Sunday, March 1, 2009

Different Kinds of Dental Braces

By David Stogner

As we all know, dental braces are used to treat crooked teeth or to correct teeth alignment. How the teeth will be aligned will completely depend on the person's bite. The other problems that can be corrected through the use of braces are open bites, cross bites, and under bites. There are other dental tools that are also used together with the braces to align the teeth and the jaws properly. Braces are usually used by children and teenagers.

Teeth are able to move when force is applied to it. So the force that is applied by the arch wire will push the tooth to a specific direction. Usually, a tooth is able to move about a millimeter every month, which happens during the orthodontic movement. Though, this will vary from each individual. There are also different orthodontic mechanics that will affect how many millimeters a tooth will move.

The most usual brace that is used is the traditional metal brace. It is usually made out of stainless steel, but sometimes nickel titanium is also combined with it. There are a lot of orthodontic suppliers that provide the traditional metal brace. Ligating brackets are used to reduce the friction between the bracket slot and the wire.

Clear braces: This is usually used as the alternative for metal braces because they will blend easily with the color of the teeth. The materials that are used for this kind are either plastic alloy or ceramic, but its function is pretty much the same with the stainless steel braces. White metal ties and clear elastic ties are usually used in combination with clear braces to make the device less noticeable. The friction is higher for this device as compared to metal braces which makes it more brittle and easily breaks. Due to this it is harder to remove the brace at the end of the treatment.

Lingual braces - This kind of brace is not visible because it is placed behind the teeth. This type is harder to adjust because the tongue can get in the way. A dentist must be trained in Lingual techniques before he is able to offer lingual braces.

Lingual braces: These are placed behind the teeth and cannot be seen when conversing with other people. This can be much harder to adjust because it can hinder the movement of the tongue. Not all dentists are able to offer lingual braces because they must be trained first in lingual methods.

Progressive clear retainers: This is sold in the market having the brand name of Invisalign. This is used to slowly position the teeth in their final places. This provides the same effect as the braces; the only difference is that they can be removed easily before eating. Though, this is not used for complicated teeth problems.

Shaped braces are another option. These are marketed by the company WildSmile Brackets and it works like the other usual non-shaped bracket. The pad is square shaped for the normal non-shaped braces, but for the shaped braces it can have different shapes such as star, heart, diamond, and round. - 15995

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