Temporary Anchorage Device

Temporary anchorage devices (TAD's) are titanium bone anchors that look like a miniature version of a wood screw. The screw’s length is about half the length of your thumbnail, and no wider than the width of the head of a pin. TADs are made of titanium and are painlessly placed in our office.



How are TADs placed?

The area in which a TAD is placed is first numbed with a powerful, topical anesthetic gel and then with a device that places a puff of anesthetic through the gum tissue into the bone. No needles are used. With the patient numb, our doctors place the small TAD directly through the gum tissue into the bone. Most patients feel a little pressure when the TAD is placed and some feel this during the day of placement. Tylenol or Ibuprofen are recommended for the day of placement, and patients report no pain or pressure the day after placement. The TAD is gently brushed twice a day with antimicrobial rinse that we provide during its use. The TAD is removed when orthodontic treatment is completed or the TAD is no longer needed. It takes less than a minute to remove and is painless.



Why do we use TADs and why are they revolutionary?

A common example of orthodontic anchorage is the situation when the orthodontist wants to pull in your front teeth that are sticking out. He uses the back molar teeth to help him because they are large, multirooted, and generally move very little when they are used to pull back the front teeth. The molar teeth are fairly well anchored in your jaw; however, any tooth still moves in response to the “equal and opposite force.” A simple way to think about TAD anchorage: A fisherman is sitting in a row boat and has caught a very large fish. If he has thrown an anchor overboard (TAD), and is strapped into the boat, he can, in time, reel the fish (tooth) in toward the boat without being pulled out to sea, or the boat moving from its original position.