MARA Appliance
Improve Your Smile with the MARA Appliance
OrthoVille Westmount believes that a healthy, beautiful smile starts with a well-aligned jaw. We offer the MARA appliance as an option for select patients. As a leading Montreal, QC orthodontist, Dr.Dorfman makes it a point to keep up with the latest in orthodontic technology. This appliance, along with several others that we offer, makes it faster, easier, and less painful to achieve results that you have come to expect from our team.
What Is the MARA Appliance?
MARA is an acronym for Mandibular Anterior Repositioning Appliance. This appliance is used to encourage forward growth of the lower jaw. We feel that this appliance is the easiest to get used to and is the least obtrusive.
If you have a severe overbite, the MARA appliance has been designed to correct your bite by aligning your lower jaw with your upper jaw. It can also improve your facial profile by bringing your chin forward in addition to correcting the way your teeth fit together when you chew. The MARA is custom-made to fit inside your mouth. It is cemented to the teeth using special fluoride-releasing cement.
The MARA guides the lower jaw forward using upper “elbows” and lower arms. At first your back teeth will not meet the same way as they did prior to the placement of the appliances, but the MARA will begin working the first day, so try to be patient while progress is made to correct your bite.
Patients are usually chewing normally after approximately one week. Until then, you may want to eat soft foods and smaller pieces during the adjustment period. Any tenderness of teeth that you experience should pass after a few days.
Whichever type of pain reliever you would normally take for a headache will help to reduce the discomfort. The upper and lower appliances are NOT connected together. You will still be able to open your mouth fully and not be restricted in your side-to-side or chewing movements.
While you are first adapting to the MARA, the elbows or arms on each side may irritate the inside of your cheeks. The cheeks will toughen up with time as the tissue adjusts to the presence of the appliance. It may appear that your cheeks are slightly puffy initially. This will go away after a few weeks.
Infrequently, an elbow or crown can become loose. Please save any loose or broken pieces and call the office so we can schedule an appointment to repair the problem.
Although the MARA is resistant to breakage, nothing we cement into the mouth is indestructible. Stay away from extremely hard, sticky and very chewy candy and foods. Do not poke at the appliance with sharp objects or bite repeatedly on top of the bottom arms (please see “emergencies”).
In order to continue making progress with your jaw position and the correction of your bite, we will periodically advance or “activate” the MARA. Following an activation appointment, you will feel your lower jaw being guided farther forward, which will once again change the way your teeth meet when you bite.
While the initial adjustment period may be uncomfortable, please keep in mind that we have chosen the Mara appliance for you because we feel it is the most efficient way to correct your orthodontic problem while achieving facial balance.
Contact us to learn more about the MARA appliance
Contact us today for more information about the MARA appliance as well as other options. You can reach out to our office at (514) 482-6743 or via our contact form. We look forward to hearing from you and hope to see you soon!
