Braces & Aligners (Orthodontic Treatment)
Dental Braces are appliances used to correct the position of
teeth. The earliest age to start the orthodontic treatment may be 7 years, but
the treatment has no upper limit of age to begin.
Types of Braces
and Aligners
·
Metal Braces
o
They are the conventional
and most commonly used form of braces. They require metal brackets, wires and
elastic ligatures to work upon. The patient has to visit the Orthodontist after
every 15-25 days as per the treatment advancement. The normal duration of
completion of treatment ranges from 8 months to 26 months varying from case to
case. After the treatment an aligner is given to the patient to maintain the
newly corrected positions of teeth.
·
Ceramic Braces
o
These are similar to Metal
braces except the brackets and wires are white in color and appear to be almost
invisible. All the rest is similar to Metal Braces.
·
Lingual Braces
o
These braces use Metal
brackets and metal wires, but the brackets are adapted on the inner side of the
teeth, to avoid any appearance on the front side of teeth. The treatment
duration has minor variation to conventional Metal braces.
·
Invisible Aligners
o
These grade plastic
aligners are the latest advancement in the field of Orthodontics. They do not
require any wires or brackets. Being transparent plastic, their aesthetics are
the best as compared to the rest of types. Normally 20 aligners are needed for
mild cases, where every aligner has to be worn for 2 weeks and so on. The
treatment duration time remains similar to other options. However, for complex
cases the patient has to visit the dentist otherwise in this treatment
modality, the patient may use the aligners on their own.
Precautions with
Braces
·
Avoid eating sticky food
like gums, toffies etc.
·
Avoid carbonated and fizzy
drinks.
·
Visit your dentist for
every follow-up visit to ensure timely treatment and avoid complications.
·
Don’t chew on hard food or
ice.
·
Don’t bite on your nails or
chew pencil.
·
Maintain good oral hygiene
especially making sure no food particles are stuck in braces after every meal.
·
Eat with small bites and
avoid eating hard food and chewing on bone.
