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The Opportunity | About Us | FAQ | Services | Testimonials | Quote | Contact Us
Orthodontics is the use of braces (or in some cases other devices) to correct crooked teeth.
What are some possible benefits of orthodontics?
Do I need braces?
If you have:
- over bite where your upper front teeth protrude excessively over the lower teeth;
- a deep bite where your pper front teeth cover the majority of the lower teeth when biting together;
- underbite (the upper front teeth are behind or inside the lower front teeth);
- open bite (the upper and lower front teeth do not touch when biting together);
- Crowded or overlapped teeth; and
- the centre of the upper and lower teeth do not line up.
How long does orthodontic treatment take?
Treatment time (excluding retainers) is from a minimum of 12 months. Actual treatment time can be affected by your age and the severity of the problem. Treatment length is also influenced by patient cooperation. In some cases braces will be required for some 30 months.
Do braces hurt?
No. Or at least not really! It is normal to experience some slight discomfort. It is usually mild and is controllable with non-prescription pain killing tablets. The lips and cheeks may need one to two weeks to get used to the braces on your teeth.
Will my teeth stay straight after the braces come off?
The nature of tooth stability is incompletely understood and teeth can drift out of position again. This may be due to 'elastic recoil' of the gums, continuing facial growth or unbalanced natural forces from the facial muscles. Orthodontists use retainers to keep the teeth in position.
At what age should my child have braces?
It will depend on your child's teeth. It is important to have your child examined as certain orthodontic problems can start quite early in life. Early treatment may mean that a patient could avoid surgery and more serious complications later especially where the upper jaw is small. Such early treatment represents about 5% of our workload. For most other patients, once the second permanent molars have erupted around the age of 12, it is possible to do a definitive alignment of the teeth, which usually takes around 18-24 months of treatment, and this has been shown to be the most efficient age to carry out treatment for the majority of patients.
There are many types of braces. From a patient's perspective they can be divided into visible and non visible braces.
Visible braces are either fully visible or partially visible. The brace consists of a bracket and a band. In a fully visible brace both these are made with metal. These are the traditional braces which most people envisage when they think of braces. Below is an example...
Partially visible braces are visible but coloured to match the colour of your teeth. The example below shows a brand that leaves the wire a metal colour but matches the brackets to the colour of the model's teeth.
Here is a side by side comparison of the two types of visible braces...
Invisible braces are either:
- Lingual; or
- Invisalign (or a copy of).
Lingual braces are placed on the inside of your teeth. Accordingly, they are invisible. But they are problematic. Simply put - they dont work as well. In addition, The technique is more difficult and will usually require longer treatment times and longer appointments. The longer treatment is because the braces are unable to exert as much force on the teeth as normal braces can. Also, the speech is affected and the tongue may be sore compared to regular braces. It can take 2 to 3 weeks for things to feel 'normal' with a lingual appliance. They have been known to cause problems with oral hygiene because of the difficulty in cleaning them. Here is what they look like:
Invisalign braces (a brand name and now a type of brace) are like a mouthguard that is clear. The mouthguard (aligner) places pressure on your teeth and gradually brings them into alignment. How do they work? You wear a set of aligners for about 2 weeks, removing them only to eat, drink, brush, and floss. As you replace each aligner with the next in the series, your teeth will move – little by little, week by week – until they have straightened to the final position. You visit the dentist about once every 6 weeks to ensure that your treatment is progressing as planned. Total treatment time averages 9-15 months.
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