Your teeth’s appearance greatly determines your smile and confidence. Not everyone has a flawless smile. If your teeth are white and straight, your smile will be beautiful and confident. However, you will not enjoy smiling and socializing if your teeth are crooked, misaligned, or crowded. These dental abnormalities also affect your oral health and general well-being. Fortunately, dentists have solutions for dental problems that affect the beauty of a smile. You can opt for braces or aligners to achieve the perfect look that boosts your confidence to smile and overall appearance.
If you want to enhance the beauty of your smile, you should speak to a skilled dentist about your teeth straightening options. They could recommend the following options and help you develop a treatment plan according to your needs and preferences:
Metal Braces
These traditional teeth straightening treatments have benefited many people for a very long time. Even to date, people wear metal braces, especially children and teenagers, to straighten their crooked, crowded, or misaligned teeth. They are highly recommended for all people, including adults, who want to enhance their beauty, smile, and confidence. Metal braces are also affordable for most families who wish for such benefits but are on a low budget.
Dentists use a stainless-steel bracket on each tooth when installing metal braces and a metal wire to attach the brackets. The metal wires are adjustable as teeth move to their proper position.
Dentists recommend metal braces for the following benefits:
For Effective Teeth Straightening
Metal braces effectively treat many orthodontic issues, including dental crowding, crooked teeth, jaw alignment issues, bite problems, and excess space between teeth. They are designed to gradually restore all teeth to their rightful position on the jaw. They can also fix any jaw alignment problem to ensure all your upper and lower jaw teeth align when you bite down. This fixes your bite issues and other problems that result from it, like TMJ disorders.
For Their Durability
Metal braces are also strong and durable. You can wear the same braces for the entire treatment without requiring a replacement. However, this does not mean you will not use your teeth for chewing and biting. Metal braces are strong enough to withstand all the pressures you subject your teeth to when eating, speaking, laughing, and smiling.
For Their Affordability
Many people prefer metal braces for their affordability. When compared to other available teeth straightening solutions, braces are more cost-effective. Additionally, they do not have additional charges after installation. Once you pay the initial consultation and installation fee, your dentist will only charge a small fee every time you visit their office to adjust your braces. You can pay a one-off fee for the entire treatment or have them break down the payments according to the times you visit the dentist’s office.
They Are Suitable for All
Anyone can wear metal braces, regardless of their age. This applies to people with teeth alignment problems, mainly affecting teenagers and adults. Although most adults shy away from metal braces, it does not mean they cannot benefit from them.
However, you should consider the cons of metal braces for effective decision-making. Some of their disadvantages include the following:
They Are Not Discreet
Metal braces are generously conspicuous, so everyone will know about your treatment even without being told. This is one reason why adults shy away from teeth straightening treatments. However, there are more discreet options, like Invisalign, to consider.
They Can Affect Your Oral Health
You could experience difficulties brushing and flossing your teeth after receiving braces, which puts you at risk of cavities and gum disease. When stuck food particles in the mouth are not cleaned out on time, they can combine with harmful bacteria to create an acidic reaction that builds up on your teeth and gums, resulting in cavities and periodontitis.
You Could Experience Irritation and Sores
Metal braces can irritate your mouth, which could result in sores. This is because the tissues within the mouth are very soft and sensitive. A minor irritation can cause a significant sore, resulting in inflammation and oral infection if left untreated.
They Require Extra Care
You must take good care of your braces to enjoy good results after the treatment period. For example, you must keep them clean and ensure they are adjusted occasionally for effectiveness. You must also avoid certain foods (like candy) and habits (like tooth grinding) to avoid damaging your braces.
Clear Braces
Dentists use clear braces like metal braces to straighten crooked, misaligned, or crowded teeth. This option is mainly for adults who want to enjoy a more beautiful smile but through discreet treatment. In place of metal brackets and wires, dentists use ceramic braces to move the teeth to their proper position on the gum. Ceramic braces are not visible like metal braces, giving adults the confidence to enjoy the treatment without raising eyebrows.
The brackets used in this treatment are clear. Some dentists use ceramic brackets, which are the same color and feel like natural teeth. The results achieved with clear braces are almost similar to those dentists and patients receive with metal braces.
If you choose clear braces to straighten your teeth, your dentist will discuss various options. The most common of these options is installing clear aligners that work the same as metal braces. The dentist attaches a ceramic or clear bracket to an individual tooth and then uses resin wire (tooth-colored) to attach the brackets.
The disadvantage of this option is that ceramic aligners are highly staining. Their color could be affected by what you eat or drink. You must be careful with your oral hygiene to avoid staining the braces, which will make them visible. Additionally, a stained ceramic can cause problems with your teeth and general oral health, increasing your risk of cavities and gum disease.
Invisalign or Clear Aligners
They are an excellent alternative to metal braces because they are practical, strong, and durable. However, they differ significantly in appearance and performance from metal braces. Your dentists will discuss this option in detail to ensure you have all the information needed to make an informed decision.
Although clear aligners are designed for less severe dental problems, they are excellent at straightening crooked, crowded, or misaligned teeth. As their name suggests, they are clear or invisible, allowing you to correct your smile and enhance your confidence discreetly. Clear aligners are also removable, making cleaning your teeth and mouth easy as you enjoy their benefits.
Clear aligners are made of strong, transparent plastic. Many dentists prefer plastic materials because they do not affect the color of your teeth over time. Thus, you can enjoy discretion for the entire treatment period. However, they are not adjustable like metal braces. You must visit your dentist’s office biweekly for a new set of aligners to continue the treatment process. Every new pair of aligners you receive moves your teeth closer to their rightful position on the gum.
However, you have to be strict about your treatment to enjoy the desired results within the treatment period. Since clear aligners are removable, it becomes easy for people to overlook the dentist’s instructions and wear them only for a few hours. This will interfere with your treatment and affect your goals. Dentists recommend wearing clear aligners for a minimum of 22 hours every day. You only remove them when eating and cleaning your teeth and must return them once done.
The treatment process with clear aligners starts with your dentist examining your teeth and gums to determine your suitability for orthodontic treatment. They will also consider your dental problem to determine whether clear aligners will produce the desired results. Your dentist can order a CT scan to view the teeth’s underlying structures as part of the examination process. The condition of your teeth’s underlying structures will determine how effective this treatment will be. It also helps them evaluate how much your teeth can move toward their proper position during treatment. This information allows them to design aligners that will fit your teeth perfectly.
If you can benefit from clear aligners, the dentist will take impressions of your teeth to design your aligners in a dental lab. Once your aligners are ready for installation, you will return to the dentist’s office. You will not need anesthesia because clear aligners are not painful or uncomfortable.
Here is crucial information about clear aligners you must know before choosing one for your teeth straightening:
- Clear aligners are better suited for adults than children because of the responsibility they come with. An adult will know when and how to remove them for cleaning and when and how to return them. They will also keep up with the strict treatment schedule recommended for effective results. A child will likely damage or misplace their aligners, affecting their treatment schedule.
- Clear aligners can affect oral health if you do not keep them clean. Your foods and drinks can be trapped in the area between the aligners and your teeth, encouraging the growth of harmful oral bacteria. You must remove them while eating and every time you are cleaning your teeth to avoid cavities or gum disease.
- You must keep up with your dentist’s appointments to enjoy excellent results with clear aligners. After two weeks of wearing one set of aligners, you will need another to move closer to your treatment goal. Prolonging this period will affect your results after the treatment period.
Lingual Braces
This is another alternative to visible metal braces that you can choose for discreet orthodontic treatment. Linguistic braces are installed at the back or on the inside side of the teeth. Once the lingual braces are installed, they gradually move your teeth to their proper position on the gum, like other braces. You will have perfectly aligned teeth after the treatment if you follow the dentist’s instructions after installation.
Dentists custom-make braces for the patients who choose lingual braces. This is because everyone’s teeth have unique contours that the dentist must consider when designing braces. Customized brackets are also practical and comfortable, making the entire treatment easy. Additionally, lingual brackets are generally discreet because they are installed on the back of your teeth.
However, lingual braces can be uncomfortable. You could experience the discomfort longer because they are usually closer to the tongue than other braces. It could be days or weeks before you are accustomed to them. The discomfort can affect critical functions like speaking, eating, and laughing.
Lingual braces are not as popular as metal braces and clear aligners. However, dentists are slowly discussing them with their patients to ensure you make an informed choice when looking for a teeth straightening solution.
Space Maintainers
Before recommending a teeth straightening treatment, your dentist must determine the exact orthodontic problem you want to fix. People who have lost one or more teeth and have taken time to replace the tooth could be dealing with a different misalignment. This is because the remaining teeth tend to shift to occupy the gap a lost tooth leaves, affecting the overall appearance of your teeth. Dentists use space maintainers to prevent this from happening.
Space maintainers cover gaps left by missing teeth. They keep adjacent teeth adequately positioned and ensure the jawbone is appropriately positioned, preventing orthodontic problems like crowding and misalignment.
Find Competent Orthodontic Services Near Me
If your teeth’s appearance affects how you socialize or smile, you should talk to your dentist about teeth straightening. Dentists have many treatment options for orthodontic issues like crowding, misalignment, or crooked teeth. The dentist will consider your exact dental issue, treatment history, the health of your teeth’s underlying structures, and your preference to recommend the proper treatment.
Our dentists at Washington Dental have excellent skills in all orthodontic treatments offered in Carson, Los Angeles, Lomita, and Torrance, including metal braces, clear aligners, and space maintainers. We can examine your teeth and gums to properly diagnose your condition and recommend the most suitable treatment. Then, we can develop the right treatment plan for a beautiful smile. Call us at 310-217-1507 for more information.
