Van Beek Activator

The Van Beek Activator was first introduced by H. van Beek in the Netherlands. The Van Beek Activator is one of the numerous appliances that combines a traditional Activator with a Headgear and strap that is attached via a head cap. Due to the omission of metal retention elements the construction of the Van Beek Activator is robust and cost effective. It’s mainly worn just at night and, where possible, for just a few hours during the day. The strap, that looks rather strange at first, makes it possible to significantly reduce the length of time that the appliance has to be worn and to achieve good treatment results, even allowing the patient to breathe through the mouth at night, something that the Activator does not do so well. The decisive factor is not the special design of the Van-Beek-Activator but the head strap itself. If we must have bi-maxillary appliances (i.e. braces that encompass both jaws in order to move the bite), they should always be used with a head strap as this significantly increases their effectiveness.