Four Things ALF Therapy Fixes

Dentists have a new oral appliance that can fix a number of things wrong in your mouth. ALF stands for "alternative lightwire functional," which refers the appliance's light wire springiness placed in the back of each side of your lower mandible. This appliance is at the foreground of ALF therapy, which fixes all of the following things.

Bruxism

The ALF appliance is worn all the time. It is not removable except by your dentist. That is precisely why it affects people with bruxism, also known as "teeth grinding." The appliance stops you from grinding your teeth at night with a gentle rebound pressure every time your mouth starts chomping down on its own teeth. That also means you will have fewer fractured molars in your mouth too.

Fewer Crowns

Because the appliance stops bruxism, your molars will not fracture. When you molars do no fracture because you are no longer grinding you do not need as many restorative procedures (i.e., crowns). That also means you spend less time in the dentist's chair and less money, too.

TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint Disorder)

TMJ is a serious disorder of the jaws. It starts with a malocclusion of your mandibular joints, those joints located in right in front of your ears. The most common symptoms are facial pain and a constant popping sound and sensation when you chew hard foods. The ALF appliance begins to correct this disorder almost immediately by causing your lower jaw to bite down equally on both sides of your mouth, rather than biting on one side and having your joint on the opposite side momentarily pop out of position.

Overbites

Along with the TMJ, the ALF appliance can be used to correct overbites. An overbite is what happens when your mouth develops with a forward thrust on your upper jaw and/or a receding lower jaw. Most people who never had braces growing up have an overbite. It is a rather normal formation, except when the overbite exceeds several millimeters. Then the upper an lower jaws have to be corrected so that there is less of an overbite (or no overbite if possible).

A similar appliance in orthodontia is worn and used by people and kids with braces. The springs that attach to your orthodontic wires and brackets help move both jaws in the correct directions. When you do not intend to get braces as an adult, but you want/need to correct an overbite, ALF therapy with the ALF appliance, such as from Alf Interface Academy, is the way to go.


Share