What Options Do I Have for Straightening My Teeth?
Dr Neel Sanghavi gives an overview of different braces…
Over the last 10 years’ teeth straightening has become very popular as research, technology and innovation in dentistry has meant that people can have their teeth straightened faster and more affordable than ever before.
Fixed Braces
These are the kind of braces that are stuck to your teeth and traditionally have been called ‘train tracks’ with a metal bracket and wire.
The appearance of these have improved greatly and nowadays there is also the option of having these using clear or white brackets with a white wire, making them a lot more conspicuous.
Short term braces, brands that fall into the fixed braces category are Fastbraces, Six month smiles, Efast, Quick straight teeth and Damon braces.
There are differences between these brands and the results you can expect; we primarily use Fastbraces.
There are fixed braces that are unbranded which in the right case can give good results, though treatment can take a bit longer in inexperienced hands.
Specialist orthodontists primarily use unbranded fixed braces, and at Hello dental we will occasionally give the option of using these if appropriate.
Lingual Fixed Braces
As above these are fixed to the teeth, but crucially they are stuck to the inside of the teeth.
They are often custom made and are more difficult to tolerate that usual braces stuck to the front.
While being more appearance friendly the extra time taken and custom-made nature means they almost always cost more than conventional fixed braces.
Removable ‘Invisible’ Braces
These consist of a hard clear plastic tray that are worn sequentially to move the teeth. They are generally taken out to eat but worn for around 22 hours per day.
The concept has been around for about 20 years, but was brought to mass use by Invisalign.
Invisalign is the most common invisible brace system by virtue of the fact that it was the first and is very heavily marketed to the public, dentists and specialist orthodontists which also can mean it comes with a hefty price tag.
At Hello Dental we provide more cost effective alternatives to Invisalign, called Clear Correct and Clear aligner.
Other Removable Brace Systems
There are many other removable brace systems, the most common of which is the Inman aligner. The Inman aligner works well for very minor crowding but cannot be used for more complex cases. Typically, it works well and cost effectively for people who had braces and the teeth have just started to move and look a little crowded. This can happen in retainers are not worn after the teeth straightening treatment.
We hope this article has given you a good summary of the braces options available.
If you are thinking of having your teeth straightened, please call us to book a free consultation on 01206 589 777 or email [email protected] if you have any comments or queries.
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