Braces & Alligners

Clear Aligner Treatment for a Beautiful Smile

Clear aligners are thin, removable plastic mouthpieces designed to help guide teeth into their proper position, providing patients with an alternative to traditional braces.

The Easy Way to Straighten Your Teeth

Everyone wants a beautiful smile, but most of us require the assistance of a dentist or orthodontist to achieve this. For many years, metal braces were the norm in treating misaligned and overcrowded teeth. However, with clear teeth aligners, it is easy to get your dream smile.

What are Clear Aligners?

Clear aligners are thin, removable plastic mouthpieces that snugly fit over your teeth and gradually shift them into proper position. Your dentist might prescribe them to enhance your smile, align your bite, make it easier for you to clean and floss your teeth, or do all of these things.

How Do Clear Aligners Work?

To create clear aligners for your mouth, your dentist will make a 3-D scan or impression of your teeth, then several sets of aligners will be made according to your custom treatment plan. Your dentist will determine how many sets of invisible aligners you’ll require to address your dental issues.

Once your aligners are available, tiny, tooth-colored attachments are temporarily bonded onto specific teeth to hold the aligners in place as they move the teeth. The attachments are hardly noticeable when you smile, and most patients quickly get accustomed to them.

Depending on the kind of orthodontic treatment you will need, your dentist may also recommend the use of small elastics to facilitate the movement of the teeth into proper position. These elastics are attached by tiny hooks that are bonded temporarily onto the teeth, in places where they are not interfering with chewing and where they usually are not even noticeable.

You will replace each aligner once it has achieved the incremental movement of your teeth, which is usually done every couple of weeks.

Treatment time with clear aligners depends upon how much the teeth need to move. The more your bite is misaligned, and the more crooked your teeth, the longer it’ll take. Average treatment time: 10 to 24 months—and if you are an adult and had braces as a child but never really needed to move them so much since then, potentially just a few months’ worth of aligners.

Advantages of Clear Aligners over Traditional Braces

There are so many reasons to love clear aligners.

• With traditional braces, patients live with a mouthful of metal 24 hours a day, often for years.
• They need to see an orthodontist regularly to adjust the braces as teeth move.
• Brushing and flossing can also be a pain with metal braces.
• They are very discrete, almost unnoticeable to the naked eye in their effect on your appearance. They can also be taken out – so it’s much easier to eat or drink, and you don’t have to cut anything out of your diet that could be restricted by braces.
• Moreover, unlike braces, it is easy to take clear aligners out for a good oral hygiene.
• Patients with clear aligners require fewer visits to a dental office compared to those with braces. Depending on the length of treatment, patients may need to return simply to have new impressions or scans taken of their teeth to create additional sets of aligners once the initial phase of treatment is completed.
• While it’s recommended that clear aligners be worn for up to 22 hours per day, most patients find them to be very comfortable, as they don’t have any sharp metal components.
• And clear aligners are easily maintained with gentle brushing with a toothbrush and water.

Are You a Candidate for Clear Aligner Treatment?

Clear aligners are usually utilized for patients with minor to moderate crowding, or alignment or spacing anomalies. Severe crowding or spacing issues, underbites, overbites, or crossbites may be better treated with other forms of therapy.

Clear aligners are best for adults or teenagers. Straightening a child’s teeth is more complicated — children, and their mouths, are constantly developing, and younger kids may struggle with having attachments on teeth and remaining compliant with maintaining the condition of aligners.

 

Everything You Need to Know About Braces

 

What Are Braces?

Braces are orthodontic appliances that help correct misaligned teeth and jaws. They achieve this by applying continuous pressure over time that will eventually shift the teeth into their correct position.

 

Types of Braces

1. Metal Braces: The traditional braces with high-grade stainless steel
2. Ceramic Braces: Exactly like metal braces but these have tooth-colored brackets and less visible.
3. Lingual Braces: Metal braces attached to the back of the teeth, hence invisible from the front.
4. Aligners: Clear, removable aligners that are custom-made for your teeth.

 

Why Would Someone Need Braces?

Braces are used to treat various dental issues, including:

– Crowded or overlapping teeth

– Gaps between teeth

– Overbites, underbites, and crossbites

– Jaw alignment issues

– Protruding teeth

 

How Do Braces Work?

Braces work on the principle of continuous pressure on the teeth, slowly shifting them in a particular direction. As the teeth shift, the bone also changes shape to accept the new position.

 

The Braces Process

1. Initial Consultation: An orthodontist assesses your teeth and advises the best course of treatment.
2. Application: Braces are applied to the teeth using a special adhesive.
3. Advocations: The presence of braces requires frequent visits for setting and ensuring that the teeth set up correctly.
4. Removing: After the teeth align according to the desired results, the braces are removed
5. Retainers: After the removal of braces, the person is given retainers to support and hold the teeth.

 

Brace Hygiene

– Brushing and Flossing: Brush after every meal to have good oral hygiene while ensuring to floss a minimum of once a day.

– Avoid Certain Foods: Avoid hard, sticky, and chewy foods that may cause harm to the braces.

– Regular Check-Ups: Continue with orthodontic check-ups to monitor the progress of the treatment.

 

Possible Pain

It’s normal to have some form of pain, especially after adjustments. Over-the-counter pain relievers and orthodontic wax can ease this.

 

Benefits of Braces

– Aesthetics: Get a straight, lovely smile.

– Healthier mouth: It would make cleaning your teeth easier by preventing the food particles from being accumulated between your teeth, which means a lower chance of decay and gum disease.

– Better Functioning: It helps improve biting, chewing, and speaking.

 

Braces are a serious commitment, but the outcome is worthwhile! If you have further questions or just want to know more, please don’t hesitate to ask.