth removed if keeping them interferes with the function of the jaw, health of the gums and bones or stability of the alignment.

5.  We start treatment at the ideal time to minimize the time in braces:

• There is no ideal age to start braces. The correct time to start treatment depends on the type of problem(s), the growth stage of the patient and the timing of permanent teeth eruption.
• Each patient is a unique individual and the ideal time to start treatment for each patient is unique.
• We are happy to evaluate patients at any age (The American Associaton of Orthodontists recommends the first evaluation at age 7) free of charge. We will then periodically reevaluate the patient, free of charge, until the ideal time to start treatment.
• Starting treatment early does not insure finishing early. We feel that alignment of all teeth, to include the 12 year molars, is essential to good orthodontic treatment. In some patients the 12 year molars do not come in until age 13 or even 14. If treatment is started at age 9, that can mean 5 years of treatment.

6.  We complete treatement in one phase in nearly all cases:

• Many orthodontists routinely do 2 phases of treatment. This is more costly to the patient and results in an overall longer treatment time.
• Studies have shown that 2 phase treatment does not result in superior results or less need for extraction of teeth.