Like many people, you’ve had to endure the unpleasant, painful experience of dental braces most likely as a younger child (adults get them too). But, just how do they work? We see the results after about 1-2 years and we end up with a miraculously straight, beautiful smile, of course at the expense of pain and empty pockets. We feel and see our teeth move especially when we get our braces tightened at our follow up appointments, but how do they do it?
Here are the main components of braces that everyone Mini Dental Implants Cost Near Me gets attached to their pearly whites:
Brackets: these are the metal pieces initially attached to your teeth with a bonding material, usually a type of glue. This is what keeps the brackets attached to the teeth
Arch Wire: this is the thin piece of metal that is placed over the brackets, putting pressure on your teeth and giving them the direction in which to align and become straight
O-Rings: these tiny pieces are also called ligature elastics. They are what hold the arch wire in place on the brackets. When braces are tightened, Veneers Teeth Cost the o-rings are changed. Usually you get to pick from a wide variety of not only colors, but glitter and glow in the dark too when they’re changed.
Elastics: not everyone may need these. The doctor decides if it’s necessary such as in the case of an overbite or an underbite. Elastics also create more pressure to help straighten the teeth and can create more tension in a specific direction for your teeth and jaw based on their placement on your top and bottom braces.
Over the course of your treatment, the dental braces cause your teeth to loosen and move from the pressure of the wire and elastics. When this happens, the membrane surrounding the teeth on one side expands, and constricts on the other, which causes your teeth to loosen from the gums. As your teeth are straightened, your teeth move less causing the bone around the membrane to grow, supporting the tooth in its new place. If this process occurs too quickly, it can result in the patient losing their teeth; that’s why dental braces need to be worn for an average of 1.5-2 years so the process occurs gradually.
In certain cases, headgear needs to be worn for an average of 10-14 hours per day. Headgear allows certain teeth to remain in their place and allows only specific teeth to move.
The final step is the retainer. The retainer is worn either 24 hours a day, or for a certain amount of time each day (as determined by your orthodontist). Th retainer holds the teeth in their new position until the bone around them is strengthened and support them on their own.