Brace

Benifits of Braces

• Helps aligning crooked/prominent/spaced teeth
• Gives a better pleasing & attractive smile
• Helps regaining lost confidence and improving personality
• Prevents chances of decay by providing an easy means of clearing debris after achieving regular teeth alignment
• Reduces undue strain on soft tissues (lips, chin) due to more prominent teeth

What Age Can i Have Braces?

Braces treatment can usually be started once patients’ permanent teeth until 1st permanent molars have erupted. There is no specified age mark for starting braces as the eruption of permanent teeth varies among children. Usually, the permanent teeth till 1st permanent molars erupt by eleven and a half to thirteen years of age.

Until What Age Can i Have Braces?

As such there are no such age limits, as long as teeth and the surrounding periodontium are hale and hearty, patients can have braces on. Usually, children aged 16 or below have less dense bone compared to adults. So the amount of anticipated teeth movements in children each month may be little more and faster owing to their pliable bone and abundant blood supply to teeth and bone compared to matured adults. Even periodontally/medically compromised patients can have braces after proper control of infection/condition.

ALTERNATIVES TO BRACES

CLEAR ALIGNERS

These are orthodontic devices that are a transparent, plastic form of dental braces used to adjust teeth. Treatment begins with taking x-ray, photographs, a bite registration, and polyvinyl siloxane impressions of the person’s teeth and gums. The dentist/orthodontist completes a written evaluation that includes diagnosis and treatment plan. Dental impressions are scanned in order to create a digital 3D representation of the teeth. Technicians move the teeth to the desired location with the program sequentially, which creates the stages between the current and desired teeth positions. Anywhere from six to forty-eight aligners may be needed. Each aligner moves teeth 0.25 to 0.33 mm.

A computer graphic representation of the projected teeth movements, created in the software program called “ClinCheck”, is provided to the doctor and patient for approval or modification before aligners are manufactured. The aligners are modelled using CAD-CAM (computer-aided-design and computer-aided-manufacturing) software and manufactured using a rapid prototyping technique called stereolithography. The molds for the aligners are built in layers using a photo-sensitive liquid resin that cures into a hard plastic when exposed to a laser. The aligners are made from an elastic thermoplastic material that applies pressure to the teeth to move into the aligner’s position. Patients that need a tooth rotated or pulled down may have a small, tooth-colored composite attachment bonded onto certain teeth. More attachments can make the aligners less aesthetically pleasing. Re-approximation, (also called interproximal reduction or IPR and colloquially, filing or drilling) is sometimes used at the contacts between teeth to allow for a better fit.

Each aligner is intended to be worn an optimal 22 hours a day for two weeks. On average, the treatment process takes 13.5 months. Treatment time varies based on the complexity of the planned teeth movements. The aligner is removed for brushing, flossing and eating. Once the treatment period has concluded, the patient is advised to continue wearing a retainer at night for the foreseeable future. Some available brands are INVISALIGN, CLEAR CORRECT, ORTHO CLEAR, CLEAR PATH, CLEAR BITE etc.