Today there is a wide range of different types of braces readily available. This has led to the growing popularity of orthodontic treatments among adults.
Orthodontic treatments have improved substantially in recent times. With the help of technology and new materials, braces have come a long way.
From yesteryear’s metal wires crisscrossing over teeth to the modern day’s almost invisible plastic aligners.
What Types of Braces are Available?
What types of braces do? We have a variety of appliance systems that we use in orthodontics.
- We have metal braces which a lot of people like because our metal brackets today are made of stainless steel they’re smaller bracket series so they don’t cover the entire tooth like the braces have all do.
- We have porcelain or ceramic brackets which are clear they’re made of glass. They do tend to be a little bit bigger and bulkier than our stainless steel brackets but they’re nearly invisible you can barely see them in the other option.
- We use is Invisalign Invisalign is a series of clear liners that deep place in the mouth, and you wear them almost 24/7 throughout the day what Invisalign does is incremental moves teeth over two weeks by switching the liners and it all based on a treatment plan that we put into the Invisalign system.
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It was known to have a higher male predilection but is now seeing a shift with a nearly equal number of women being affected.
Buccal mucosa, mandibular vestibule, gingiva, and lateral borders of the tongue are most commonly affected.
Other sites though rare include, the lip, the floor of the mouth, the retromolar trigone, the palate, and mandibular and maxillary alveolar ridges.
Two Variations of Braces
There are several variations of braces that we see today; we’re only going to discuss two of them, but there are many variations that you can wear that can be attained by visiting an orthodontist.
The two that we’ll talk about today are the traditional ones as well as the clear ones, which are also known as Invisalign. The first set we’ll talk about are the traditional braces.
That’s what most people typically associate with when they think of braces what is done is.
If depending on what sort of types of movements and corrections you’re providing to the alignments of the teeth, small little metal brackets will be chemically bonded onto the teeth.
Typically, each tooth has an individual frame chemically bonded onto it, and then a wire is fed through those brackets. What happens is the wire helps move and pull on the shelves and, in turn, corrects the teeth, and as the teeth are progressing, the wires are constantly changed out.
Other apparatuses are typically placed along with the wiring brackets, but that’s the basics of the traditional braces again; brackets are essentially chemically bonded to the teeth, and there’s a wire that’s fed through the brackets to kind of help facilitate the movements of the teeth it’s the most common one.
It’s also the most effective one we see, and it’s still most orthodontists’ standard choice.
However, one of the problems we deal with regular braces is cosmetics. Most people have great difficulty dealing with a lot of metal in their mouth, and that’s a lot of hardware to carry around to move teeth.
What is The Second Option for Braces?
The other option that’s becoming more and more popular is Invisalign. Invisalign braces are what are known as invisible braces.
While they’re not braces compared to the traditional kind, they represent another method of moving teeth in Invisalign.
What’s done is special moulds are taken of a patient’s teeth, then these special clear retainers are made. It’s through these clear retainers that a patient will wear that will help slowly move the teeth.
It’s different from traditional braces because they can be taken in and out of the mouth at leisure. In contrast, the traditional ones are fixed onto the teeth and require an orthodontist to go back and remove them.
Still, with Invisalign, there’re clear sets of retainers that are made that you swap out every two to three weeks, and the patient snaps them over the teeth just like a bleaching tray.
These retainers have different positions every few weeks to help facilitate teeth movements.
At the same time, it is a lot slower and less dramatic in the tooth movements than it can produce.
It is a very effective way to fix minor things such as a small crowding, a little space, or just little cosmetic enhancements to the front teeth. Still, the traditional braces with the brackets and wires and the Invisalign clear braces are the two most common ways that we use braces today.
Efficient Types of Braces
The two main types of braces available are:
Fixed Braces
Removable Braces
Fixed Braces
Fixed braces are widely accepted worldwide as the most popular teeth-straightening solution. Fixed braces as the name suggests are fixed to the patient’s teeth by an orthodontist.
Fixed braces usually consist of square brackets that are cemented to each tooth. They also have a wire running through them to join the brackets together. The wire is used to maneuver the misaligned teeth into the correct position. The typical treatment time is approximately one to two years.
The different types of fixed braces are:
Metal braces
Metal braces are often called Traditional braces or Conventional braces. These have been used for years by dentists and are still one of the most preferred forms of treatment for poor jaw alignment.
Metal braces are made of high-grade stainless steel brackets and a flexible metal archwire which guides the teeth to the correct position. Modern-day archwires may also be heat activated for quicker movement. Metal braces also come with fun and quirky colourful rubber bands that are used to attach the wire.
Ceramic Braces
Ceramic braces are also known as clear braces. They are similar to metal braces but use transparent or tooth-coloured brackets instead of stainless steel brackets. Tooth-coloured or clear brackets are attached to the teeth with the help of similarly coloured or transparent wires and rubber bands.
Self-Ligating Braces
Self-ligating braces are one of the most popular types of braces in recent years. They are quite similar to metal braces and ceramic braces. They consist of a bracket and wire system.
However, they do not use rubber bands. Instead, they make use of a sliding bracket mechanism with “doors” or “clips” that attach to the wire. This sliding mechanism ensures minimum friction and is less painful than metal or ceramic braces. They are available in both metal as well as ceramic colours.
Lingual Braces
Lingual braces were first invented in the 1970s by an American and Japanese orthodontist duo. They are similar to traditional metal braces. But, in the case of lingual braces, the metal brackets and wires are attached to the inside of the teeth.
Lingual braces are not visible to people since they are hidden behind the teeth. They are often also known as “incognito” or “hidden” braces.
Traditional Braces
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Removable Braces
Removable braces do not remain fixed in the mouth. They can be easily removed by the patient without visiting the orthodontist. The most common type of removable brace available today is the invisible brace.
Some Devices Used with Braces
Forsus Appliances
They are the modern form replacing headgear to correct jaw positions because of difficult overbites.
Palatal Expanders
It is a treatment to treat overcrowded teeth. They apply pressure on the teeth at the end of the jaw to make space for other teeth. It is a replacement for removing teeth to make space for others.
